tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7899303956138002222024-02-08T08:05:13.998-08:00Exceptions and Exceptional EventsHeather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-33697601276765513822010-09-12T18:24:00.000-07:002010-09-12T18:24:09.120-07:00Heather-Buchel.comI will be moving my blog to <a href="http://heather-buchel.com/">Heather-Buchel.com</a> Thanks!Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-13559591446501300072010-09-10T19:47:00.000-07:002010-09-10T19:53:15.353-07:00Problems (And Solutions!) While Creating a Local Magento Install with Wamp<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/TIphJsOLe-I/AAAAAAAAACw/Brzet9ix_pU/s1600/magtips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/TIphJsOLe-I/AAAAAAAAACw/Brzet9ix_pU/s400/magtips.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To continue my foray into e-commerce shopping cart solutions, I decided to start tackling the beast that is Magento. Here are some of the problems I encountered, and the solutions I found for them.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After doing several frustrating re-installs of Magento using Wamp that took up approximately 1.5 hours of my life that I will never get back (that is assuming I never get my hands on a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_time_machine"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DeLorean</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) I have finally wrangled my way into the admin section of my local Magento install. Here are some of the simple solutions I came across that may prevent some of your future headaches.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e06666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note: This install uses Magento 1.4.1.0 on a personal computer that only I use for development.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, Magento is quite large. By default, Wamp has some settings set in its php.ini file that limit how large of a script can be ran, and how long before it will time-out. These default values are too low for Magento to finish installing, so we need to change them. Your php.ini file is located in Wamp/bin/php/phpx.x.x (where x is your version of php you have installed). After several attempts, I changed several variables to be quite large to allow Magento to install its database without timing out, or running out of space. Open your php.ini file in the text/code editor of your choice and use your find feature to locate "max_execution_time". It will be part of a block of code that looks like this:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Resource Limits ;</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; http://php.net/max-execution-time</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Note: This directive is hardcoded to 0 for the CLI SAPI</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">max_execution_time = 1800</span> </span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data. It's a good</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; idea to limit this time on productions servers in order to eliminate unexpectedly</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; long running scripts.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Note: This directive is hardcoded to -1 for the CLI SAPI</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Default Value: -1 (Unlimited)</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Development Value: 60 (60 seconds)</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Production Value: 60 (60 seconds)</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; http://php.net/max-input-time</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">max_input_time = 6000</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Maximum input variable nesting level</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; http://php.net/max-input-nesting-level</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">;max_input_nesting_level = 64</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (128MB)</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; http://php.net/memory-limit</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">memory_limit = 512M</span></span></blockquote></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can see, I changed my </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">max_execution_time</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to 1800, my </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">max_input_time</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to 6000 and my </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">memory_limit</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to 512. There are several sites that suggested this, however, most of them fail to mention that you also need to change your php.ini file in your Apache folder. So, this file is located in Wamp/bin/apache/Apachex.x.x/bin. Using the find feature of your text/code editor you can change these values to match that of the one in your Php folder. Be sure to restart Wamp after changing these values before you attempt to install Magento.</span></span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After this problem was solved, I was ready to start tinkering around with the admin. However, each time I entered my password it came back as invalid. And since it was a local install, I could not use the e-mail feature to have it sent to me. First, I attempted to Google the problem, knowing that I definitely had the right password after reinstalling more than once. I got a little distracted by </span><a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/4337/P60/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this thread on Magento's forums</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> explaining how to change several files to get Magento to recognize the http://localhost/Magento type of address that you would use for a local install. (by the way, if you do encounter this problem, see the thread for more details, but using </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38394b; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://127.0.0.1/ instead of loalhost may fix your problems).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is where I had a "duh." moment after unsuccessfully getting any of the changes mentioned in that thread to work. Thank you </span><a href="http://newbitsontheblog.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Newbitsontheblog.com</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for reminding this database specialist student that yes, you can </span><a href="http://newbitsontheblog.com/magento-localhost-admin-login-problem/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">change your Magento password via your phpmyadmin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> interface.</span></div><blockquote>In rare cases your login data might be the real problem. You can set your password via phpMyAdmin and the following SQL-Statement:</blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><blockquote>UPDATE admin_user SET password=MD5('newpassword') WHERE username='yourusername';</blockquote></span><br />
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</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm sure many of you are tee-hee-ing to yourself that I must have mistyped my password, but after several re-installs I have to protest that this simply isn't true! /end frustration.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Magento-ing.</span></div>Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-26465091250662565922010-08-29T19:29:00.000-07:002010-08-29T19:50:55.459-07:00My Review of OpencartI first found out about Opencart from a friend who runs her clothing store on this software. (<a href="http://www.thickgirlthreads.com/estore">ThickGirl Threads</a>, an online thrift store for women sizes 12 and up!). I'm relatively new to Ecommerce software, but have heard about some of the bigger dogs such as Magento. Wanting to fiddle with something other than Wordpress for a bit, and wanting to be able to tell people I have ecommerce experience (ha) I decided to dive in.<br />
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What drove me to want to learn more about Opencart was that it seemed like a system that was extremely simple to set up. Small shop owners and artsy folks that sell their wares out of their homes (which we have a lot of here in Lansing!) probably want something they can easily set up and get running with in a small amount of time. This is a major selling point, and at first glance this is what Opencart appears to be.<br />
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Before we start, here are some screenshots of the theme that I started before writing this post. Its not anywhere near finished, and is mostly serving as a skeleton.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THsSw9M8yVI/AAAAAAAAACQ/6LRUYMgAGaY/s1600/ssva1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="62" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THsSw9M8yVI/AAAAAAAAACQ/6LRUYMgAGaY/s320/ssva1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Header</td></tr>
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</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THsS2UheeeI/AAAAAAAAACY/vDgkQj9pBHU/s1600/ssva2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THsS2UheeeI/AAAAAAAAACY/vDgkQj9pBHU/s320/ssva2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Product Page</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">First Impressions</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.opencart.com/opencart/application/view/image/screenshot_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://www.opencart.com/opencart/application/view/image/screenshot_3.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">OpenCart Demo Theme</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">My first impression of Opencart's demo theme was less than enthusiastic. Rounded corners, ugly generic graphics, gaudy icons. I can't imagine anyone using this theme as their store front has actually succeeded in creating a successful online presence for their store; though the same could be said for almost anyone using a default, unbranded theme. Ok, fair enough! It just needs some TLC. Simply restyling some things, removing some of the 1995-esque fluff, and this rough stone can be bling-blang-diamondified. And before you say anything, yes, that is the proper way of describing a beautiful website. I don't have much to say about any of the themes available on Opencart's website. If you're using this software, hire a designer. Stay clear of the free bin.</span></b></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Admin UI</span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">After browsing around my demo store I set up (Opencart comes prepackaged with a catalog of items which helps out quite a bit with the development process), I made my way to the admin section. The Admin ui is cleanly laid out, though I do have a few gripes here and there, which all in all are design/user experience related and not so much "Hey, I can't figure out how to do this" related. There are some features that are, in my eyes, missing from the UI.</span></b></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THr9TkD599I/AAAAAAAAACA/GKpI3RvJDTE/s1600/opencartproductlist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="71" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THr9TkD599I/AAAAAAAAACA/GKpI3RvJDTE/s200/opencartproductlist.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Product List</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The list view of products could use some work. I see headings and data that tell me if an item is enabled or not and I see the quantity of an item right in front of me. What I would like to see are drop down/input options to change these values without having to click edit first. This is a small gripe, but these are the things that enhance the experience for the user. If you often find yourself thinking "Hey, I wish I could do this" all the time, odds are it needs to change because thats what many others are probably thinking as well.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THr-zXBtbWI/AAAAAAAAACI/wy8iVDElHTc/s1600/productedit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="33" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THr-zXBtbWI/AAAAAAAAACI/wy8iVDElHTc/s200/productedit.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Product Edit Page</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Clicking edit on a product gives you a tabbed list of all the options you have to describe your product. Note: the default image for the product is set on the "General" tab. All other additional image views are set on the "Image" tab. After a bit of "Why the heck is my image not showing up?" I quickly figured out that I had set my default image as an additional image. Again, a small gripe. Easily fixed. Generally adding any image via the admin UI, though, feels less fluid than it should be.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Adding options for an item (such as size or color) feels clunky, and there isn't a default way of adding the same options for several items at a time. A quick google search led me to find some premium modules you can buy that do this for you, but I feel like this should be something added to the core. Currently, you are left re-adding the same options for every single item that needs it. Ouch.</span></b></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span">TLDR: The meat of the UI is there. It needs a lot more polish though.</span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Digging Around the Backend</span></span></b><br />
The developer(s?) of OpenCart neglected to comment their code. This... irks me... to no end. First rule of programming class: Comment your code or don't hand it in. At least thats how my very FIRST programming teacher made me feel. This is borderline juvenile and I wonder how they felt it was OK. Never be so arrogant as to believe that its OK to not comment anything especially when you know other people will be viewing it. I would say very bad words about this, but I'm trying... to restrain... annoyance... ANGER....<br />
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Moving on. If you're familiar with the MVC system (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model%E2%80%93View%E2%80%93Controller">Model–View–Controller</a>), you won't have too hard of a time digging around and finding which template files need to be changed and which don't when you get down to creating your own theme. Sidenote: If anyone can tell me why they didn't use .php extensions instead of .tpl, please share your great wisdom with me. If you're NOT familiar with MVC don't let that affect your opinion of Opencart; get to reading and maybe head to Net Tuts for their great <a href="http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/codeigniter-from-scratch-day-1/">CodeIgniter tutorials</a> for a nice intro to MVC.<br />
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When I started creating my own OpenCart theme, I decided to make it as simple as possible so that it would work right out of the box, with as little adjusting as possible. That means the main files I've changed are located in your theme's template files, and of course your theme's stylesheet. This way a user can upgrade to the newest version of OpenCart, without having to change a bunch of other files just to make it work with your theme. Note: Anything you can't do via the admin, however, is going to mean that you'll be changing a lot of files; be sure to note which ones will be overridden when upgrade time comes.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THsXKWogAZI/AAAAAAAAACg/Cm0bPDg0TVs/s1600/codeexample.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="73" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THsXKWogAZI/AAAAAAAAACg/Cm0bPDg0TVs/s200/codeexample.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Example of Default Code</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I was pretty taken back to discover how <b>unclean</b> these template files were for the default theme. There are extra divs all over the place named "div1" and "div2". There are others above and below each div; which I assume are to make it easier should you want to add pretty rounded corners to all of your boxes. Its always a good idea to name your ids and classes something that is representative of what it is for. Please tell me what div4 does. No? Ok, then tell me what "top_navigation" and "main_navigation" might be. Makes a little more sense, yeah?<br />
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I'm also a little annoyed when menu items aren't wrapped in an unordered list and are instead wrapped in their own divs. Unordered lists and menus just go together well, do it! It makes them far easier to style.<br />
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My suggestion if you're going to make a theme thats not a knock off of the default, would be to start from scratch and add in the PHP hooks and filters when you need them, or to DELETE out every bit of html in the default templates (I did the latter). Trying to base your theme on the default too much, is just going to make it look... "default"-ey, and thats something users can spot within seconds.<br />
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<b>TLDR: AHGOD. Stay away from the default theme. Learn the hooks and functions you need, and start from scratch. Be mindful of what files you are changing.</b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Modules</span><br />
The idea of modules is great, though I have to say they are <i>poorly implemented</i> into Opencart. Its not that easy to install another author's module. Its not hard, but its not as <b>smooth </b>as one might hope for. I think I'm spoiled coming from Wordpress which has one click installs of widgets from your admin page, not lengthy uploading of files into their appropriate folders. Also, to get any of the modules to match your theme, expect to spend some time mucking about in the module's template files to restructure them to match your own.<br />
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Also, I really want a wishlist module. Thats pretty much a staple part of any online store you go to and would be a very nice touch to polishing OpenCart even more.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The OpenCart Community</span><br />
Heading to any forum for help can be a scary thing. There are always people, on any forum, that frequent it daily, and will protect that forum until their dying breath. How dare you come there with your noob questions and not know as much as they do. What were you thinking? Go back to blogspot.com. Oops, I mean.... what?<br />
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This is the impression I got when first visiting the OpenCart forums; questions in hand, thirsty for knowledge! Needless to say I was a little discouraged by some of the arrogance of the, ahem, regulars, and their unwillingness to listen to any suggestions for change. <a href="http://forum.opencart.com/viewtopic.php?p=72582#p72582">Like this gem of a posting</a>. (The original poster in that thread, Eric Lamb, also wrote up his own <a href="http://blog.ericlamb.net/2010/05/should-we-use-opencart/">review of Opencart on his website here</a>.) Yes, that is the lead developer of OpenCart calling somebody an idiot. After finding this article, I was ready to abandon my OpenCart templating project and move on to something new, preferably filled with software developers that dish out hugs and candy instead of insults. Its a sad thing, because there are a lot of genuinely helpful people on the OpenCart forums, there are plenty of people looking for a simple shopping cart solution, and there are plenty of developers wanting to sink their teeth into producing high quality themes and modules.<br />
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Whats that thing, where you overthrow the dictator? Yeah, lets do that. We'll see how my theme turns out. Its easy to get attached to a new piece of code that you've spent a considerable amount of time tearing apart. Like a puppy. Minus the tearing apart bit... Expect more OpenCart posts should I find the heart to continue.Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-20609310578549720992010-08-29T17:58:00.000-07:002010-08-29T17:58:36.872-07:00Star Stealing Girl Video<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">I recently played violin with Year 200X at Bit Gen Gamer Fest 5 in Baltimore. You can't see very much of me, because knowing how much they usually move around I was a bit afraid of getting hit by someones guitar, or face. Also, I was insanely nervous! Ha. But here is a video, enjoy.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Learn more about Year 200X at <a href="http://www.year200xband.com/">Year200xband.com</a> soon to be redesigned, I promise.</span></span></div>Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-22071186171691982552010-08-23T15:45:00.000-07:002010-08-23T15:58:53.835-07:00The Lansing City Market<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THL5ODxwpnI/AAAAAAAAAB4/jHDtk9eKD80/s1600/4865669927_58b6983649_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/THL5ODxwpnI/AAAAAAAAAB4/jHDtk9eKD80/s320/4865669927_58b6983649_m.jpg" /></a>I've picked up a part time job at the <a href="http://www.lansingcitymarket.com/">Lansing City Market</a>, and if you live in the area and haven't been yet, I strongly encourage you to make a trip downtown and see what we have to offer. Its exciting being amongst people that care so deeply about their local community. It is also a great feeling knowing that you're supporting local Michigan farmers and craftsman. If you've ever felt like you've wanted to make the leap towards buying locally and eating locally (and in season) then you have everything laid out very nicely here to make it that much easier. They've also added a new restaraunt/bar called The Waterfront that has AMAZING food (much of which is plucked right from the vendor's booths in the Market)<br />
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<a href="http://www.lansingcitymarket.com/Vendors/tabid/53/Default.aspx">Here is a list of the vendors you can find at the Lansing City Market.</a> I'm sure there will be future posts on this blog about my experience working with these amazing people.<br />
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P.S. I work at the Uncle John's Fruit House Winery tasting room. Free wine tasting? Can't go wrong there.Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-22143144650871353262010-05-02T13:46:00.000-07:002010-05-02T13:50:32.673-07:00Matt Mullenweg talks to Mashable about the Future of WordpressOne of my favorite nerds. Wordpress has so many exciting things coming this year and I can't wait for version 3.0 to be released (Custom post types? HELLO!) The original article on Mashable can be found here: <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/05/02/matt-mullenweg-interview-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable)&utm_content=Twitter">WordPress Founder Talks About the Platform’s Future [VIDEO]</a><br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pz0zefLK6PA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pz0zefLK6PA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-68858679495274689232010-04-26T23:29:00.000-07:002010-04-27T00:08:01.283-07:00Summer Programming ProjectsSummer is here. Time for Nerdfest 2010. I just made that up. Its not a real event as far as I know. I won't be taking classes this summer, so to satisfy my insatiable urge to learn, and to stay on top of my "game", I've decided to take on some personal side projects.<br />
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<ol><li>Python. This has been one of my favorite languages so far. I took one semester in it, but have been too busy with my current classes to take it any further. I'd really like to, however. And after my friend described a game hes created using <a href="http://pygame.org/">Pygame</a>, I think I have an idea for a fun project that will also help me brush up on the language.</li>
<li><a href="http://codeigniter.com/">CodeIgniter</a>. My experience with PHP has mostly been what I've learned from tearing apart Wordpress templates and changing them to do what I need them to do. After going through <a href="http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/codeigniter-from-scratch-extending-the-framework/">a few tutorials on CodeIgniter</a>, I'd like to further my knowledge of it. I'm pretty impressed so far with what it can do and I already have a few ideas in my head for some web apps. Also, I'm excited to put to use some of this SQL business that I'm, you know, going to school for and all. Being able to combine that knowledge with making pretty things on the web? Makes me a happy person.</li>
<li>Continue with Java. Java java java. Its not my favorite language but I'll be taking more of it in the fall, so I might as well keep on practicing and learn to have a better relationship with it.</li>
</ol>It will be nice to work on some things for <i>fun</i> instead of just to meet deadlines and requirements. Of course, this is all in line next to going to the lake and seeing <a href="http://year200xband.com/2010/04/bit-gen-5/">Year 200X play in Baltimore</a> :D<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/S9aM1Cz_SMI/AAAAAAAAABY/vLl3ckM6FmE/s1600/merlinblog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/S9aM1Cz_SMI/AAAAAAAAABY/vLl3ckM6FmE/s200/merlinblog.jpg" width="200" /></a>Oh, almost forgot to add. Summer TV show list. Merlin has a new season on SyFy that started last Friday. Can't begin to describe my excitement for that. Also, I'm going to be watching every single episode of Battlestar Galactica.<br />
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So what are your summer projects going to be?Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789930395613800222.post-15517347545759727262010-04-24T14:14:00.000-07:002010-04-24T14:34:04.992-07:00Something is Wrong with the Way Programming is Taught in our Schools<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/S9Ng9pIDXSI/AAAAAAAAAAw/-SDw7J2gC0w/s1600/bookstext.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CPVr1d9OPeQ/S9Ng9pIDXSI/AAAAAAAAAAw/-SDw7J2gC0w/s320/bookstext.jpg" /></a></div>A while back I came across this great article by Jeff Atwood on his blog <a href="http://codinghorror.com/">CodingHorror.com</a> titled <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/02/why-cant-programmers-program.html">Why Can't Programmers.. Program?</a> Its a relatively older article, but it's message has started to ring in my ears as my first semester in JAVA programming is coming to an end: will I be able to actually put into practice the techniques I am learning?<br />
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First, a little background about myself. I've considered myself a "web hobbyist" for quite some time now; learning PHP/HTML/CSS on my own. Last fall I returned to school to study Database Administration; and have picked up courses in Python, C++, and most recently JAVA. After observing many of my fellow students struggle with basic concepts I have to wonder, is there a problem with the way programming is being taught in our colleges and universities? Does this explain why so many programmers are leaving college with their degrees still unable to write out a simple algorithm that they should have learned in their first year of classes?<br />
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Programming has to be experienced. Yes, its true you can read a book and learn a thing or two about programming. You can scour Google reader for all your favorite programming blogs and inhale all the information you can from them. But you're never really going to be able to program, in my opinion, if you aren't spending the time outside of the classroom to program on your own. Maybe my theories about programming seem a bit grandiose, but to me, it is something that requires exploration and practice. I wonder if this isn't encouraged enough by today's professors. Is highest priority being placed on turning in assignments on time to get the "A" instead of driving home real concepts that are able to be expanded upon? And by concepts, I mean real generalized, simple concepts, such as problem solving and knowing how to navigate towards a solution with the tools you are given. Too often I see students not referring back to their own problem solving abilities, but instead looking in the textbook for a problem that is similar and just changing variable names around.<br />
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A solution? I'm not sure. Maybe your first programming class should require you to put the computer and textbook away, and pull out some paper and pencil, and simply write out solutions to given problems. Maybe programming "design" isn't gone over enough in the beginning.<br />
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Then again, maybe it falls back on the student. Maybe its just the way the field is. The bad programmers are weeded out after they've already gotten their degree and as they stop foot onto the job market.Heather Buchelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16628692268028546419noreply@blogger.com0