Adam Carter

Quick tip: If you’re wanting to have your Apache document root point to a network share in Windows, here’s what you have to do:

1. Change your DocumentRoot to the network share (drive remapping doesn’t seem to work).  Example: DocumentRoot “//path/to/share”
2. Make sure to update the DocumentRoot path in your <Directory> config
3. Edit the Apache service
1. On the “Log On’” tab, click the “Browse” button next to the “This account” radio button.
2. Type in an account name that has access privileges to the network share and click “OK”
3. Enter the correct password for the user
4. Restart Apache and LOL your way to the bank.

From time to time, everyone is prone to perform a vanity search or two. Because I have a somewhat generic name (currently, Adam ranks at #72, Carter is #40), web searching always returns an interesting variety of results. Movie stars, a character in a British television series, an Elvis impersonator, and I all share the name “Adam Carter.” But what about adding a slight twist to your typical vanity search?

Rather than using my real name, I decided to do a search on one of my most commonly used Internet pseudo-names. Surprisingly, what came back was almost all me. In fact, the only non-me entry was for an entry in “Urban Dictionary” that, unsurprisingly, was not very flattering. Perhaps I angered this person and this was his or her revenge. Anyway, this ordeal got me thinking.

Unlike most others of my generation, I prefer to keep my online activity private from unknown onlookers. For example, I don’t use my real name for Facebook and Twitter. Yet, since the early days of the Internet, I’ve continually used the same pseudo-name for many of my activities. In some cases, my real name is even tied to my pseudo-name (oops!). Searching on this pseudo-name will provide you with several forum posts, lists of games that I’ve played, and even coding projects that I’ve been affiliated with. When I think about it, searching my pseudo-name provides a better picture of my life than my real name! Maybe I should start protecting my pseudo-name as much as I do for my real name.

For anyone that reads this, what does doing a vanity search on your Internet pseudo-name return?

–Adam

Having difficulty connecting to MySQL through PHP 5.3.x? Know that MySQL and PHP are properly configured? Using Windows Vista / 7? The problem may very well be that you’re connecting to ‘localhost.’ According to Joe Bedan, simply changing ‘localhost’ to ’127.0.0.7′ will fix the problem, and he’s right!

According to another forum post, this is because Vista/7 does some goofy stuff with the ‘localhost’ alias. This person suggests that modifying the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file to contain the line ’127.0.0.1 localhost’ will fix the problem (make sure to do this as an administrator!). Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for me. However, it’s worth a shot for anyone experiencing this problem.

–Adam

In my most recent project, I decided to prompt the user before doing a post back when a DropDownList changed. In order to do so, you need to add an “onchange” event to your DropDownList. It should look something like:

onclick="if(!SomeFunction(this)) return false;"

Some Notes:

• “SomeFunction” is a javascript function that returns true or false based on your criteria.
• On first inspection, I thougth that I could just call the funciton without wrapping it in what apppears to be a useless IF statement. However, for whatever reason, this IF statement is necessary to cancel the automatic postback.

Reference: http://forums.asp.net/p/1475520/3432980.aspx

–Adam

If you attempt to restore a PC on your Windows Home Server network only to discover that the WHS restore CD doesn’t recognize your network card, here’s an easy fix. All you have to do is put the network driver for Windows XP onto the root level of a flash drive and have the WSH wizard “search” for additional drivers.

If you read the WHS help wizard, you’re lead to believe that all you have to do is copy some magical “Windows Home Sever Restore Drivers” folder onto your flash drive. What the help doesn’t tell you is that this only works if your PC is running XP. The reason behind this is that the WHS restore wizard is based on a 32-bit OS (I’m assuming XP or Server 2003). Therefore, Vista/7 drivers (either 32 or 64 bit) won’t be recognized during the restore process.

–Adam