While the question may seem fairly basic I seem to be at a loss to actually find anything that fits my needs, which are:
Skinnable (although not 100% required)
Controllable through javascript (start, stop, change track)
Event triggers for custom functions (on track finish mainly)
Actual documentation - rather that 'it can do this, but we wont tell you how'
I've tried many of the free and quite a few demo's of the pay for ones. Wimpy Wasp seemed to be the closest to what I need but there is an obsession there with using a custom Windows app to set it up which is impossible as the files are provided dynamically by the sites users and it doesn't look like they want you to be able to create the code yourself.
I have no problem with a pay-for solution if it addresses my needs, but free would be nice.
Thanks in advance!
JW Flash Player, to the best of my knowledge, fits that description.
As per this question I recommend http://opentape.fm/.
Related
Ive gotten mixed reports as to how to handle this question while reviewing the web so I thought I should ask you all. I am not sure if its possible to even do with JavaScript, PHP, and MySql, but here is what I wanna do.
Im a manager at a small retailer where I have to schedule 20 people each week. Each day we have different hours, some people are part time, others full time, etc.
Can I create a webpage that can handle this? I was thinking of making a employee database with their status as FT or PT etc but did not know what language would be best to use for a full out functioning scheduler. Also, Id like to eventually add the option to enter day off requests into the form so that the scheduler would not allow them to work on those requested days.
The scheduler would have to be automated and of course may require some user tweaking after it generates.
I AM NOT LOOKING for the code for this.... just suggestions and thoughts as to where you would start (what language, format, etc)
Like #gilly3 said, the language you use is really up to your personal preference and what knowledge you already have. Here are some overviews of the ones I think would be acceptable:
Python is probably one of the easier languages to learn, mostly because of the way it's so easy to read.
There are many great ways to learn it. I like this nettuts+ series. The series is about creating dynamic websites with Django, but before it gets to that, it goes through the python language quite thoroughly. There are also may other sites you can go to to learn about python, such as python.org and others.
Python works best with creating local applications, not online ones. However, there are ways to use python in web development.
You would most likely record peoples stats (part-time, full-time...etc.) in a file, either a python file or another file that could be parsed by python (eg. XML or JSON).
For the results, you could have it print something out to the command line/teminal or use the tkinter library. to open a window and display the schedule visually.
PHP would be your best choice if you plan to record peoples stats in a MySQL database, maybe with phpMyAdmin or something like it.
PHP would need to be hosted on a server (Apache, IIS...etc.), but that shouldn't be a problem.
That too is an extremely easy language to learn, due to the vast amount of resources available, php.net is one of the best places I think, but you may find another that you like better.
If you like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, then you could simply create a webpage and have the user open it in their browser.
If you used this option, you would write out the people's stats in a file (probably JSON if you're working with JavaScript or it could be just plain JavaScript), and simply reference it with a <script> tag or and Ajax call.
There are so may resources out there for learning these that I can't even remember my favorites.
JavaScript is probably the best if you want the user to be able to edit the schedule right in the program.
If you like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but want a desktop application, check out TideSDK
Keep in mind that if you use PHP and MySQL, you will also have the full power of HTML, CSS and JavaScript in your hands. For that reason, I would recommend PHP. It's only drawback is needing a server, but there are many ways to get around that (XAMPP (windows/linux), WAMP (windows), MAMP (mac) and probably others, but those are the most famous.
Sorry if I've left anything out, feel free to edit.
I am building an examination app, in which i need users to stay on the app and answer some questions. I need to monitor when they fail to do so, like opening a new tab or browser to search for answers. Also when they minimize the app window etc. So is there any way to do this in jquery. Please don't down vote this question as I have searched for similar question on this site for answers.
Something like when mouse does not hover over body element of the document.?
For what it's worth, and I'm not going to check this cross browser..leave it to you, but some of the window events may be of help.
Try these out. Using Firefox they will trigger on change of browser tab and minimize of window if mouse has been active in document to give window focus. You could dig deep into other window events available and see if you can come up with enough to make it work for you, or at least you will have expanded your due diligence
$(window).blur(function(){
console.log('blur')
}).focus(function(){
console.log('focus')
});
Update your code findings... is a bit interesting
This is by design not possible - it would be a massive security problem if JavaScript could to stuff like this outside its sandbox.
You will need full control over the client machine to enforce something like this, using a client-side application that can occupy the full screen, lock task switching, etc.... it's a lot of programming work, would probably have to be done specifically for every OS, and will never be 100% reliable. Plus even a 100% solution is trivial to circumvent by having a second computer nearby.
The best you can do in a web site context is implement some safeguards, like time limits, monitoring keyboard activity inside the page and making sure it's constant, and such. What is appropriate here is dictated by your real-world situation, consider adding more information about it.
Shot answer:
No, there is not way to do so!
Long answer:
You can't consider that user has minimized the browser for searching answers. It could be another thing popping up in his computer that made him do so.
Having such control to user's computer can make user's life hell. Developers are trying to make users life easier and not uncomfortable.
And as you the know the answer again is, you can't do so :-)
I dont think so with jQuery alone as you dont have enough control over the Browser with JS.
What you can do though is use some software/browser designed to run in Kiosks as they have alot of the same requirements but might not have been immediately obvious to you.
Again, to re-iterate: This is not a request to program anything for me. I am looking for more experienced web developers to tell me if my idea is really doable, as it involves some pretty tough issues (at least, I think so). Please, if this post is to be closed, could I at least get a little advice on where I should be posting instead first?
Imagine: You visit a website (say malonssite.com). You sign in, you get a double-paned window. Left side is chat list(think FB buddy list). Right side is a "browser".
The chat list is populated by other people who have signed into malonssite.com AND are visiting the same page as as you using the "embedded" browser.
Each user has the ability to "allow followers", at which point whatever site they visit, all their followers "follow".
Image sketch:
My abilities:
PHP
MySQL
Javascript (node.js included, but that's more serverish I guess)
I've done long polling and ajax, but this gets complicated. I am thinking something like this might be best done in flash? Or maybe an oldschool Java applet? I am just not sure.
I am pretty confident I can make this thing on my own, I am just not sure what technology to use. I usually hit stumbling blocks in each area, normally along the lines of the same origin policy. I know that JSONP can get around the SOP, however is it powerful enough to do what I want? I am not familiar enough with it.
Sockets in general (websockets, flash sockets, etc) and node.js are pretty new to me, and I think they somehow hold the answer, I am just looking for some verification.
Thanks!
As I see it, you'll just need an iframe with a JScript asking its src and sending it to the server. So basically the user will stay on your own domain, browsing other web sites in the iframe and you will have no cross-origin-request issues.
You could use ape engine for the server side, which is exactly meant for this sort of things.
It is very possible.
Simple? no. But possible.
HTML/CSS/JS will easily take care of the front end layout,that should be elementary.
Node.js is a good option, and would be best suited if you know that traffic will be heavy.
If traffic won't be heavy, i guess php is OK.
And you will also need a backend database...again, depends on how many users you think you'll have. nosql ones would suit well, although oracle just claimed they 'exponentially' improved mySQL performance.
But think about this idea carefully. The concept of allowing users to communicate if they're on the same page is neat - but they'd have to browse a site within your site....furthermore, you have to account when the user presses next/back button in the browser.
perhaps you could make a fork of firefox and implement this as a software
did you mean something like talkita
or any other solution on google search "chat with others on same page"?
some of them also allow followors (subscribers) etc..
have a look, maybe youll get an idea.
please forget about flash and java applets...
i think this is a great idea and i hope you can get it to work.
I would really use NodeJS + (Socket.IO | SockJS) for the server-side and realtime communication, all your SOP problems will be gone.
As for the client side, just take care of cross browsing the javascript and css
For data persistence, some kind of nosql implementation: mongoDB or couchDB for example
I've been asked to create a custom 'tracker' in PHP, to know where users are coming from and where they are going on the site.
I'm thinking of writing a simple script, which connects to a database, writes the ip, browser, and time of the visit, then closes the db link.
Is this the right way to do it ?
I've found a few similar questions on stackoverflow, but none mentioned performance.
Is there a reason you can't use a solution such as Google Analytics - its free and has some nice features such as heat maps which show traffic flow
The main disadvantage is that it requires you to embed some javascript on all the pages - which means that its client side
I suppose it's another question of the kind "I want superior performance, however I have no certain reason for that".
in fact, any solution will be fast enough as writing logs is not too heavy operation.
the only thing one have to keep in mind is not to use any indexes in case SQL database used.
that's all.
So, lets put aside that performance stuff.
The only complete solution would be analyzing web-server logs.
Any other method will not give you complete picture. Say, if there is some image hotlinked on other sites and makes heavy load because of that, you'd never notice that if you log only requests to php scripts.
So, you can run crontab-based script running every night parsing access logs and getting comprehensive information of all users and bots activity.
Check Piwik or New Relic, if you need more customization, you should take a look at Webalyzer and Visitors
N.B: You can customize Piwik by creating plugins http://geekmonkey.org/articles/34-how-to-write-a-piwik-plugin
Perhaps you need some special software like Webalyzer? (it's free and quite powerful)
Performance is easy to say but much harder to define. It depends on zillion circumstances and while i'm say: this is the best performance i can get - you might say: hey, what's this?
Personally i recommend Google Analytics. It does almost everything if you need (almost things you didn't need). Maybe you can get a small 'performance' boost if you storing it's source locally but there's a chance it's cached in users' browser yet.
Or, if you prefer open source solutions, give a shot for Piwik.
Piwik does just that, and it does it very well. There is also a Tracking API that you can use to track a lot of things about your visitors, using PHP or any other language (REST API). See more information on http://piwik.org/docs/tracking-api/
Also it is very modular & fast, don't reinvent the wheel :)
You may know that Google AdSense doesn't support HTTPS.
There is a question on Stack Overflow about it.
I went to the URL that Google made me include, and copied and pasted the code between script tags and it worked.
My question is - is this too flaky, because they might change their JavaScript file at any time?
Or should I request the file with PHP, and then make a local copy of it on my server, which I can access via HTTPS?
Thanks
Update
I built a PHP proxy to serve the ads and it works - I'm just going to check if what I'm doing won't annoy Google. :)
Thanks for the answers.
Aside from the legal uses of Google's code, Google probably updates their stuff on a fairly regular basis. I would think it would be best to use PHP like you said. If they (Google) offer that as an option, last time I looked though, they only offered the ad scripts in JavaScript, maybe that's changed. That might allow for HTTPS.
Edit: Just looked at the ToS. Found this: "You will not modify, adapt, translate, prepare derivative works from, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise attempt to derive source code from any Google services, software, or documentation, or create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product through use of or access to the Program or proprietary information related thereto." I think what you're thinking of would require some that. Looks like Google doesn't want you to. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.
I don't think google will want to compromise the estimated $7.7 billion dollars per second they are generating through Adsense. Knowing google, their thought process may be as follows:
1 - Most people directly link to the source URL. (Revenue = $7.3 billion p/s)
2 - Some people don't. They copy the source and put it between their script tags. (Revenue = $0.4 billion p/s).
GoogleBot7: Login Successful. Logged in as Sergey.
GoogleBot7: Determine -now -truth -of -whatiamthinking
/* begin GoogleBot 7 Inference Mastication Profitization Conundrum Decisionism */
GoogleBot7: Thank you GoogleBot 1, we must maintain backward compatibility in
case lazy site owners have done the copy/paste thingie.
$0.4 billion p/s is required for Sergey MARS Palace I.
/* end GoogleBot 7 Inference Mastication Profitization Conundrum Decisionism */
GoogleBot7: > Anything else, Sergey?
GoogleBot7: exit
:)
Apart from the technical reasons, which you already outlined (yes, they change their code frequently) you should reread the Adsense agreement. I read it a lot of time ago but I bet that it forbid copying their code.
It would most likely work, until they come out with a new version of their code, but I'm fairly sure this goes against their ToS in some way.