S.G. Vulcan » Web

Limit number of related articles returned in Joomla 1.7 and Joomla 2.5

silviu — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:39:15 +0000

Joomla 1.7 has a nice module mod_related_items (Articles Related) that shows articles related to the current one the visitor is browsing. It has one issue though, you can’t set a limit.

So a little code hacking is in order. Open modules/mod_related_items/helper.php and go to line 94 (right after the Filter by language if) and modify $db->setQuery($query); to read:

View Code PHP

1	$db->setQuery($query,0,10);

Of course you can change the limit from 10 with whatever you like. Random order is commented out because using ORDER BY RAND has performance issues. If you think you can handle it feel free to uncomment.

This hack also works for Joomla 2.5!

Homework:

add parameter in the admin interface Feel free to post the solution

cbnet Ping Optimizer is killing a site

silviu — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:28:20 +0000

Some wise soul decided many moons ago that installing the aforementioned plugin on a site I host. The wise soul is long gone (admining websites for ngo’s as a volunteer is no fun to many ) but the site was getting more and more sluggish lately. I decided to clean a bit the many modules he thought in his wisdom to install. Like any major work on a site I started with a backup. I was puzzled to see that mysqldump would hang. I checked, it was not hanging, it was dumping a really huge .sql file. That was not normal as the site only has a few hundreds of articles. A check in phpmyadmin later and I found the culprit:

WPPREFIX_cbnetpo_ping_optimizer table had over 11Gb. Great, 82 million records for some errors about not being able to ping. Great: no limit on how much you log in the table, no throttling on errors (each error is logged tens of times in the same second) and so on. I could track where this comes from but I simply removed the darn plugin and dropped the table.

Concatenate multiple *.vcf files into one for importing into gMail

silviu — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:46:50 +0000

I have a secondary phone that is running Android. My main phone is still a Nokia N900 for which I gave up trying to sync contacts with gmail. Two options basically exist for n900 none of which works for me:

using MFE which works from time to time
use syncevolution which invariably screws my contacts on the n900 (I guess google’s implementation of syncml or exchange support is dubious at best)

So I devised a third. Since I edit and store all my contacts on the n900 I will export them from time to time (Contacts->Export->All contacts) and import them manually into gmail. Note that Gmail doesn’t support vCard 3.0; you have to export as 2.1. Unfortunately the n900 will export each contact into a separate file. Since google doesn’t offer bulk import support I thought of concatenating all files into one:

cat *.vcf > all_contacts.vcf

Good idea, but it doesn’t work. In another example of fine programming skills clicking import uploads the file and returns with no contact imported and no error message. Nice one.

It seems some new lines are missing; and so this will work (in the folder with the vcf files)

for i in *.vcf; do cat “$i” >> ../all_contacts.vcf; echo >> ../all_contacts.vcf; done

Import worked now ok!

Error noticed in Joomla site apache logs

silviu — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:50:23 +0000

rowsing trough my web logs I found the following error in the apache error log of a Joomla site:

View Code APACHELOG

1	[Mon Oct 17 13:49:16 2011] [error] [client aaa.aaa.aaa.aaa] PHP Notice: Array to string conversion in aaa/libraries/joomla/html/parameter.php on line 83

One suggestion found online was:

Edit parameters.php and change the line 83 as follows:

Before:

View Code PHP

1	if (trim( $data )) {

After:

View Code PHP

1	if ($data) {

But modifying core joomla files isn’t such a hot idea as one user notices. So the solution is fixing the plugin causing the problem in the first place:

Edit plugins/system/JoomSEO.php at line 46

View Code PHP

1	$this->params = new JParameter($params);

replace with

View Code PHP

1	$this->params = new JParameter($params['params']);

Web interface for Zabbix didn’t load

silviu — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:30:27 +0000

I was installing today Zabbix on a CentOS 5.6 machine and hit the following error when trying to load the PHP Web Interface:

View Code BASH

1	PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function bcscale() in /var/www/zabbix/include/defines.inc.php on line 797

The fix was one package install away:

View Code BASH

1	# yum -y install php-bcmath

Enabling spell check in Mindtouch Core

silviu — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:18:27 +0000

After an update the spell checker I was used to dissapeared. Here’s how the (re)enable the (new) spell checker:

Go to Control Panel -> Configuration -> Basic -> Tick “Allow users to spell check while editing content” and hit Save

Go back to editing and you should see the icon with “ABC” and a checkmark.

Add php APC and UploadProgress support to CentOS

silviu — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:25:40 +0000

I was playing today with some file uploading scripts and noticed that they require one of the two in order to be able to display a progress bar.

Those are the steps required to enabled both of them on centos:

View Code BASH

1
2
3

yum install php-pear php-devel httpd-devel pcre-devel
pecl install apc
pecl install uploadprogress

Than I created in /etc/php.d/ the following files:

Download apc.ini

1
2
3

; provides upload progress, installed using pecl
extension=apc.so
apc.rfc1867=1

and

Download uploadprogress.ini

1 2	; provides upload progress, installed using pecl extension=uploadprogress.so

All you need to do now is restart apache!
Please note that I was using PHP 5.2 from testing at the time

Make Joomla 1.0 work with PHP 5.3

silviu — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:43:03 +0000

With the recent posts regarding resurrecting old stuff, recently I had to resurrect a Joomla 1.0 site. Soon enough I discovered that the home page doesn’t display correctly. No errors, just lots of white space . The problem is that Joomla 1.0 is not really made for PHP 5.3. Of course I could have started a virtual machine with the right environment but I wanted it running along some newer sites. Here’s an easy fix:

Edit ./includes/Cache/Lite/Function.php, find the line reading

View Code PHP

1	<strong>$arguments = func_get_args();strong>

and replace with:

View Code PHP

$arguments = func_get_args();
$numargs = func_num_args();
for($i=1; $i &lt; $numargs; $i++){
$arguments[$i] = &amp;$arguments[$i];
}

Check now, it should be working. Enjoy your new old site

Akismet troubles traced back to DNS issues.

silviu — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:50:34 +0000

My API key for Akismet was suddenly unconfirmed by reason of not being able to reach akismet.com My provider had indeed troubles with their primary DNS so I switched to the google public one. (8.8.8.8). This is a server not a browsing machine so I don’t have any privacy worries.

Long storry short, I changed the DNS and expected the problem to go away. Next day I was happy to find out that it didn’t. I pinged akismet.com from the console, tried http connection to it with links everything was fine. For good measure I tried other DNS entries, tried a mtr to akismet.com but still everything was fine and the key in Akismet Configuration refused to work.

Than, after a slap on my forehead I remembered THIS. Right, after

View Code BASH

1 2	# service httpd stop # service httpd start

Everything went back to normal.

Firefox 4 on linux change to one button menu and make it nice and orange

silviu — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:13:32 +0000

When I upgraded to Firefox 4 on my linux machines I was disappointed to see that the classic menu bar remained. I’m not necesarily a fan of the new ribbon interfaces but since I don’t use the menu often and so prefer to use the space for something useful, like the tabs.

Reducing the menu bar to a button is easy.

Right click on the menu bar and uncheck Menu bar

At this point the menu is reduced to a button, unfortunately an ugly button. If you want it nice and orange you need to hack your userChrome.css file:

View Code BASH

1 2	cd ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/chrome vi userChrome.css

Paste the following:

View Code CSS

/*
* Edit this file and copy it as userChrome.css into your
* profile-directory/chrome/
*/
 
/*
* This file can be used to customize the look of Mozilla's user interface
* You should consider using !important on rules which you want to
* override default settings.
*/
 
/*
* Do not remove the @namespace line -- it's required for correct functioning
*/
@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* set default namespace to XUL */
 
#appmenu-toolbar-button {
list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAFUAAAAXCAYAAAB6ZQM9AAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAAZiS0dEAP8A/wD/oL2nkwAAAAlwSFlzAAALEwAACxMBAJqcGAAAAAd0SU1FB9sCAQMEG5oewPgAAAAZdEVYdENvbW1lbnQAQ3JlYXRlZCB3aXRoIEdJTVBXgQ4XAAAK7UlEQVRYw+2Za4wk11XHf+fWo989r117sw62d72JHWfJxo6NUXACEiQBIvtLkCAO3iSWbAgggUik8CGAhAgRiE+Ih7IWoDgYokQBYoTyIcayYmsBKdh5jYnjdWyzsWe9szM7090z01V17z186Op6dPdGIPjo0jyqbtW9de///M+55/xLVPXMsWPH7ue14//leOGFFx4Mpxdf+/RvsLvj0MwzDmKeb19PbBzaaGM6fcSYsqd3+PEYl6WodxgFr0o2HnP94ZS3nMjw4wwJDOoyzn09RfYSbrj9CEg5jFJeVs+rDaogMtM+PRUQrZxX78sVXoKiCFK9IYBO22eP2ZmV1/WhlRt/5ncAKEA9GKa89IU/o9tQstVlvnr1zzPWBg2xmChCRbAa4BUC8YQG7NZF7OAyiKDeczAY8aNvGPDDsZJubRH2hc1nhnx3PSY+v821/ZvzNUu5egVEZjCYLJCZ5SslgpKjObknTK8kt4RW8cqfqD4rNfB1+pO3lSDW3pv3L1vKcaMT7yueKUDFZvRaSiNUjvb2eG9wli+Pb2dAB2M9bUk4Hl2i3/JspEu8MmjA3hCfZRPyek8oFmMTNHWoevzY0l0V7rjF8vxBiLeuYnGpQeIXkLGcMvgZDlUXqhWLaLHwyTNa6adFv1mz1cebZabOwSs184OgNpsHNTIZndjTbIA6z6nge1zT2uQ/02tQFY6HFzjaHNDsdzCvfz3/eO4oj2/HmGwAqmT7+9x504i7b97E7QcYtdiBRRLFDhURgzpX8dmpb4PmqKgooqAiyJRthY9J5Vxn/L1kvlbYVNJVF3qISg6qlhCVeElhJJWKaWbCUkELZ+dBDSOl01LiWMhSy/dfTFm7epd3NndQwHmwA8crGwecO9fiEm3UruDTFO88alNOvW6btk1waYg/SMn2FSTkwnf26a4u4a2rLmuOs8W880WpKiLzPepRTmrcVnRipAIIWci4am8/w1VZsAH5wp55+BCteI+iNp0HVXGYbow6SxwZssspz30zYW0tII4noL6U9Hj04ATbsgrGEARjbJKiGTSjjOs6Q5LEEyaebGhBIuxgj8El5fixBmrdZOL5upZPP47beZHhIx+ac/3u3Z8hWL6OnYd+YjHwMqFLNUTUH6wAlTuH1vDPY+8VDCO10DJhsxetbwVFSGGx+/vUYoMQHwSE4jn6QwHPvWx4fKPDIOixG7TZkiVcvDwZLhtjR3ugIaIZ77hui3YgjDOLHYEdWXBj/utZAYnorzXw1hcbTAGOHRMevYPs/Nk8GgjhdXei9mBy3/ncDbWgkGolIqhUImX1jy5mf+7TciVK5p28zNip4vZFm1RitStBLfIkl6TYsZu4uQQ4E3DD9QGvu7bBXqvHpi7hXBvdehF95Zvoy+uw/TxHGpvccfUG737jgIQG2SAhG2S4Ucar31fOb8QcOraGOotai7eu+AUYf/1vaJz8AJo51Dm8szRP3sPB05/NQbeos3ivNG+5n6VfeISV04/S/vHfxUsDby3eOVbve4L4jXfR/7nPs/zBx+jd9ZfI0vHJuzLHyn1P4DOLWgfO4Z1j5cNPTLwnK+ekLv+fucmzlXOfTfpq3l/t9BmPX8RUO85wiaLeQST40BB4xzuv2uIdV23y1MU+X9tcZkcuEcYpRw4pJ69x3Hr4AggEZonxq7toatgfeC58z/HyXouVpYCrrw0mL19wjJ97lNZtD2AO3Yx99VtER2/FNPok5/6F3rs+WYDfetsHCdZuZOcLp9F0ROfOj9K+/SPsffWPysUcuYXdf7gfnwxpnfoAnTs/zu4XP1yS0Lt66gT1jERA8x3o41/WKyb4f/jTUmMtgGYLYurupQPkwGGcoA6CSNFAcBaMEW5Z2eHUyjapE4x4WrHHO2V/zxA1DdnGEKsQrfVoZPscOdXDnLccXjUYl9V2cq26mbPsP/1ZWm+9l91//ijNt55m76mH8PluOjVG86a72f3Sr+F2N1CB0ZN/wuo9f8fosU8Vixk+9il8MgCB/aceon3bfcXmOB1rtphQ68o5oUieVXziVJc//sYwD8jTkKN87FQPtaO5YqPq/gWoo2HCwYWEtUMh2hA085hIkEAwAlYUERB1eFEGB4J3hjD0eGuJliIahzqgnrgvbD5/QBQGdFfbEzaIVjLPSrpuHQff/hLtH3mAxomfIlw7wc4jvw45mN45UMV0D7N67xfr4U91AloOkt+/XCZWdg8xIVhXxEdvbZEuTUk2SYXKWfn8Tmd1h998yxJ//u1hweJfOdmjs7qLuikxyiJjIVONs+wOMmzqWF0LabUD8GBCwZs8bVDN02XwXjEBiIEwFkxgSLcOyEYHbLyk7JmIN51cAq8otrJ5SG2Xn8al/f94mP57fp/Rk3+KpuPCt6ZM9aNLbP3tL+JHFyubdTUBn7pyWVsVRgHUWyBG3XjSq7mU9/GLKmAU6Cxt85E3r/DQd3Y4fdMynaVtvJ1P/AH8IlCty2gKJGPPxY2U/lJAfykgbglBKJgQTKAYo4goYpjkkALihfPr++xse5yFpB9z9HiHcWJpx6ZSV5fJdWHhnInDs2cYnX1wLlGc3Ie9pz9H/12/zeArf4DdfYXo0A103/5LXH7kY8XjBWursc5aELAXn6X1ttPs/ftfY1p9+j/5WwXoUikcinosn3Ont8W9N67S6V7CO0EWJdmAZgvcP+3BEKWtk5RguJuR7Du6PUOrLcQNCCMgUMRMbGQ6EdFKzN5YsM2IsO24bJW1IxHeOpKx0jSmmKivZoQ5E31mi0SyVmJq6bKCMHry03Tefj+r7/8rgu5V2K0XGD75F5PduUhhbF7uVios51GUy//0CZbv+iS9H/tl3OBVRv/6IK2b3gOZzXNe6km95ucqdFqbeFf1iZncWMFXkn+ZSn8P/+qtPPfUWfzFhOWxEgFhAFEIrRjixuQ3DMCpkjjIJOBgDFkmpM2Iy5FnpR/Tbwr9pqHbMLSiYKaIrCffiw/hB2tZc9LTzLgL2q/4Hp0rGGpzkIpbMSuDlfOIr72NO37v3+rSX8c4DreF3SMNLuw7WiPLqhO89wyHit/J46gRggiChkGawn5kGERKHHnWOgH9htKJhHYAER7vSqWjWO/UzVRrFZKo1jYNJS9Tc1lJa+uvumJVo9ICXM3ZNq3vq2OUdpMyoZdZXbGyu+e6RFmJVUphlcUb1UrokJ7Qj2GlGTDuGUYDi00MGihGlVAFp4oaAQPGQKspHG0Z2pHQbQjtUIhCiIyCU3C+KPVKIaR0Hq2QoRQ3tNBd/AIxtRQzqqJMPV0rNZhcD6imP9PAOyOp+ml+UhuEevla0SWqGo/PkgWCimb0I+iGQtaE1EHaC7EeMgfOVzgmQmggNBAHQhxAFBgCoxjJy0o7H3t0riJcUE4uPJc5t/NzSvSiavMHyTf1e/o/eGd1zrPyn6YzTO102vg0ITz8BrKNZ4lRohC6QUVxU5mPaLWt1oObLFZmNOhaqKsuT2diYbXcKeS1kuGTcMCsMrJYxZKKRlDTT+e/JJSJ/AIjVIuWqTheXZtAdNWN+Cyh02mXoK6vPyPv/1ysD7+vRXDo2Lz9p741DTP5Nj6dnHqtgSJGIG/TygykImgwI6sii+CZB7oi1Nevp/11Ok+dCy+LPpNIDSCdkcYp9gJU8jEmVVep/YLahHv+PmF9/RkBzoR5ZXJGRORnk5t1NNp77evd//Lodjusrz8jqnqm/EKTX7x2/N8PEXngvwGmxXp8sOJrCAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==) !important;
margin-left: -3px!important;
margin-top: -5px!important;
padding-right: 2px!important;
padding-bottom: 1px!important;
border:0!important;
-moz-appearance: none!important;
opacity: 0.8;
}
 
#appmenu-toolbar-button:hover {
opacity: 1!important;
-moz-transition-duration:0.5s!important;
}
 
#appmenu-toolbar-button > .toolbarbutton-text,
#appmenu-toolbar-button > .toolbarbutton-menu-dropmarker {
display: none !important;
}

Save the file and restart firefox.