PHP Flickr and Scriptalicous example

Here. Type in the name of a Flickr user with photo sets created. The PHP also has .css embedded, which is mostly ripped off from Flickr. Then you can drag the photosets into a shopping cart, which uses scriptaculous libraries. From there, not much happens... yet!

If you want it to work, you will have to get supporting code from these tutorials:

http://phpflickr.com/example-a-users-photos/
http://www.ajaxlessons.com/2006/02/19/ajax-workshop-3-shopping-cart-using-scriptaculous/

blackquery - Blackberry Query via email

Well, while riding the bus the other week and looking for an address it took me about 20 minutes to find it on my browser. I thought it would be faster to send an email, have the email execute a google search, and email the response. Especially on a Blackberry, could be faster. Couldn't find a service that offers that, so I wrote this one in, Perl of course.

If you use it, you need:
1. A Pop account that accepts the emails
2. A SMTP account for sending emails
3. You should have a Yahoo API key, though I used a demo one.
4. You have to install the required Perl modules.

This script can run anywhere, not only a server, and recovers from errors and has a log file.

A few things I learned:

Salesforce.com the next Siebel?

The basic statement, that Salesforce.com is a Siebel is as old as the wheel, and true in some ways. Will Salesforce.com get acquired? Probably... maybe. Was Siebel a failure, or strategically "merge" with Oracle? I guess shareholders in Siebel could argue it didn't work out too well, depending on when they bought. But Siebel is now intrinsic infrastructure in companies all over the world, and has perhaps the most prominent place in Oracles application portfolio. So will Salesforce.com stock collapse? I wouldn't short 'em. But you might want to try that with Netsuite.

script.aculo.us and Prototype

Looks like Java Script libraries are the driving force behind the implementation of AJAX. Java Script is a must have... back end you can use PHP, Perl, Ruby on Rails, etc.

If your a newb like me, go straight to these: Prototype and script.aculo.us to find out what's going on. Thanks to Randal Schwartz for:
1. Commenting on my blog!
2. Writing my favorite programming book ever, actually I've read damn near every page of "Programming Perl"
3. Pointing me to script.aculo.us... though I don't really plan on using SmallTalk

AJAX in PHP vs Ruby On Rails

Well, in my mini experiment with AJAX, I looked up RubyOnRails. I already had it installed on my machine, using InstantRails. I had a long time ago got InstantRails working, and then stalled out, having no good idea what to do with it.

So now that I have a real requirement, of adding a user defined directory listing for a website, using AJAX to make it more user friendly, how can I use RoR to do that? I looked at some decent tutorials, including:
startatthebeginning and Ajax on Rails.

These are good... didn't take the time to actually do the exercises of course ;) But could get a idea of how to us AJAX. But most of the effort is learning RoR, understanding where to put the code, how to execute it, etc.

But the thought kept crossing my mind, being a lazy perl programmer - how would I actually get this on my site? I want AJAX functionality, look and feel, not Ruby on Rails necessarily. And my host doesn't support Ruby. As far as I know, it is good to go with a special host that supports RoR, and is expensive. But PHP and MySQL? Got that all day long, even my crappy hoster, and I use it all the time.

So I looked at this Tutorial, implmenting AJAX with PHP, Javascript, MySQL, and got it up in less than an hour on my server. I feel it has given me a hands on, nitty gritty feeling for a basic Ajax technique, replacing the HTML with .js, without investment in a new languge, a new platform, that I won't be able to run with my current host.

Here is the groundbreaking results, an application the world has been waiting for: php ajax

Ruby on Rails and Ajax

My requirments: I want to allow artists and galleries to publish their profiles on our website, http://www.santa-fe-art.com.

I also want to experiment with Ruby-on-Rails and AJAX, and in general make a client facing application that is pleasant to use. Some background:

I am not a web developer. I am kinda sorta a software developer, really more of an application programer. But in particular I haven't done much with UI's. When building UI's I have always re-used whatever is possible... and kind didn't like the work too much. Some UI software I have worked with:
- Siebel - does all the hardwork for you, and you can only change it so much. More important to know the programming and relational database, application layers than worry about the look, as it will always look the same depending on version.
- VA2- My custom software package I built and have sold to a number of companies. Used a plugin for Microsoft MMC there, to the look of VA2 was really delivered via the MMC API. Code was written in VB6.. not exactly web programming. I wrote the code to provide functionality, but the reason I liked that MMC UI was all the built in features and it did not look like a VB app.
- Perl has been my programming language of... but I use it more for back end stuff than web UI stuff, last time I did that was back in '99.

So, what the hell happened in the web world? Developing web pages used to be HTML, yeah a little javascript. But now the "Browser is the Operating System", according to Google, and they may be right. AJAX, plugins, seems like you can do anything with a browser. Or, if you can't program for the browser, you can't do anything. Which sucks.

In an effort to upgrade my web skillz, I'm going to try to use Ruby-On-Rails and Ajax to easily allow Artists and Galleries users to add a blurb about themselves on our new website.

I have gotten as far as resarching Ruby-On-Rails, and knowing I want to do not only the DB work to support this, but provide a pleasing and fast Ajaxish UI, so users can easily add items.

I found the following tutorial which seems like a good start: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/06/09/rails_ajax.html?page=1

Dueling headlines

This article is interesting, detailing the use of Knoa for Siebel end user performance monitoring at Knoa. It mentions 20,000 Siebel seats. This conflicts with an earlier post, which shows SugarCRM replacing Siebel at BT. As one commenter notes on, the SugarCRM deal probably isn't the replacement of Siebel, more like additional seats.

CRM in India

Interesting article about Oracle CRM in india, noting that Oracle has done well in the wireless sector there.

Sugar CRM replaces Siebel?

Interesting article from CNET about a SugarCRM deal at BT . BT has downloaded and installed VA2 for Siebel, so I know they were a fairly large Siebel customer. I would be surprised if a new deal in purchasing SugarCRM is a rip-and-replace deal. More likely it is an augmentation of existing systems? It would be nice to see some comments from BT or others familar with deal.

I have heard from othe SugarCRM customers that they really like the software, compared to Siebel particularily.

OAUG Knowledge Factory

I recieved an email from the Oracle Application User group, touting the "the ultimate collaborative knowledge resource" for users. The Knowldege Factory "Using Web 2.0 technology, an online forum that facilitates information sharing and networking among users, the user-driven Web content management experience" including:

-Blogs and Discussions
-Profiles
-OAUG Conference Paper Database

It is so hard for creaky old Enterprsie Software behmoths who are used to closing off everything, restricting access, and walling off users from each other. This is a good move, but it really is only open to paying members OAUG. Really more in the model of enterprise/closed/walled garden than Web 2.0 approach.