TSD Web Site Design & Delphi Software Development

Delete Top Records with SQL - Foxpro shortcut

2009-10-25T20:10:00.002-04:00

The easiest way to delete records (top records) in foxpro is to simply type, "delete from table_name where recno()<=4000" This doesn't work correctly if you order the table in a way other than set by its index. You could delete the index then try it, but if you just need the top X amount of records as it's ordered, and it hasn't changes, it works great!

Windows Font Installer

2009-07-05T15:28:00.003-04:00

I mean would Microsoft please, please, please update the font installer for their operating systems. What the heck is a Windows 3.1 dialog doing in Vista? If anyone can answer this one, they should be the new CEO of Microsoft, cause there's simply no point.

Not that it's all that hard to use, it's just with all the directories for you different users and whatnot, it's sometime a little difficult to navigate to the correct spot where you font is residing.

So MICROSOFT - Change this crap.

Flash Intro - Gimme A Break.

2009-06-23T10:42:00.001-04:00

First of all, I'm not bashing Flash. I think it's great for multimedia. What I'm bashing is all the Flash designers that label their page, "Flash Intro" or, "Flash Introduction"

Application have splash pages, Web Sites shouldn't. There's a variety of reasons they shouldn't let alone SEO.

So please quit titling your pages, "Flash Intro" Gimme a break already. This practice has gone on far too long. If someone doesn't know what flash intro is, they shouldn't even be on the web.

Center a Div with CSS

2008-08-18T23:34:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty simple CSS tip. Just a quick post to keep my streak going.

.whatever {margin: 0 auto;}

This will center a DIV on the page.

Filter bad language with Delphi / Pascal...

2008-08-16T23:58:00.002-04:00

This has been adapted from a ISAPI web application. The first step is to fill a TStringList with a list of bad words, or even characters that you don't want to save into your database.

I've call my StringList BWSL. After initializing the StringList, and adding the words, loop through and see if any of the words you've added are present.

If they are, redirect, or use other handling depending on the type of application you're writing. My form element on the calling web page is in the variable "Tag"

EXAMPLE:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
for I:=0 to BWSL.Count-1 do
 if pos (BWSL.Strings[I], LowerCase(tag)) > 0 then begin
 Response.SendRedirect(Request.ScriptName+'/BadRequest?Bid=6&Extra=The_Word,_Character,_or_Phrase,_' + BWSL.Strings[I] +'_is_Prohibited.');
 Exit;
end;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Google Adsense Hickups - Strange Border Behavior

2008-08-15T13:09:00.004-04:00

I've been noticing some fairly strange behavior concerning the ads Google serves to some of my websites, including my website design blog. (the blog you're reading)

Periodically, when loading a page I'll notice the border that I usually set to blend with the background appears in another color. That color I think will usually be the text color option. I'm pretty sure that is the text color that the border appears on. When I refresh the page, the border will disappear. Of course the border SHOULD never appear. I've been a little too busy to properly research this matter, but I figure that other people have run into this, and who knows if this could affect earnings as we all know ads that blend are much better at producing click than ads with borders. Perhaps some working is going into the adsense display system right now, and the hiccups are just temporary. I would hate to think that this is and will be happening frequently. As I don';t view my own sites that much, I really can't give a good percentage of page loads versus time the ads have borders.

That's right borders appear, then disappear. This effect doesn't happen all that often but for all the time I've used adsense to monetize my content, I've only noticed this strange behavior for the last three days. If anyone could shed some light or posit some theories about what's happening with the Google ads, borders please post a comment.

Keep an eye open with Netstat Steps to secure your windows web server

2008-08-15T01:32:00.006-04:00

For those of you running your own servers, with all the illegal hacking activity, it's a good idea to keep your eyeballs peeled to your open connection with netstat or a similar utility.

It's fairly easy to track an ip address with website services, such as the one here » Ip Look up.

I keep a utility on my desktop that monitors the flow of traffic through my NIC. when this stays lit for extended periods, it mean non-stop traffic. Now sense I'm a website publisher that earns revenue from his websites, you'd normally think that that was a good thing. Of course if you notice twenty or more open pipes from the same IP address, it certainly could indicate trouble. If that IP address is coming from China, then well it's really up in the air.

What to do???

Well for on thing you can take every precaution that you can to secure your server. Now I run a Windows server, so I started off by hardening my machine with what the operating system offers. Closing unused ports, turning off unneeded and dangerous services. You can learn how to do some of this over at Gibson Research.

Second you have to have a firewall. I have a good one, and allow only port 80 traffic inbound.

Third you download IISLOCKDOWN. You can use this to configure IIS to be a ton more secure.

Fourth you can set up IPSEC. For the novice user, IPSEC can be a bit daunting. Don't worry there are plenty of tutorials like this one to get you started. It's well worth all the trouble to set things up to be as bullet proof as you can. This still will not prevent bots, or other people from sending a lot of traffic to your port eighty. So in IPSEC configure a rul that will block users by IP address, and as you find suspicious IP addresses in your logs, or with netstat, block them.

It's every webmaster's responsibility to run as secure a server as they have the power to. Fortunately there are many resources devoted to this topic, it just takes a little time. (And effort!)

Use Crystal Reports in Delphi ISAPI Web Application

2008-08-14T19:21:00.015-04:00

Well obviously, you may have tried to use the VCL component, and cashed and burned repeatedly. I took my a long time to properly integrate Crystal reports with an Isapi application through delphi. After literally weeks of research in 2004 I was able to properly utilize almost all of Crystal's functionality inside an ISAPI.

Why am I just now writing about this? Well.. As time rolls on, the technology is still viable. Especially if you have a tone of Crystal reports you'd like your users to be able to download in .Doc or .PDF formats.

Here Goes...

Import the Crystal Reports type library, save it as CRAXDRT_TLB; (into new unit) This would apply to Crystal Reports version 9. Don't forget to add the "cr" in front of the object names!!!

Here's the source code example: Please forgive any poor formatting on my part I wrote an automated .Pas to HTML conversion program, in about ten minutes, and right now it's imperfect. So I will work on that program as I continue to post Delphi Tips. Thanks and enjoy.

PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT IF YOU LIKE!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
procedure TWebModule1.WebModule1WaExportReportAction(Sender: TObject;
  Request: TWebRequest; Response: TWebResponse; var Handled: Boolean);
var CrReport : Report;
    NewStream : TStream;
    TheReportType :CRExportFormatType;
    S, TheCType : String;
begin
try
 

//For Initilization purposes only

TheReportType:= CRAXDRT_TLB.crEFTPortableDocFormat;

//End Initialization

////Use the value of a web page radio button to determine the type of export ////the users desires.

If TheButtonVal='PDF' then begin
   TheReportType:= CRAXDRT_TLB.crEFTPortableDocFormat;
   TheCType:='application/pdf'
end;
If TheButtonVal='DOC' then begin
   TheReportType:= CRAXDRT_TLB.crEFTWordForWindows;
   TheCType:='application/doc'
end;
If TheButtonVal='XLS' then begin
   TheReportType:= CRAXDRT_TLB.crEFTExcel80;
   TheCType:='application/xls'
end;
If TheButtonVal='RTF' then begin
   TheReportType:= CRAXDRT_TLB.crEFTExactRichText;
   TheCType:='application/rtf'
  end;

///You could use the actual report name added to a select element using ///Delphi's ///FindFiles...
  CrReport := Application1.OpenReport('DirectoryName\'+TheReportName);

  CrReport.DiscardSavedData;
  CrReport.EnableParameterPrompting:=False;
  CrReport.DisplayProgressDialog:=False;
 if TheButtonVal='PDF' then
 CrReport.ExportOptions.PDFExportAllPages;

if CrReport.ParameterFields.Count=1 then
  CrReport.ParameterFields.Item[1].AddCurrentValue(Code1);
////Depending upon any parameter values the Report uses and how they are //configured, these lines could change.
if CrReport.ParameterFields.Count=2 then begin
  CrReport.ParameterFields.Item[1].AddCurrentValue(Code2);
  CrReport.ParameterFields.Item[2].AddCurrentValue(Code3);
end;
  CrReport.ExportOptions.FormatType :=TheReportType ;
  CrReport.ExportOptions.DestinationType :=CRAXDRT_TLB.crEDTDiskFile;

/////Give the created report a destination on disk, and name
  CrReport.ExportOptions.DiskFileName := 

  CrReport.Export(False);

  NewStream:=TFileStream.Create(the name you created above),
                                   fmOpenRead and fmShareDenyWrite);
  Response.ContentStream:=NewStream;
//IMPORTANT  
Response.ContentType:=TheCType;
  Response.SetCustomHeader('content-disposition', 'attachment; filename=YourShortFileName));
 Except
 Response.SendRedirect('Your Error Handling Page')
 end;
end;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Great Website Icons - FREE web Graphics

2008-08-14T17:05:00.005-04:00

Being a jack of all trades is kinda hard sometimes. I'm not really that good at creating small icon graphics that websites can uses to represent various functionality of their websites.

I'm much better creating backgrounds, Logos, header graphics, tiles, etc... And of course the CSS, and the XHTML, and web application.

Even the site with the best content in the world has to have great website icons.

I am always scouring the Internet for great free graphics I can use on my various websites and in my applications.

The FINE, FINE folks over at FAMFAMFAM have some of the best free icon sets available all for free! Having released freeware myself in a variety of ways, it makes me feel good about the Internet as a whole when people take something that has taken both their time and talent, and made it freely available for anyone to use.

So kudos to you all famfamfam, and thanks for the free icons. Note: These icons come in .png format.

How To "Really" Make Application Splash Screen in Delphi

2008-08-12T18:01:00.020-04:00

Anybody else think Zarco Gajic is an idget sometimes? No seriously, I AM KIDDING. However, after looking at his how to create a splash screen in Delphi code, I realized to really make a cool splash screen in Delphi... something else would be needed.

This article will accomplish three things.

1. It will provide you code on how to prevent your application from running more than one instance.

2. It will create a splash screen that will show during your applications start up.

3. It will animate into view (fade) the splash screen. This effect although simple really adds "Splash" to your Delphi splash screen.

To Begin »

First those of you who are unfamiliar with how to view the source of your .EXE or Delphi project file simply right click in the Delphi project manager on the .exe and select view source.

That will open up the project source id the IDE editor window. Take a look at how your current source is laid out. It will appear similar to that below. Below is the full source code you will need to create the three effects outlined above.

You'll obviously need to create a new form and name it FrmSplash. Remove it from the available forms section via Projects » Options » Forms.

You'' also need to add "Windows", "Dialogs" & "Forms" if not present in the source's USES clause. Follow the code and it will dress up your Delphi application in a nice way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
program xyz;

uses
  Windows,
  Forms,
  Dialogs,
  MdiUnit in 'MdiUnit.pas' {FrmMain},

{$R *.res}

var
 MyProgramNameMutex: Thandle;
 I : Integer;

begin
   MyProgramNameMutex:=CreateMutex(nil, False, 'MyProgramNameMutex');
if WaitForSingleObject (MyProgramNameMutex, 0) <> Wait_TimeOut then
begin
  Application.Initialize;
  Application.Title := 'My Program Name';
//Create Splash Screen

with TFrmSplash.Create(nil) do

try
  Show;
  Update;

//  AnimateWindow(Handle, 1000, AW_HIDE Or AW_BLEND); Lame Code that don't work!~
for I := 0 to 255 do begin
   AlphaBlendValue := I;
   Sleep(10);
   Application.ProcessMessages;
   end;
  Application.CreateForm(TFrmMain, FrmMain);
 
finally
  Free;
 
end;
  Application.Run;
end
  
else begin
  MessageDlg(Application.Title+' is already running!!!', mterror, [mbok], 0);
  Application.BringToFront;
  Application.RestoreTopMosts;
 end;
end.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Making Div Layouts extend all the way to the bottom

2008-08-12T15:48:00.017-04:00

Here's a easy way to make divs "seemingly" extend all the way to the bottom of the page, even when the content distribution varies from sidebars. This technique applies to all two or three column CSS layouts. This only applies to fixed width CSS layout designs.

The first thing you want to do if you want to have different colors for your columns, other than the content container it to create a background image that you can apply as the background image for the containing DIV. As long as your CSS is fixed width for all your columns, which quite a lot are, your side columns will extend all the way to the bottom no matter even if one or more of your columns are empty. Make sure you apply "background: transparent;" to the columns and the content div containers.

Simply color in the width of each column in your favorite graphics editor, apply a border in between or even a drop shadow as your in-between borders. I've used this technique a bit and it works great without a bunch of CSS tricks. It is the easiest way to make your content columns to appear even, and using a graphic can often provide a much slicker interface for your site, providing you are subtle with the effect you use.

I hope this web design tip helps someone, as my goal it to help sites look and operate better.

Bug! Firefox Opens 2 Windows - Firefox Bug Fix Here

2008-08-12T01:15:00.005-04:00

Yep the newest version of Firefox (FireFox 3) still opens 2 windows. You can download a registry file from my website that corrects this 2 windows opening problem in the registry. This bug has been in Firefox for like... forever.

I still remains a mystery as to how this bug keeps slipping by the developers of this fine and dandy web browser, but it does. I can't remember where i got the .reg file but I've had it forever. I use it every time I upgrade Firefox, and it clears the problem up at least until Firefox is upgraded and up pop two windows.

This problem it getting a little annoying as in my security conscious mind, it's like???? What the crap why does two windows op up every-time I use the Windows address bar?

If someone could make this two window error open up a phishing site and the legitimate window, and they looked exactly alike, and the url looks identical, then what's the one you close? It it bothersome in that respect for me. I strongly urge that the FireFox team fix this bu with the 2 windows permanently.

Wikipedia full of spam YUM!

2008-08-11T23:59:00.004-04:00

Yep. Wikipedia is full of spam at least on the entry for freight payment service that I started years ago. Apparently users from Data2Logistics added a link inside along with a snippet. Since they provide freight payment service, how is this not SPAM? Tell me again, HOW IS THIS NOT SPAM?

Another reason wikipedia is full of crap. I used to be the webmaster for the Logistics Group, who also provided freight payment services. I didn't add our url to the entry, simply created to ORIGINAL entry, and linked to it from our site. Pretty smart way back in the day like five years ago.

Luckily the Wikipedia entry for freight payment service still comes up BEHIND my website: http://www.freightpayment.net. » BlogSwallow I say!

Yep! Cuil Still Sucks

2008-08-08T21:11:00.004-04:00

Cuil claims to index more pages than most other search engines. However, most of the top result are crap pages, and old pages at that. I mean with developers supposedly coming out of the Google camp to open this dog of a search engine, you think they would at least rank new content first.

When your site comes up first (in every other search engine that means anything) "Except CUIL", you know that anchor phrase you've been diligently linking with since time began... it's time to just quietly close your index, or do something to improve very quickly.

It also pretty much means that it (CUIL) doesn't factor in backlinks at all. Quality results are what is sorely lacking from Cuil and it takes more to run a search engine than sheer volume of index. I don't mind the layout, I don't mind the weird images that sometimes pop up, but when a snippet thief or a directory listing comes up before your own site, there's a fundamental flaw in the way Cuil indexes, and outputs top results.

Improvements are always possible, but heck, my internal site search displays better results than cuil does. Or course I am using DELPHI!

The Music City Madman

2008-07-20T23:43:00.002-04:00

I'm proud to announce that you can purchase the second edition of "The Music City Madman", a suspense novel by Stephen J. Hill (Me). Buy the new novel here. Enjoy a great suspenseful read by the new master of suspense and mystery... Stephen J. Hill

It was originally published in 2001, it was only available for about one month online. (Because the original POD publishers screwed me out of a deal with Anderson Austin. Anyway, it's been revised and republished.

Because of my many demands and a husband, father and business owner, it's taken a while to get it back on with a company I trust.

It's worth the wait!

Get Tagged Submit Site Error Repaired

2008-06-27T23:57:00.002-04:00

Just a quick updated about decoding the web The submit error when you go to submit site has been fixed. What happened was that the physical directory on disk had been changed, and within the isapi the update was not reflected, so it was trying to create a temp file in a non-existent directory.

Sorry about anyone who tried to post their website the DecodingTheWeb.Com recently. Please try it again, and I'm sure the web app will save your website. Thanks and again sorry about the submit site error.

Delphi Apps ! Speed Them Up

2008-04-04T00:11:00.004-04:00

If you work with Borland Delphi... then you probably would like to speed up your load time, your application's speed, and make everything faster.

Here's what to do. Use Application.ProcessMessages;

If you are using TwebBrowser, put this on OnProgressChange event. Makes web pages load instantly.

Use this command is your .EXE source, and it loads twice as fast. Use this in any loop. You'll thank yourself.

Back to coding.

Seagate Mirra - Annoyances - Annoying

2007-08-07T11:37:00.000-04:00

Like all good developers, I have a backup system. As I have literally over a million file that I need to back up on a regular basis, I chose the Seagate Mirra. For its network functionality, local availability, and sleek design.

Now It's had a few issues that were recently corrected by a patch, but I'm talking about the specific issue of Mirra's apparent file locking.

For example: I'm running a program through my development environment. This program creates a temporary file, and the deletes this file (over and over and over) Now the problem with this scenario is that when this file gets locked by the Mirra, my application can't create it again, and therefore my app fails. Perhaps my app could work around this, but I hardly think that it's worth it to me to redesign my application, to take into account someone else's created annoyance. Perhaps I was ten minutes though a thirty minute process? It's quite a pain in my ***.

Now every time I am working on a program that creates a temporary file in a folder being backed up by the Seagate Mirra, I have to disable the Mirra. Otherwise, I lose countless minutes and ever hours of productivity daily.

Perhaps Seagate can look into the way they process files. Like check to see if the file is in use, or has been created with the last .xxx seconds? Anyway that's my gripe for the day!

Best Free Directories

2007-08-06T08:35:00.001-04:00

Here are some of the best free directories on the net. Use them to add your website link for free. Enjoy...

Directory Archives

Turnpike Emporium Directory

Windows Live Search Submit Page

Yahoo Site Submit

Submit Express - Free Search Engine Submission

Web World Index

iMegaMall Directory

Link Centre

SoMuch

SEO King

Ranking WebSite Directory

PortalIT Web Gallery

Net Insert - Must Add A Custom Meta-Tag To Page To Get In!

NeoRunner

County, City, State, Zip Code Data

2007-08-06T06:44:00.000-04:00

Hello, and here's some important news from Twilight Surfers Development.

We just finished a new website that will help the public find any information related to any city, state or county in America. We feature links, latitudes, longitudes, time zones, area codes, and of course, targeted ads from Google. We think it's laid out real nice, for to make it easy for surfers to find the city data that they're searching for. check it out. The link is in the title.

The Music City Madman - A novel of terror & suspense

2007-07-01T18:32:00.000-04:00

A new project for me, I am publishing my 1st novel online for the world to read for free. I would rather some get to enjoy the book for what it has to offer than let it collect dust. This book took me seven years to write, and although it was a great learning experience for me, I believe it has some fine writing in it, and I hope those who do enjoy it will tell others.

Look for the entire manuscript online for free very soon.

The book was originally published through AuthorHouse several years ago when they were 1stBooks Library. Needless to say I wasn't pleased with their service, and I pulled the book from their stock.

What happened was that I had gotten a deal through Anderson Austin News, a big distributor for fiction interested, and they agreed to sell the book in airports, and grocery stores everywhere, but 1stBooks didn't want to sell the book cheap enough, and they handled what could have been a great situation with disdainful ignorance.

Anyway, here we are years later, and the book is available to freely read online. The project should be up and running within a week or two, as I just have the first page of the website up today. Then I have to build a web publishing tool to convert the book into individual web pages. The process shouldn't take all that long.

SiteMapper Tsd Software on eBay

2007-06-29T02:32:00.001-04:00

Look for some great new software in a couple of weeks on eBay... I am building a XML SiteMap creation tool for release as a very inexpensive application for maintain complex sitemaps.

It will allow for creation from url, or local folders, create a html version of the map, and exclude dynamic urls, or filter out file extension not to list. Perfect for the busy web developer. Built in the TSD style, that is "Ease of Use!"

I think it will be a hit, and about 4.99! It will be powerful, and cost effective, as well as easy to use. I like about fourteen hours on it, of course where will I find that many hours ???

Also an update on Structured Site. After my announcement below, a lot of stuff went on, and I haven't had a chance to finish that software. It is extremely complicated, with dozens of components, OOP! I think sometimes, I'm almost done, and... then I think about another innovative feature that I want it to have, and when I release this thing, it will be the bomb baby...

Well, too many irons in the fire as they say, as I have one robot returning data, one website publishing tool running, and Delphi begging me to code, all while tying to get more pages indexed for my clients, and myself.

I better get back to it.

Technorati Membership

2007-06-29T02:19:00.000-04:00

Hello, The Blog Owner... Here's My Technorati Profile

Online Poetry Library Lounge - Read & Submit Poetry

2007-06-13T00:52:00.000-04:00

Please check out the newly designed and implemented PoetryBrowser.Com. I designed and built this website for the hundreds of online users that used to use the old version of the online poetry library which was always a hobby. The last version I built of the poetry library was built in a couple of days.

I have spent over a full week. The site now requires a free author account. From inside the online poetry library's "My Office" link, authors can post or edit their poetry that's in the library, or comment about other users' poetry.

Online authors that choose to save their poetry for display in the online poetry library lounge can delete offensive comments that other users can post about the poetry. In this way, PoetryBrowser.Com allows authors complete control over their library community experience. Their is a extensive profanity filter in place, so that shouldn't be an issue. Only other authors can post comments, or poetry. The poems themselves go through a profanity filter as well, so I am trying to keep this library family friendly.

Authors may choose to post in one of eighteen categories defined by the webmaster. Although much of the site is dynamic, the poems and poem category indexes are actually static pages, for SEO reasons.

The poetry library lounge pages, and the office functionality require log in. Once logged in, those pages are completly dynamic and from your PoetryBrowser office, you can comment on other poems, and edit your own content.

The library gets published several times daily. Don't call it a poetry blog! It's the online poetry library.

So if you love to read and write poetry, check out the new site by Twilight Surfers - PoetryBrowser.Com

Structured Site Web Editor HTML editor site builder

2007-01-22T16:04:00.000-05:00

Note this link won't be live till later on today, due to the fact I'm blogging at work. "The joys of working for yourself!" Anyway, I thought I would announce the imminent release of some new Twilight Surfers Software. The application is a full-featured HTML editor and site builder. I've been working on this program for nearly a year, and it's the third full version, yet the only one to be available to the public. I plan on releasing the software by the 1st of March. It should be available by then for sure. I have to just write the integration / installation routines.

Structured Site is unlike any html editor that I know of, it's slick, fast, has integrated publishing capabilities, database page storage, integrated file and image browser, built in javascript and html code libraries. Let's you get work done fast, keep all your sites in a database, publish in a couple steps. I plan on selling ten billion copies and retiring to a private island. The demonstration version will not allow publishing even to hard disk, and I hope I've thought up and good method to protect the application from those darned crackers.

Check the link for all the goodies that Structured Site will contain... But here's a quick breakdown in case your too lazy to click!

Image Conversion

Centralized Image Library

Multiple CSS File Support

Handles all Web Type (File Types)

Javascript Library

Color Scheme Generator

Color Pickup from screen

On Screen Ruler

Dictionary

Thesaurus

Integrated Shortcut for Helper Apps

Creates Navigation from files, open windows, or site files!!!

Integrated W3c Validation

Check with Tidy

Never look for another missing web page. Never have to look for images. Never
have to look for your favorite JavaScript.
Twilight Surfers Structured Site is the web developer's answer to common
time-consuming web design tasks.
Tired of cluttered Toolbars, that essentially do squat???
Let Structured Site's clean and usable interface delight you with quick design
times, and everything you need to keep coding right at your fingertips!

There's a lot I didn't list, and from the description, I'm sure you developers are surely salivating!

I can't wait myself...