Victorelu » tutorial

Fast PHP Header Output Error Fix

Victor — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:27:16 +0000

Story has it, I have different settings for the development server on my computer (Apache, classic, personal installation..) and my server from iWeb. As a noob that I was and since I was way behind the schedule with one of the projects, I decided to use some header location redirects in php which did not give any error on the development server but once they were put online…

My code: header("location:blabla.php");

Warning:  Cannot modify header information - headers already sent  by (output started at  [..]/connect.php:11) in [..]/general_action2.php on line 45

The website uses a session based authentication which, obviously needs a session_start() function to work. After spending a couple of minutes trying to switch all the actions from form-actioned-based to AJAX, I decided to write some dirty code and patch the things up. For now, at least…

print '';

I’ll be damned if I can suggest this option to anyone who wants to do some serious business but is efficient for the times when you need a fast fix.

I’m scared

Victor — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:25:01 +0000

I’ll be leaving from Skjoldhoj kollegiet in around 30 minutes and I just realized that I am scared. It wouldn’t be hard to realize that considering I didn’t get much sleep last night because of a huge heart beat but nobody said I’m too smart, eh?

It’s the first time I feel so afraid of flying. It’s not because of the snow, the take off or the landing. It’s more about the destination and the shock that flying brings into ones heart and mind. One minute you’re in one shithole, next thing you know, you’re in another one, waiting for the flight to your next shithole.

I don’t know how home is going to be like but I do hope it will be alright. I took all the books I have (either in .pdf or in .paper formats) and in case I am left out of things to do, I might as well start studying for the exams in January, right? Meh, I have to see how things are like though.

I had to pack more stuff than needed just to have the luggage more full. That’s embarrassing but I have no clue how that happened. I mean, did I lose some clothes since August? Did I drop anything anywhere and forgot to pick it up? Fockin’ hell, this is odd.

So, going back to the flying part, here are some tips when you book plane tickets (just personal experience):

they are always cheaper on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
before buying a plane ticket, be sure to check more than one agency to see if there is any other cheaper combination. Ignore expedia, they are a piece of shit.
think large so even think about buying both sides of the flight by yourself. Say you want to go from Aarhus to Bucharest, like me, there are multiple options: 1) go to copenhagen and then travel with scandinavian airlines, austrian airlines, malev or czech airlines (even finnair had routes this summer), 2) go to billund, fly to milano with ryanair and then to bucharest with wizzair, 3) fly from aarhus to london (ryanair) then from london to bucharest (blueair), 4) fly from aarhus to london (ryanair), london to milano (ryanair), milano to bucharest (wizzair). Any combination is possible but you have to take care when buying the tickets.

This would be about it. Hope I’ll have a pleasant journey and speak soon, guys. If I get the chance, I might post something on my twitter account. All the best!

The story of a Facebook spoofing

Victor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:06:23 +0000

How did it all start?

So there I was on a lonely Thursday evening, trying to do something if not cultural, at least interesting. I couldn’t find anything and I ended up on my facebook’s news feed and here’s what I saw:

I honestly don’t know the girl who posted that message nor do I keep in close contact with the person who had this thing posted on her wall. I did however felt like something was wrong. Therefore, I clicked on the link. Using any bullet proof browser like.. well, anything else except Internet Explorer. In my case, Mozilla. And I got to the following screen:

Well, that was pretty expected. I don’t know, however, who would attempt to hijack some facebook accounts. My best bet goes towards some Farmville or Mafia Wars maniacs but I am not pointing any names yet. So, anyway, since I’m not afraid of getting any virus/malware/whatever (yeah, I’m that cool), I ignored the warning.

How to tell if you’re in the course of a forgery?

First of all, it’s obvious I didn’t fill out that form. I did however go this far in order to show you how to easily detect a spoofing. If you haven’t realized this so far, spoofing is the term used for a web page which has the same design as one of your usual login pages but it’s sole purpose is to steal your account info. Spoofing can occur on any type of web site that deals with data: internet banking, e-mail, social media and so on.

Therefore, let’s go back to the screenshot. The first thing that should get you alerted is that big thick red bar which would be present right under your tabs. It only appears there if you’re using mozilla and my guess is that if you’re using mozilla, you wouldn’t need me to point the other two clues:

That’s not a facebook address. Period. Whenever you enter any personal information into any forms on the internet, always check if the domain you are sending the info to is the one you expect it to be. Well, not on any form. Nobody really cares to steal e-mails from the e-mail newsletter service but that’s a whole other thing.
Facebook without full language support? Come on, the guys have 300 million user accounts, worldwide and you expect them to show question marks ( ???????? ) instead of the actual Japanese or Chinese characters?

What to do if things went too far?

Basically, if your account has been compromised, there is only one thing you can do except praying: changing your password. If you don’t do that, you will never be able to sleep peacefully. Nightmares will haunt you and by the time you wake up, compromising stuff will be posted from your account to your friends walls.

If your password has already been reset, you should immediately reset the password yourself, with the help of the e-mail that you have registered your facebook account with. If you don’t have access to that account anymore, my suggestion is to contact Facebook in order to resolve the problem.

Conclusion

That would be about it. This has not been the first or the last guide against spoofing but there is always a lack of tutorials on this theme. Surf safe and don’t do drugs!

Web Design and Development useful links

Victor — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:07:42 +0000

I’ve been stuck with this flu for quite some time now and the fever just won’t let me go. I guess I’m just too lovely hee hee.

So, anyway, I’ve decided to publish my list of bookmarks. These have helped me hundreds of times and most of them are worth at least one glance. Don’t forget that from time to time, I also post some interesting links on my twitter account so, go ahead and follow me

CSS Related

Design Related (useful materials)

Typography and other design related bookmarks

Javascript, jQuery, PHP, WordPress and so on…

I hope you’ll find something useful among these links. Some of them are real gold!

Tutorial: How to make your dreams come true?

Victor — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:30:48 +0000

So here is another one of those great tutorials I usually write. Do as I did and all your dreams shall come true.

1. I went to bed
2. I fell asleep.
3. I had a dream
4. I dreamed that I was eating an orange.
5. I woke up.
6. I ate an orange.

Try doing the same thing. It has to work!

Bath? Shower?

Victor — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:23:16 +0000

There is one saying that says: You only realize how much you cared about someone until you have lost him. Try to imagine the same saying but refer it to an action rather than a person. This is what the following rows are about…

Ever since my departure from Romania last winter, I knew that I was about to face the ultimate disaster: my human right of taking a normal bath inside a bath tub would be withdrawn from the list of my possible actions. Not only had I known that I would be coming back to my shared bathtubless bathroom in Skjoldhoj kollegiet but I also had a feeling that I would get close to July without having the privilege of a normal bath. I was speaking with a very dear friend of mine about baths and my nostalgy regarding this topic popped back in my mind, bringing a lot of memories that simply make my body shiver in delight thinking about the upcoming evening of the 2nd of July: I will spend 1 or 2 hours in my bath tub in Bucharest, enjoying that bath like it would be my last.

What I am really curious about is the way you guys (and gals of course) adjust the temperature of the water in the bathtub. I have had a series of disturbing experiences sometime ago and I think I have discovered the perfect strategy (alright, it might have some flaws but it’s close to perfect anyway) of adjusting the water temperature. I got you curios, haven’t I? Meh, first let me tell you one of the disturbing experiences I was telling you about earlier.

As you probably know, I hav always been a multitasking kind of guy. This means that I used to let the water pour inside the bathtub and then do something else in the amount of time left until the bathtub would be filled with water. So, when the time came, I went back in the bathroom, got naked, took a sit on the edge of the bathtub and shoved a foot inside the water. AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH it was so damn fucking frigging extra super uber HOT ! I pulled out the foot and started screaming my lungs out due to the pain. I swear, the water was so hot that I couldn’t even put my hand to raise the lid that holds the water in the tub. Ever since happenings like this, I do the following:

I make sure the temperature inside the bathroom fits my temperature standards (which have lowered since I am a Danish resident) which means that I can stay in my underwear and not get any goosebumps or shivering because of the cold.
I only let the warm/hot water flow and fill 5-6 centimeters of the bathtub and then I get inside. (don’t worry about putting your bottom inside extremely hot water. the temperature of the bathtub combined with the temperature of the water will result in a very pleasant water to sit in.
You then settle the water flow to your desired temperature, making sure to check from time to time whether or not you still feel comfortable.
Stop the water when you get to the safety point. The safety point is the point where if you put more water inside the bathtub and put your head inside the water, water pours outside of the tub.

Well, those being said, I wish you a pleasant bath like the one I am so dreaming of (I don’t want to take anymore showers but I have to) and I would like to ask you what your actions into taking a perfect bath are

Tutorial: Get a cool error with Firefox

Victor — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:05:48 +0000

I was trying to work on a small random layout for our new project and I decided to structure the website in some files: header.php , sidebar.php, content.php and footer.php . Well, these are just raw pieces of information, let’s get to the cool error

You take file number 1.php where you put the next line :

header(“location: 2.php”);

then you go to 2.php and you add the next line:

include(“1.php”);

And you get the following error. How cool is that?