vB Hacking Article v1.5

[Dean C]

Nicely layed out and informative. Hopefully it'll help some of our users Thanks for posting!

[Xenon]

definitelly good and usefull text

[Revan]

I would like to submit the following comments to this guide.

Originally Posted by Oblivion Knight

How do I switch between ASCII and Binary mode?
Again, this depends on which FTP Browser you use. Key words to look out for on the toolbars for this would be 'A-1 Mode' and 'Transfer Mode'. If you have problems finding this, ask at the support forums of your chosen FTP Browser, or asking at a vBulletin community might be helpful (as long as you're polite!).

You should also add that ALL the FTP clients you suggested supports the AUTO transfer mode, which (amongst others) automatically transfers PHP files in ASCII mode (which is the relevant file type and transfer mode for 99 % of all vB related transfer).

Originally Posted by Oblivion Knight

What program should I use to edit my files?

The most common question asked where vB hacking is concerned is; "What program should I use to edit my files?" The answer is, there is no definitive program to use.. Some work better much better than others however.

Recommended:
Notepad, Developers Pad, EditPlus, UltraEdit

Not Recommended:
Microsoft Word, Wordpad, Macromedia Dreamweaver

Notepad will get you by just fine, but the major features it lacks (syntax highlighting, line numbers and customizable keyboard shortcuts) can be found in the other recommended programs; Developers Pad, EditPlus and UltraEdit.

What program did you use to edit the files?
If you used Macromedia Dreamweaver, it's likely that something else was changed on top of what you asked it to change. The program is funny like that..

No it bloody well isnt.
I strongly resent the ENTIRE part of this post.
I used Dreamweaver for 90 % of my coding career, and not ONCE has it (nor FrontPage for that matter) fooked up my files.
The ONLY reason why it would EVER destroy vB code is if you, in your preferences, turned ON code rewriting.
Now I got code rewriting on, and yet DW doesnt mess up my vB files!?
OMFG!
I just put .php and .php3 as an extension in "Never rewrite code files with the following extensions:"

I cannot express thoroughly enough how much it PISSES ME OFF that someone just writes "Dreamweaver is not recommended because it destroyd vB coding", without actually bothering to check what the cause is and try to resolve it internally.

Originally Posted by Oblivion Knight

I get a syntax error when running this query.. Help!
Syntax errors are often enough the result of bad copying and pasting, or depending on what you're using to run database queries the query string may differ.

If you get a syntax error when running code with a ';' at the end of it, remove the ';' and try running it again. This SHOULD solve your problem.

Other things to look out for are too many ' marks used in the query. A good example of this would be the following query that you are asked to run when installing the Journal.. Please note that this is not a definate answer, different versions of phpMyAdmin may act differently.

Correct :laugh:[sql] CREATE TABLE journal (
journalid int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
title text NOT NULL,
description text NOT NULL,
imagename text NOT NULL,
entries int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
views int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
enabled smallint(6) default '0',
timestamp int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
userid int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
mood text NOT NULL,
np text NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (journalid)
) TYPE=MyISAM ;[/sql]
Incorrect :dead:[sql] CREATE TABLE journal (
'journalid' int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
'title' text NOT NULL,
'description' text NOT NULL,
'imagename' text NOT NULL,
'entries' int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
'views' int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
'enabled' smallint(6) default '0',
'timestamp' int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
'userid' int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
'mood' text NOT NULL,
'np' text NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY ('journalid')
) TYPE=MyISAM ;[/sql]

Your "correct" SQL query syntax, while it works just perfect, is not 100 % correct.
The syntax as SQL itself shows it, is:
[SQL]CREATE TABLE `journal` (
`journalid` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`title` text NOT NULL,
`description` text NOT NULL,
`imagename` text NOT NULL,
`entries` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`views` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`enabled` smallint(6) default '0',
`timestamp` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`userid` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`mood` text NOT NULL,
`np` text NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`journalid`)
) TYPE=MyISAM;[/SQL]
The ONLY reason why you have syntax errors in your "incorrect" query is because usage of ' in the name area is not permitted, you must either use ` or none.


Other than these errors in your guide, its very well written.

[CarCdr]

LOL. C'mon now Revan, why don't you just tell us how you really feel about that entry on Dreamweaver.

UltraEdit? EditPlus? NotePad? Yeah, I guess if I were stuck in Lower Slomibia with no net connection and only kiddie software. Emacs.

[Jolten]

Great thread Oblivion. I'd just like to add for the Macintosh, the best text editing application would be BBEdit from www.barebones.com. Users shoudl NOT use the macintosh TextEdit application. As for FTP, my favorite is Transmit from www.panic.com, but there's also Fetch along with other smaller FTP clients. In fact, MacOS 10 can directly connect to a server via FTP.

Dreamweaver is fine if you use version 4 or later. Version 3 had issues with dirtying code.

[Oblivion Knight]

Originally Posted by Revan

I would like to submit the following comments to this guide.

You should also add that ALL the FTP clients you suggested supports the AUTO transfer mode, which (amongst others) automatically transfers PHP files in ASCII mode (which is the relevant file type and transfer mode for 99 % of all vB related transfer).

I'll add a section about the AUTO mode to the guide shortly..

Originally Posted by Revan

No it bloody well isnt.
I strongly resent the ENTIRE part of this post.
I used Dreamweaver for 90 % of my coding career, and not ONCE has it (nor FrontPage for that matter) fooked up my files.
The ONLY reason why it would EVER destroy vB code is if you, in your preferences, turned ON code rewriting.
Now I got code rewriting on, and yet DW doesnt mess up my vB files!?
OMFG!
I just put .php and .php3 as an extension in "Never rewrite code files with the following extensions:"

I cannot express thoroughly enough how much it PISSES ME OFF that someone just writes "Dreamweaver is not recommended because it destroyd vB coding", without actually bothering to check what the cause is and try to resolve it internally.

With all due respect, 80% of errors that people get when editing the functions.php file is caused by something that Dreamweaver has done (like you say, probably with code rewriting on).

Therefore, it is NOT recommended. Simple as.

Similarly with Wordpad, I use that all the time with no problems at all, but people that are new to coding experience problems and therefore it isn't recommended..

This guide is aimed at beginners, so I recommended the plain-text editors only.

Originally Posted by Revan

Your "correct" SQL query syntax, while it works just perfect, is not 100 % correct.

The ONLY reason why you have syntax errors in your "incorrect" query is because usage of ' in the name area is not permitted, you must either use ` or none.

I'm no query whizz, so thanks for pointing this out. Appropriate changes will be made.

Originally Posted by Jolten

I'd just like to add for the Macintosh, the best text editing application would be BBEdit from www.barebones.com. Users shoudl NOT use the macintosh TextEdit application. As for FTP, my favorite is Transmit from www.panic.com, but there's also Fetch along with other smaller FTP clients. In fact, MacOS 10 can directly connect to a server via FTP.

Thanks for the info, I'll add it with the next update.

[rake]

Originally Posted by Revan

No it bloody well isnt.
I strongly resent the ENTIRE part of this post.
I used Dreamweaver for 90 % of my coding career, and not ONCE has it (nor FrontPage for that matter) fooked up my files.
The ONLY reason why it would EVER destroy vB code is if you, in your preferences, turned ON code rewriting.
Now I got code rewriting on, and yet DW doesnt mess up my vB files!?
OMFG!
I just put .php and .php3 as an extension in "Never rewrite code files with the following extensions:"

I cannot express thoroughly enough how much it PISSES ME OFF that someone just writes "Dreamweaver is not recommended because it destroyd vB coding", without actually bothering to check what the cause is and try to resolve it internally.

I've only used dreamweaver about 4 years ago before i started working with php and SSI includes were the popular way to make semi-dynamic websites. But i have used Frontpage a lot, and it does add a lot of crap of it's own into your files. Especially if you edit parts of html code, like a vb template for example, where the <table> tags are missing, it adds those in. When you put the template back in vBulletin it will be screwed up. I would have never thought of using it for php though, simply because it's a WYSIWYG html editor.

Anyway, my main tool has been notepad and 99% of my work has been done using notepad. Syntax highlighting is not important to me. In fact, i find it annoying. It distracts your attention from the actual code, with that dumb color coding. As for line numbering, CTRL+G in notepad (word wrap off) will take you directly to the line number you enter.

[Zachery]

Originally Posted by Revan

I would like to submit the following comments to this guide.

You should also add that ALL the FTP clients you suggested supports the AUTO transfer mode, which (amongst others) automatically transfers PHP files in ASCII mode (which is the relevant file type and transfer mode for 99 % of all vB related transfer).


No it bloody well isnt.
I strongly resent the ENTIRE part of this post.
I used Dreamweaver for 90 % of my coding career, and not ONCE has it (nor FrontPage for that matter) fooked up my files.
The ONLY reason why it would EVER destroy vB code is if you, in your preferences, turned ON code rewriting.
Now I got code rewriting on, and yet DW doesnt mess up my vB files!?
OMFG!
I just put .php and .php3 as an extension in "Never rewrite code files with the following extensions:"

I cannot express thoroughly enough how much it PISSES ME OFF that someone just writes "Dreamweaver is not recommended because it destroyd vB coding", without actually bothering to check what the cause is and try to resolve it internally.




Your "correct" SQL query syntax, while it works just perfect, is not 100 % correct.
The syntax as SQL itself shows it, is:
[SQL]CREATE TABLE `journal` (
`journalid` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
`title` text NOT NULL,
`description` text NOT NULL,
`imagename` text NOT NULL,
`entries` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`views` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`enabled` smallint(6) default '0',
`timestamp` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`userid` int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
`mood` text NOT NULL,
`np` text NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`journalid`)
) TYPE=MyISAM;[/SQL]
The ONLY reason why you have syntax errors in your "incorrect" query is because usage of ' in the name area is not permitted, you must either use ` or none.


Other than these errors in your guide, its very well written.

I would have to say 90% of our problems with uCS, vBadvanced are user end error when users edit their files with dreamweaver.

I agree with Andy and rake

[Oblivion Knight]

Updated to v1.5, I think I have just about covered all of your suggestions so far.. Thanks.

Considering I first wrote this out of boredom in a Notepad document, it's growing in to a bit of a monster.