Posts Tagged ‘Code’

Using WordPress/MySql as a CMS for a .NET Site

// January 30th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

I’ve got a couple of projects I’m working on that are written in C#/.NET and each have a lot of static content. “Static” meaning about us, product description, and FAQ-ish content.  Stupidly, I’ve got these pages as hard-coded HTML for one site and database driven through a primitive “CMS” for the other (I use quotes because I merely put this database-driven content into a TinyMCE enabled field on a back-end site and let users have at formatting).

Obviously the hard-coded solution isn’t the way to go because every change requires a new build onto the server – which is overkill to say the least.  The quick-and-dirty WYSIWYG/database solution is only marginally better in my opinion (no saved versions and all the text is free form, so associating other fields like data posted, modified, or author requires incremental work).

Easy Windows Batch File Backups (with MySQL, MsSQL, and email notifications included)

// January 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Here’s a post for fellow geeks.  Today I wanted to beef the backups for sites I serve and at the same time keep my brand server clean from software if I could.  I use Mozy Pro on the server but wanted periodic snapshots of sites at different intervals as well.  Only issue is I host sites that use MySQL and MsSQL databases – so this script accommodates both.  I wrote the following batch file which backs up website source files & databases to a .Rar file.  Then it sends me an email notification not only that a backup has occurred…but also with the details of all other backup files available.

I scheduled a .bat file with this script in it for each site I host and it drops everything into a single file for me per the schedule frequency.  I’m even free to email myself or clients their entire application source.

New Site, mat.tc API and WordPress Plugin

// January 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Unless you’re reading this via RSS, you’ve already seen the new site I’ve rolled out. I really like it and hope you do as well. I did more than just redesign the way it looks though. It’s more than a pretty face.

I spent some time trying to clean up the information on the site too.  Specifically, I shortened the about page and really over hauled the portfolio page.  The portfolio is way better than it was:

Sites.Local – for developers with too many local sites

// December 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

As an ASP/C# developer it’s key I work locally and save time wasted uploading files after every change to a page.  Then, when I’ve got a bunch of changes to share with a client and I want to update a staging/production environment, I can do it all at once.  Well, I resumed working on a project this afternoon that I haven’t worked on for a couple days – and I just couldn’t recall the local site address!

My laptop runs Vista Business and I use Internet Information Services (IIS) to run local apps.  To map the various apps and keep everything running on port 80 I take advantage of the Windows Hosts file to create custom urls for local apps.  For example, I can create an entry for clientname.localdev which enables me to setup and view a site at http://clientname.localdev/.  You can learn more about Hosts files here if they’re new to you.