Author Archives: Donncha

b2-smarty – EOL

I’m sorry to say this but due to overwhelming time constraints I won’t be able to work on the b2 mod running here any more.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time adding new features to b2 and pushing it out there but the resulting feedback isn’t worth it. I’m concerned about remarks that “b2 is dead”, and “the code is crap” so I’m going to call it a day and work on Moveable Type instead.

First off will be a template system using the PHP Smarty Templates System. It should be very easy to integrate the Smarty PHP code into the Perl code of Moveable Type as neither are finicky about whitespace unlike a certain other language I could mention.

I’d also like to support the new IPV4 Security Flag so that Movable Type will know when a posting is simply normal run of the mill text, uninformed rant, or flame-bait material. This really will work wonders for Internet security and it’s important that all applications support it.

Also, the fact that many, many Mac users use Moveable Type has convinced me that this is the way to go.

I considered abandoning Vi, but Emacs simply didn’t have the features I wanted. I’ll be using the Linux port of BBedit instead.

revjim.net: cafelog: a look at bad code

revjim reviewed Cafelog/b2 here. I have to be honest here and admit I haven’t looked at, or been concerned much with the internal workings of b2 yet.
I’ve worked on adding features I saw as vital to any blogging software I wanted to use. Now that those are in place (namely various template enhancements) I have to look seriously at the backend code.
On another note, can anyone access the Cafelog forum or Cafelog itself? I suspect the domains weren’t renewed and now they’re innaccessible.

PHP, MVC – continued

I’ve thought about this for a while after posting my previous attempt at using MVC to design a registration form.
So far, I’ve removed the need for the fields array, and simply used the Smarty “include” function to include html code for text boxes and checkboxes.
I also changed the controller so I could pass the names of different model and view classes to it. The controller should really create different view and model classes for each view IMO but that might be overkill for this. It’ll be a challenge when it comes to more non-linear apps where it’ll make sense to put code into seperate files.

Thank you Bruno for your comments. I think having as minimal a view class as possible is good and desirable considering the power of Smarty templates! The Template becomes the view class in other words.

Here’s a good description of the different components of the MVC architecture. There’s also a good page on Controller design.