vujsa

I'm sorry to hear that you can't get your script to work but that isn't a reason to start a second topic about the same thing you already started a topic about and doesn't change the fact the the host name for the Xisto server is "localhost"! Now, considering what you said before about other hosts that you have had also not working leads me to believe that the problem isn't the servers but rather the user! You ask a very cryptic question before referring to you local system and remote server as well as things you need that don't concern the problem such as CRON jobs etc and expect us to magically solve your problem. Now, please try to explain what it is that you are trying to do and we will attempt to help you! From what I've gathered, you want to run a script on your local system but use the Xisto MySQL server which as I explained before isn't possible. The Xisto MySQL server is not accessible from other IP addresses so if you try to use host: localhost from your local system, the script looks for a MySQL server on you local system which is what localhost means. localhost = this machine Now, if you have installed a script on the Xisto server and still cannot get it to connect to the MySQL server, then we can probably help you. vujsa

Thank you for your reply. I think that I have a method to use for this idea. Since all of the date will be in a MySQL database, I can utilize some of the built in functions to some pattern matching.For example, if each user's record included a list (text list maybe comma separated), then using a FULL TEXT search of user A's list against the users database table would return the closest user matches to user A. Then a number of "matching" records can be used to make suggestions from. This along with manual pattern suggestions would offer the greatest probability of providing the user with suggestions they would be interested in. To make the system more complex, I think that providing the user with a wish list that could also be searched against would provide an even greater number of accurate product suggestions.So what I thought, since I will rely on MySQL to do most of the work is cycle through each "matching" list and eliminate any items that are the same in the query list. That would only leave items that might be suggested from the "matching" list. Then we store that list of possible suggestions and move to the next "matching" list.When done with each of the "matching" lists, we will have an array of suggested lists. We then eliminate any item in each list that is not found in any other list which provides us with a list of items that might be good suggestions.The key would be to focus the suggestions based on how relevant it is. For example, if the number of matching lists returned is quite high, they can be ordered by how closely they match and only the top 20 could be used. Then only add an item to the suggestions if it appears in 3 or more lists.Unfortunately, I have so many projects right now I can't start on the system. Not to mention, I still need to create a CMS to base future systems on. Seems like every time I think I have a chance to catch up, another freelance job comes up.vujsa

Well, I came to review applications but instead I'm replying to this topic. In addition to my Admin duties around here, I have a full time job with a variable schedule, my own website to mange, and I do freelance programing on the side. Did I mention that I have two little boys that need my attention and transportation.So, I'm sorry if this website isn't my highest priority but I remember a time when applications took a month or more to get reviewed which is why I took the job. The application review process isn't as easy as everyone thinks if done correctly.To begin with, I have to read most of your posts, check your credits, then if found worthy, I approve your account and post a reply.If all does not go well, I have to determine if the junk posts are copied, spam, too small, or just generally bad and quarantine them or delete them and either issue a warning or ban the user all without deleting too many good member's posts and cause them to lose credits.So the process can take from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the user's issues.Now, I'll go and look at the applications.vujsa

Well, just to be sure that we know the basics here.You cannot access the MySQL server on Xisto from anywhere but Xisto. It isn't available to the outside world. Thus, "localhost". Which means that the MySQL server is at the same address (IP address) as the Apache Server (cPanel account).So you can't access the Xisto MySQL server from a script on your home's computer, etc...If the script and MySQL server are on the same machine (Your Free Xisto account), then you first need to create a database and then a username for that database under cPanel: MySQL DatabasesSee, since we offer unlimited MySQL databases with your account, we don't automatically create any for you. Many host allow only 1 database so the database is automatically created when the account is created and as a result, your cPanel username and password is probably used which is a bad idea.After you create the database, you create the user and be sure to write the password down that you use because you can't change it or find a lost one, you have to delete the user and create a new one.Then apply permissions to that user.You then have a MySQL database that is ready for use with scripts on the Xisto server.Hope This Helps,vujsa

Since I started using AdSense, I have averaged $0.21 per click. This includes click income as well as impression income. So, I have an average cost per 1000 impressions of $0.73!So I average about 3.5 clicks per 1000 ad impressions.Of course, if I use more recent figures instead of everything since I started, my averages get much better.I still average $0.21 per click but my average cost per 1000 impressions is $0.91.That translates to 4.3 clicks per 1000 ad impressions.This means that the ads I'm showing now are more likely to get clicked on and more importantly, I am getting a lot more visitors so that means that I am getting many more impressions.I don't have a way to determine my true cost per 1000 ad impressions without the click data but I imagine it is about $0.01!I really need to improve my content to attract higher paying ads but for now, I'm doing okay with the traffic I have compared to the income I generate.Hope this helps.vujsa

Oddly enough, I know how you feel. http://forums.xisto.com/topic/94583-topic/?findpost=1064381048 I'm not sure if the install command is the same in Ubuntu but you should just need to install the missing package. At the very least, try and guess the package name that you need to install. Maybe something like this: yum install man/Makefile Wait until you try and do a PHP build, there are about 10 packages that you'll need to install. Your problem with the MySQL installation is different then my PHP installation and I'm not very experienced with Linux but I hope this will put you on the right path. vujsa

More than likely, the software that you attempted to load there was protected in some manner, formated in an incompatible way, or corrupt! If a reboot doesn't resolve your issue, then I don't see how you can get to the information you want! Reboots usually release folders or files that the system has restricted access to because of the other user / program using the file error. Perhapes if you told us what you were trying to do with the data, we could help you better. vujsa

I may be able to write a script in PHP that will do the job for you but I would need a little data.Perhaps a list of 10 filenames and their corresponding spreadsheet match. I could then run a few tests to see how to best write the script.It would probably start by building an array for each then bridge them so that item 1 in array1 was the match in array2 etc...Then just rename file with name in array1 with the name from the same in array2.I'll await your reply.vujsa

On several occasions, I have attempted to install Linux on my computer in a dual boot format to learn how to use Linux and more importantly, learn how to set up a web server. In the past, I have installed a couple of versions of Red Hat, Unbuntu, Gentoox, GoblinX, and now a couple of versions of Fedora Core. The only thing all of these have in common is that installation is problematic at best. While most distributions of Linux include all the required software to set up a server, I have never been able to realy get it done. Finding where Apache's configuration file is is difficult so you'll be pretty irritated before you manage to make any changes to it. Next, where do your web documents go? Where and how do you use MySQL and forget about FTP for now! In the past I have been able to setup a test server on my computer in Windows which is not an easy task and recently I wasn't able to duplicate the process with the newest versions of PHP, Apache, and MySQL. Additionally, the windows version is not nearly the same as the Linux version. I have an old computer just sitting around so I decided to try it again! This time I did some research and found a guide that was almost exactly the procedure I wanted to follow! How to install Fedora Core 4 Server with the latest Apache, MySQL and PHP support (including --with-mysql in PHP 5) Fedora Core 6 was the newest version I could find on CD ISO's. The DVD drive in that computer is dead. Since I want to test my scripts using mysqli and mysql functions, I really wanted to recompile PHP as explained in the tutorial mentioned. The guide is very thorough but differences between the versions of Fedora Core are not compatible with the procedures... For example, when the installer asks what type of setup you want to install, you'll select "Web Server" instead of "Server". (Step 3) Also on that page, you want to be sure to select the option to install additional packages NOW! Otherwise, you can't select "Gnome, Graphical Internet, Graphic, FTP, MySQL, and Development Tools" as directed. (Steps 5 & 6) If you will be dual booting, you really need to review and modify your disk formating and settings since this is where you set up your GRUB boot loader. Your last chance to make changes to the installation setting is when the installer tells you which disks will be needed for the job. This may be different if installing from a DVD instead! Go ahead and do the installation. (Step 7) After the installation, you'll have to create a default user as described in the guide. (Step 8) *** The rest of the procedures will be performed as this user! Do not use ROOT *** Your first task as described by the guide is to update the server related software.Note, the terminal shortcut may be Applications>Accessories>Terminal (Step 9) Here is where you are likely to encounter your first error message... (Step 11) yum update apache mysql phpYou'll probably get the following: Existing lock /var/run/yum.pid: another copy is running. Aborting.You may or may not have noticed when you logged in that the Software Updater has a number of updates waiting. That program is using yum so you'll have wait until it is done and go ahead and install those updates with the Software Updater. Once done, you should be able to proceed with the update task as described in the tutorial. Of course, since you just updated a bunch of software, the server related software may have already been updated for you. Follow the guide to be sure! Your next pitfall is the PHP configure section of the guide. I'm afraid I don't have any easy way to show you how to do this. When you attempt to configure PHP, it will stop as soon as it identifies a single error in the process. So if you have 5 errors in your configuration procedure, then you'll need to repeat the process 5 times at least! For example, you have an error and the process stops. You fix the error and start over then a new error is found. etc... It would be nice if there was a way to have the configuration program continue to the end of the procedure and report all of the errors at once but I don't know of any. Since this process is so frustrating without needing to find the resolution to every error, I'll try to show you how to resolve most of the problems without searching the internet. You run the following as described in the guide: (Step 20) ./configure '--build=i386-redhat-linux' '--host=i386-redhat-linux' '--target=i386-redhat-linux-gnu' '--program-prefix=' '--prefix=/usr' '--exec-prefix=/usr' '--bindir=/usr/bin' '--sbindir=/usr/sbin' '--sysconfdir=/etc' '--datadir=/usr/share' '--includedir=/usr/include' '--libdir=/usr/lib' '--libexecdir=/usr/libexec' '--localstatedir=/var' '--sharedstatedir=/usr/com' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--cache-file=../config.cache' '--with-libdir=lib' '--with-config-file-path=/etc' '--with-config-file-scan-dir=/etc/php.d' '--disable-debug' '--with-pic' '--disable-rpath' '--with-bz2' '--with-curl' '--with-exec-dir=/usr/bin' '--with-freetype-dir=/usr' '--with-png-dir=/usr' '--enable-gd-native-ttf' '--without-gdbm' '--with-gettext' '--with-gmp' '--with-iconv' '--with-jpeg-dir=/usr' '--with-openssl' '--with-png' '--without-pspell' '--with-expat-dir=/usr' '--with-pcre-regex=/usr' '--with-zlib' '--with-layout=GNU' '--enable-exif' '--enable-ftp' '--enable-magic-quotes' '--enable-sockets' '--enable-sysvsem' '--enable-sysvshm' '--enable-sysvmsg' '--enable-track-vars' '--enable-trans-sid' '--enable-yp' '--enable-wddx' '--with-pear=/usr/share/pear' '--with-kerberos' '--enable-ucd-snmp-hack' '--without-unixODBC' '--enable-memory-limit' '--enable-shmop' '--enable-calendar' '--enable-dbx' '--enable-dio' '--with-mime-magic=/etc/httpd/conf/magic' '--without-sqlite' '--with-libxml-dir=/usr' '--with-xml' '--with-apxs2=/usr/sbin/apxs' '--with-mysql' '--without-gd' '--without-odbc' '--disable-dom' '--disable-dba' And you get the following: configure: error: xml2-config not found. Please check your libxml2 installation.Fix with this: yum install libxml2-devel Or you get: configure: error: Please reinstall the libcurl distribution - easy.h should be in <curl-dir>/include/curl/Fix with this: yum install libcurl-devel Or you get: configure: error: Could not find pcre.h in /usrFix with this: yum install pcre-devel Or maybe you get: configure: error: Cannot find MySQL header files under yes. Note that the MySQL client library is not bundled anymore!Fix with this: yum install mysql-devel Hopefully you will notice the pattern here. The missing or problem item name in the error statement is usually the first part of the package to be installed.Here is the format: yum install problemname-devel I suggest that you try and guess the correct name of the package you need to install before you go looking for the solution somewhere else. If the name isn't correct, then the installer will just tell you that it didn't do anything so you'll need to search for the answer on the internet. This could save you a lot of time. I had about 10 of these little errors come up so figuring out this shortcut after the third one saved me a bunch of time! Once you have successfully installed the missing package, repeat the process as described in the guide. (Step 20) Continue following the guide and if you run into any errors on the way that you can't resolve, copy the error message and paste it into the search box for your favorite search engine. Remember, if you don't get a decent hit on one search engine, another might find your solution. I usually don't click a link unless nearly the entire error message is matched exactly how it was given to me. Hopefully, this will save you all of the time I wasted trying to figure this stuff out. You will no doubt experience many more difficulties as you attempt to set up your "server" but this will at least get you the right software to begin the process. By the way, there is a nice text editor that you can edit in that is easier to use than the terminal editor but you can't edit "ROOT" owned files from your user with this tool! vujsa

YAY, I WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad I could help. I actually answered this topic twice. I wrote a nice reply then decided not to submit it because I wasn't sure if you were storing your session data in a database. If you were storing all of the information in the server's session path, then the process is much different and I'm not sure how I would do it much less try and explain to you how to do it. Then after reading the other replies, I decided to go ahead and reply. I'm a huge fan of having what ever user is online currently trigger global system events like this. Of course, if you site isn't very busy then it won't work very well but if it isn't busy, then there would be anyone there to notice that everyone is still logged in. Good Luck, vujsa

I'm not sure what you are wanting here. You said that you don't have the resources to turn your PC into a server but you have enough to use it as a virtual PC? The virtual PC software creates these virtual PC's on your system so that in effect, you would have a window running WIN98, a window running WINXP, and your main OS would be WIN Vista... So, you'll be using the memory and CPU resources for each OS at the same time plus the Virtual PC software... Additionally, I'm not sure if you can use Linux as one of the virtual machines. If you aren't using Linux, then you might as well just use your current OS as the server by installing Apache, PHP, MySQL for Windows. There are several All-In-One packages for this type of "TEST" server or you can do it manually. Running such server software in the background of your Windows system will use much fewer resources than running virtual machines. I may have missed what you were asking but if you just want to run a PHP based CMS on your PC, then there is a lot of information on this forum as well as all over the internet about that. I personally run a Windows version of Apache, PHP, MySQL, and PERL on my system which allows me to test scripts without the need to upload files after every change. I also provide to friends and family the address to my system to let them view photos and videos I have on my computer. Cheaper than burning a CD or DVD every time one of the kids has a birthday. Keep in mind, You have to have one of the following Operating Systems to host Virtual PC: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition And you your "GUEST" OS can be from the following: Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition; Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me); Windows 2000 Professional; Windows XP Home Edition; Windows XP Professional; Windows Vista Enterprise; Windows Vista Business; Windows Vista Ultimate; OS/2 Warp Version 4 Fix Pack 15, OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 1, OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 2 You'll need to purchase each OS used either as "HOST" or "GUEST"! For more information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/products/windows Hope this helps. vujsa

What if anything is the script outputting right now. try this to see if it is working. $offset_time = 24 * 60 * 60;$query = "SELECT turnsusedup FROM tbl_ship WHERE shipid='$shipid' AND (UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - UNIX_TIMESTAMP(turnsusedup) > $offset_time)";$sql = mysql_query($query) or die("Line 52: " . mysql_error()); if (isset($sql)){ echo $query . "<br>\n"; while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) { echo $row[0] . "<br>\n"; } }print_r($row); Also, you might want to see what you are having returned without the IF statement: $offset_time = 24 * 60 * 60;$query = "SELECT turnsusedup FROM tbl_ship WHERE shipid='$shipid' AND (UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - UNIX_TIMESTAMP(turnsusedup) > $offset_time)";$sql = mysql_query($query) or die("Line 52: " . mysql_error()); echo $query . "<br>\n"; while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) { echo $row[0] . "<br>\n"; $data[] = $row; }echo "<pre>";print_r($data);echo "</pre>"; Additionally, the query I gave you wasn't written to check for EXACTLY 24 hours since it is unlikely that your script will ever run exactly 24 hours after the event. The query checks to see if 24 hours or more have passed. I'm sorry, my database skills have gotten a little rusty since I started using database classes which has made me lazy. vujsa

That sounds about right but I don't have the time right now to set up a test database and script to test it for you... My suggestion is to run a few tests... $sql = mysql_query("SELECT turnsusedup FROM tbl_ship WHERE shipid='$shipid' AND (UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - UNIX_TIMESTAMP(turnsusedup) > (24 *60 *60))") or die("Line 52: " . mysql_error()); if (isset($sql)){ echo "Record found!"; }But remember, if you do not specify a specific record to look at, then many records may be returned. As a result, the first record may not be the only record and may not be the one you want. Also, you can have the offset time set as a PHP variable: $offset_time = 24 * 60 * 60;$sql = mysql_query("SELECT turnsusedup FROM tbl_ship WHERE shipid='$shipid' AND (UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - UNIX_TIMESTAMP(turnsusedup) > $offset_time)") or die("Line 52: " . mysql_error()); if (isset($sql)){ echo "Record found!"; }By using a couple of variables in your query, you can actually perform a few tests easier. For example, if you change the time to a small value, then you can probably return more results at once. I suggest echoing each result returned and echoing the original query: $offset_time = 24 * 60 * 60;$query = "SELECT turnsusedup FROM tbl_ship WHERE shipid='$shipid' AND (UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - UNIX_TIMESTAMP(turnsusedup) > $offset_time)";$sql = mysql_query($query) or die("Line 52: " . mysql_error()); if (isset($sql)){ echo $query . "<br>\n"; while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql)) { echo $row[0] . "<br>\n"; } }This will show you exactly what your query looks like to the server and what results if any it is returning. This type of testing is very helpful for not only finding problems with your code but also getting more familiar with how the process works. I found that by seeing seeing how a complex query filled with several PHP variable looks to the server, I can write better queries. My SQL skills really improved after I started echoing additional information from the script like this. Hope this helps, vujsa

I'm assuming that you store your session data in a database.Instead of using a CRON job, I suggest placing code in you main script to run every time a page is requested. This way the next user activates the script that cleans up your session table. Like so: UPDATE table_session SET active = 0 WHERE session_time < UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - 20*60 AND active = 1 Update all active records in table_session to inactive where session_time is less than the the current time minus 20 minutes.This will add one additional SQL query to each page load but will provide you with an auto-logout system for users that don't log out.You could also reset the last session time to when the user should have been logged out... UPDATE table_session SET active = 0, session_time = session_time + 20 * 60 WHERE session_time < UNIX_TIMESTAMP() - 20*60 AND active = 1 This way you would be able to see when the user was logged out if you care. Be sure you limit the search query to active sessions only to reduce server load and place an index on that column would assist the server further. By using the UPDATE query, the script does two jobs at once, it looks for expired sessions and updates the information as needed. There is no need to run a SELECT query in this case since you should need to return any data at this time and the items you would select are the ones that need to be updated anyway. UPDATE do its thing and if there are no records to update then it will just return zero rows affected...Hope this helps. :rolleyes:vujsa

Your phpBB3 installation want to know what PHP functions to use for your installation. This is puzzling since most systems that can use a variety of SQL functions have the ability to choose the correct set automatically!For example, Joomla checks the version of PHP installed and if the mysqli functions are included, then that is what it uses since those are the better choice. If you have a server with PHP 5, then by default, the mysql functions are not supported and only the mysqli functions will work. Most hosts turn the mysql functions on to avoid problems with older script installations that are only able to use the older functions.The only reason that the installer asks is because different versions of SQL software use different PHP functions and it needs to know which functions to use. For Xisto, you can use mysql and mysqli for any MySQL database you setup!Again, the program really should just check and use the proper functions automatically but then again, when did phpBB do what makes sense.To explain, Postgre SQL, is just the name of the SQL software you could use like MySQL or MS-SQL. That's right Microsoft has their on SQL version as well...The MS-SQL version isn't as popular as the other two mostly because Windows servers aren't quite as popular. MySQL is most popular since is is most easily supported by PHP. Since PHP is such a popular choice for web development, MySQL benefits from that relationship.vujsa

There was a dispute among the developers of Mambo some time ago. I don't recall what the dispute was about but quite a few of the developers left the Mambo project and started the Joomla project. Basically, since Mambo was open source, they simply took the latest version of Mambo, updated it, and renamed it Joomla.So the first release of Joomla was was very similar to the Mambo release around the same time. Many of the extensions for Mambo continue to work with Joomla prior to Joomla 1.5. Best of all, I have yet to find a Mambo template that was compatible with Joomla. I imagine that Joomla has about as many extensions made for it as Mambo has but they are a lot easier to find. In fact, the entire Joomla website is easier to navigate. I remember I used to search for extensions for Mambo and it would take days to find what I wanted since the repository was so poorly organized. Then there were dozens of websites that had other extensions listed that weren't in the Mambo repository.As far as I know, the current JoomlaHacks SMF-Joomla bridge will work for the current version of SMF. I have actually tested this bridge and found that it is much better than the official bridge. But I decided a long time ago, that I would not use a bridged forum with Joomla. There is always some little issue or limitation that pops up when you use bridges. For example, since the 2 programs have their own user system, keeping things in sync can be an issue. What I really disliked most was when a user logged out of one, he may not get logged out of the other or even more irritating, when a user logged into Joomla, he wasn't logged onto SMF as well. If the bridge can't handle cross system log in/out, then what is the point of bridging them.I ended up using JoomlaBoard as an integrated forum component with Community Builder for added user features. Later I upgraded to FireBoard (Next generation of JoomlaBoard) and have found that while the forum component is not as powerful as SMF of phpBB, it does handle the job well and additions to Joomla can provide the webmaster and user with nearly all of the features you would get from SMF. As for forum systems, I must say that SMF is by far the best free one available. But trying to integrate SMF with Joomla or Mambo for that matter will ever give you kind of seamless transition from system to the other that you really should strive for when developing a website.I suggest installing Joomla with FireBoard and Community Builder to see how it works. I think by this time next year, the FireBoard component will be a very strong forum system but currently it is still a very young project.I don't know of any sites that discuss a comparison between Joomla and Mambo.vujsa

Why don't you just use the same database over!If you add a different prefix for your tables, then you can get away with only one database for several scripts or even several installations of the same script.For example this forum system, Invision Power Board, uses "ibf_" as a prefix for all of the tables it uses. So, in the same database, I could use the same set of tables for a second installation except use a different prefix like "ibf2_".It is very difficult to get one host to connect to an MySQL server on a different host. Most host block such a connect to prevent security problems.vujsa

Well, generally speaking, I always recommend using UNIX timestamps instead of the formated date string MySQL uses. The UNIX timestamp is a count of the number of second since 1970-01-01 00:00:00. Since this is a number, it is easy to compare, manipulate, and format. MySQL even has a function that will convert UNIX timestamps to the typical MySQL timestamp: FROM_UNIXTIME Assuming that you have built your system to use the YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format or you are using a system that someone else designed and you won't be changing the timestamp format, you'll need to work a little harder here. You'll need to get the results from your database in UNIX time with the MySQL UNIX_TIMESTAMP() function. Like so: SELECT created FROM my_table WHERE ( UNIX_TIMESTAMP( ) - UNIX_TIMESTAMP(created) ) > ( 24 *60 *60 ) This would only select entries from your database that were older than 24 hours (86400 seconds). You could of course do much of this work with PHP and get the same result but you don't need to so why bother... Using much more basic queries with PHP as the primary method of calculating the difference between now and when the entry was added would likely result in 2 or more queries and more queries means more work for the server and a slower site... By the way, thanks for this topic. It forced me to do some MySQL time function research that I have been putting off too long. Hope this helps. vujsa

Joomla is a fantastic choice if you are looking for a free CMS.The number of extensions for it is really impressive and I think that you'll find it very easy to use.It does have a few very important downfalls.You link modules to specific sections of your website based on the menu links that you create. Each menu item has ad ID and that ID is what the modules are linked to so if you goto menu item 23, then all of the modules linked to that menu item will be displayed on that page.This works great unless the item ID is not used or you have an old link to the page that was replaced and the item ID is no longer the same. Then none of the module specified for that item will be displayed. Only the global items will show...The second problem is the user group system and permission settings. Again, the system was built on a very easy to use and develop method but lacks the versatility required by many webmasters today. You have 3 user groups. The backend lets you specify more user types but in the end, they fit into one of three groups. Public, Registered, and Special. Registered adopts all permissions of Public and Special adopts all permissions of Registered. So the system is actually set up in levels. Which means, you cannot display something to the Public without the Registered and Special users seeing it too. Additionally, you can't display something to Admins without all Special users seeing it!I had hoped that the newest version of Joomla (1.5) would have addressed these problems but it seems that they only fixed things that aren't apparent to the average user. The updates were important but like I said, most webmasters won't notice the majority of the changes since they were optimization and security updates that don't show.Having said all of that, I am a Joomla user and have developed a number of extensions for the system. Even though it has these issues, it is the foremost Free CMS available and easy to use.vujsa

Ah yes, I think that I knew that that particular bridge was abandoned. This is because a different bridge gained in popularity. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ That bridge is much better and there is a large amount of support for it. This one is a lot easier to install as well. As for your initial problem, I have no idea why you are experiencing any trouble with your installation. Will Mambo not allow you to finish your installation as a result? I suppose that there could be a problem with Mambo not being able to find the path but it seems unlikely. You might consider uninstalling Mambo and starting over. vujsa

Why are you using Mambo?Most Add On developers are no longer creating scripts for Mambo since they have moved on to Joomla. Joomla is more or less the continuation of the Mambo project. Did you set all of the folders that you were told to to 777 during setup?In order for Mambo to write or create a file, the folder it is using must have public write permissions (777). In file manager, click on the "NAME" of the folder then in the top write corner, there will be an option to change permissions. Either set to 777 or check ALL of the boxes. You shouldn't need to create or edit the .htaccess or php.ini to get your system to work! I'm assuming that you are getting this message in the Mambo configuration screen! Like I said, I think that you will be a lot happier with Joomla. I also think that you should consider using FireBoard instead of SMF since FireBoard is a Joomla Component while SMF has to be bridged and the bridge has a few issues. Good Luck, vujsa

With the semicolon there, the code is fine and should display correctly. If you remove the paragraph tags, the display should be okay as well. Perhaps you should look at the source code for the page displayed in your browser and post the HTML if any that is there. I do not use WAMP5, XAMPP, or any other pre-packaged web server software. I manually installed Apache, PHP, MySQL, and even PERL. As a result, my system reacts more like an actual server instead of a test platform. The only difference is that because I use Windows, some of the Apache modules are available and there are a few limitations with PHP. Be sure that you clear your browsers cache between tries. As for your connection problem at shanghaiexpat.com, I cannot see any way that you recent installation would cause the error. More than likely, they are having a few problems of their own and you just happened to try and visit during this time. Again, clear your cache and try again. As for your database issues, have you created a root user and password? Have you created the database named "test"? Remember, you have to use the mysqladmin command prompt program to create users and databases but to work with a database, it's tables, and data, you use the mysql command prompt program. Installing a PHP based MySQL interface is a good idea if you get overwhelmed with the command prompt. phpMyAdmin is the usual method of doing this! Please start a new topic in the PHP forum if you encounter any further problems with PHP as it will likely get more attention there and is off topic here! vujsa

You earn your 10 or 30 credits and apply for hosting. If approved, then your hosting credits will be reset to 3. So, it is generally better to post a few more good posts and get your 30 credits then apply for the regular hosting package instead of trying to upgrade. However, you must be sure that your posts are of a decent length and quality. 1 and 2 line posts are considered spam here and will be deleted as such. Post deleted = credits reduced! You lose 1 credit per day that you are hosted so if you are approved for hosting today and your credits are reset to 3, then you only have three days of hosting... You will need to continue to post to keep your credits above 0! We do not do domain name registration with your hosting! You will need to purchase the domain of your choice on your own. Here is a list of places you can register a domain including .com's: Xisto - Web Hosting Domain Registration - Owned by the same company as Xisto Go Daddy Domain Registration Service - A very popular and inexpensive registrar. Network Solutions - The original domain registration for the United Stated. You may use an Xisto subdomain name of your choice for free! For example: bostwik.astahost.com vujsa.astahost.com sillyfools.astahost .com whateveryouwant.astahost.com I hope this answers your questions, vujsa

Well, sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you... I learned PHP and MySQL from a book called PHP Fast & Easy Web Development 2nd Edition by Julie C. Meloni Here is a list of related books: https://www.amazon.com/ref=nb_sb_noss_null While I suggest learning PHP5 as soon as possible, I must stress that having a good book for nearly any version of PHP is very helpful. This book shows how to do many of the tasks that you want to improve upon and I still refer to the book frequestly. I also have a copy of PHP 5 Unleashed by John Coggeshall Many of these books are available used for very little money (less than $5.00 US). I'll add more information as I get time. vujsa

Well finally after several major issues this year, the Chinese government has decided to ban shipment of any toys that contain toxins.Of course, they aren't actually going to check for any toxins but instead will limit their efforts to the products already determined to be tainted! Considering that most companies have canceled their orders for these toys and stopped using the manufacturers of the tainted items, the Chinese efforts are really kind of pointless. Toy Company: "We don't want your toxic toys anymore."Chinese Government: "We don't care if you don't want them, you can't have them."vujsa