The Designspace

Starting out with Terragen: sky doesn't render

My first attempts with Terragen convinced me it was an easy way to experiment with landscapes, with an intuitive interface, and quick results. However after the first few tries, once I started experimenting with atmosphere settings, the sky disappeared. I thought at first I had set the camera too low, or perhaps inside or touching some piece of the terrain, but it turned out to be the size and distance of the sky.

The settings for sky size and altitude are under "cloudscape" and under "atmosphere" are half-height settings for haze, atmospheric blue, and light decay.

A cross-browser keypress detection javascript

We have learning modules that have a lot of pages, and it occurred to me it would be easier on people's hands if they could simply use the right and left arrow keys to navigate through the module.

After a day of great frustration, I realized that it's nearly hopeless. Not only do all the browsers report different keycodes for the right and left arrow keys, but Firefox and Safari report both of them as "0" which makes it impossible to distinguish between them.

But I found that if the "4" and "6" keys on the number keypad are used instead, browsers are consistent. So the the following code is based on
How to cancel a keystroke before it is displayed in a text input box in NS6 by Loofa Sponge and Jim Fuqua. and uses the "4" and "6" keys to turn pages.

I've commented out all the keypress events I don't need in my script, but left them in in case you need to use them in yours. The final "if" statement contains functions called "PreviousPage()" and "NextPage()" which are specific to my own application. You can replace them with whatever function you want to occur onKeypress.

self.focus();
document.onkeypress = function (evt) {
  var r = '';
  if (document.all) {
   // r += event.ctrlKey ? 'Ctrl-' : '';
   // r += event.altKey ? 'Alt-' : '';
   // r += event.shiftKey ? 'Shift-' : '';
    r += event.keyCode;
  }
  else if (document.getElementById) {
   // r += evt.Left ? 'left-' : ''; //left and right arrow keys produce different results on every browser - and can't be distinguished accurately.
    //r += evt.ctrlKey ? 'Ctrl-' : '';
   // r += evt.altKey ? 'Alt-' : '';
  // r += evt.shiftKey ? 'Shift-' : '';
     r += evt.charCode;
  }
  else if (document.layers) {
   // r += evt.modifiers & Event.CONTROL_MASK ? 'Ctrl-' : '';
   // r += evt.modifiers & Event.ALT_MASK ? 'Alt-' : '';
  //  r += evt.modifiers & Event.SHIFT_MASK ? 'Shift-' : '';
    r += evt.which;
  }
// alert(r);
if (r==52){PreviousPage();}   //replace my PreviousPage() function with your own function
else if (r==54){NextPage();} //replace my NextPage() function with your own function

  return true;

}	

IPod: "Disc cannot be written to" message AGAIN

Well, I am just about fed up with this iPod! The "Disc cannot be written to" message is back again, and I can't sync or copy ANYTHING to it, no matter what method or format I use. On any computer! This is getting a little tiresome. Time to write Apple service again.
Their page on the topic is not terribly helpful, since it suggests the issue is my other USB and firewire items. It would be odd this is true on 4 computers, both windows and mac. If so, I can't be unplugging my firewire drives and USB tablet, etc. every time I want to sync up the iPod. Touchy little thing!

OS X 10.4.9 Cron+Firewire = cpu pegged at 100%

Late last night I tried to do some work on my G5 iMac. It has a large external firewire drive attached. Everything was slow, and the CPU was pegged at 100%. The firewire drive was making continual noises, and when I looked in the hierarchical view in Activity monitor, it showed Perl, associated with Cron, taking up most of the CPU.

I assume this was some nightly cleanup task going on, but it has never been this disruptive. I unmounted the drive, and the symptoms disappeared. Only difference has been the recent upgrade to Tiger 10.4.9.

CSS expression crashes IE6

Since IE 6 does not have a "min-width" ccss attribute, I sometimes emulate it, using CSS expressions. For example:

width:expression(document.body.clientWidth <750? "750px" : "98%");
english translation:
width = (if browser window width is less than 750 pixels, set element width to 750 pixels, else set it to 98%)

This usually works fine, but I had one case where it would load the page fine, then crash if the window were resized.

I found out it was because if IE6 is in standards mode, you have to factor in the total width of your margins, padding, and borders to use an expression that tests for width. Otherwise the expression can enter an infinite loop.

A complete discussion of this issue is here:
Tom-Lee.blogspot.com

In the article a complex and no doubt highly precise answer to the issue is given: a very long javascript expression.

I found though that you can also resolve the issue by simply making the width you are testing for slightly larger than the minimum width you are trying to set:
See Paul Haine's post for more information.

The expression that was crashing was:

width:expression(document.body.clientWidth <750? "750px" : "98%");

And the one that worked was:

 width:expression(document.body.clientWidth <755? "750px" : "98%");

Create a search form or quick report in asp

The example code below shows how to set up a form using Dreamweaver and ASP that queries a database based on the value of one or more form fields.

We have a database containing the transcripts of the results of courses taken in our online learning management system. Each online SCORM course has several sections or lessons. This form checks the status and score on each individual lesson, given the user's id and the course code.

The tables and fields involved are:

1. Create a new ASP/VB script site in Dreamweaver. Follow the steps in setting up a testing server and database connection to your database.

2. Create a form with the appropriate fields needed to fill in the parameters to run your query. (See "form1" in the example"). Name each field as shown in the example.

3. Replace the query "Recordset1_cmd.CommandText" with your own query. Replace all mentions of my field names with your own, throughout the script.
   
4. In the area "div id="results", create your own HTML results, using appropriate fields from the tables in your query.

   
   

   
   
   <%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT"%>
     <!--#include file="../../../Connections/yourdatabase.asp" -->
     <%
     'table scormmoduletranscript contains scores and statuses for each individual module ("SCOs") in a scorm course. 
     'table 
     'define a variable to use in the query
     Dim Recordset1__courseCode
     'if something is typed into the form field "courseCode" then set the variable Recordset1__courseCode to that value 
     If (Request.Form("courseCode") <> "") Then 
     Recordset1__courseCode = Request.Form("courseCode")
     End If
     'define another variable to use in the query
     Dim Recordset1__userid
     If (Request.Form("userid") <> "") Then 
     Recordset1__userid = Request.Form("user")
     End If 
     %> 
     <%
     
     Dim Recordset1
     
     Dim Recordset1_cmd
     
     Dim Recordset1_numRows
     'define Recordset1_cmd as an ADODB command
     'The ADO Command object is used to execute a single query against a database. The query can perform actions like creating, adding, retrieving, deleting or updating records.
     Set Recordset1_cmd = Server.CreateObject ("ADODB.Command")
     Recordset1_cmd.ActiveConnection = MM_lmsp_STRING
     'text of the SQL query
     Recordset1_cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM LESSONTRANSCRIPT WHERE TRANSCRIPTID IN (select ID from TRANSCRIPT where USERID IN (SELECT USERID from USERS WHERE USERID = '" & Recordset1__userid & "') AND LEARNINGACTIVITYID IN (SELECT ID from LEARNINGACTIVITY where CODE LIKE '%" & Recordset1__courseCode & "%'))"
   Recordset1_cmd.Prepared = true
     'execute the ADODB command
     Set Recordset1 = Recordset1_cmd.Execute
   %>
   <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
     <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
     <head>
     <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
     <title>Untitled Document</title>
     <style>
     #results td {
     border-bottom:1px solid #CCC;
     padding-left:12px;
     font:12px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
     height:18px;
     }
     </style>
     </head>
   <body>
     <p>&nbsp;</p>
     <p>This page will find the individual SCORM module transcript rows for a particular user and SCORM course that you specify. </p>
     <p>Enter a course code (note: use ALL CAPS for the letters) and 8-digit user id:</p>
     <form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action="aiccTranscript.asp?mode=s" >
     <label>User ID (example: 58461328 )
     <input name="userid" type="text" id="userid" value="" /> <br />
     <br />
     Course code (examples: HIST-20003 or HIST or 20003)
     <input name="courseCode" type="text" id="courseCode" value="" />
     </label>
     <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />
     </form>
     <p>
     <div id="results" style="display:block;border:1px solid #000;width:500px;height:auto">
     <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing="0" id="results">
     <tr>
     <td><b>transcript id</b></td><td><b>learningactivity id</b></td><td><b>SCORM module (SCO)</b></td><td><b>score</b></td><td><b>learning status</b></td>
   </tr>
     <tr>
   <% 
   if request.querystring("mode")="s" then
     while not recordset1.eof
     response.write ("<td>" & recordset1("transcriptid") & "</td>")
     response.write ("<td>" & recordset1("learningactivityid") & "</td>")
     response.write ("<td>" & recordset1("userid") & "</td>")
     response.write ("<td>" & recordset1("score") & "</td>")
     response.write ("<td>" & recordset1("lessonstatus") & "</td></tr>")
    
       
     recordset1.movenext
     wend
   end if%>
   </table>
     </div>
     </body>
     </html>
     <%
     Recordset1.Close()
     Set Recordset1 = Nothing
     %>
   
   
   
   

   Posted by ellen at 12:22 PM

dotProject Recipe: add a "Complete this task" checkbox to todo list

To allow one-click completion of a task, we added a checkbox to each row of the task "to-do" lists in dotProject.

Usually I try to borrow functions from other places in the application and adapt them to the new location. In this case the completion function was borrowed from the "progress" drop-down menu, on the add-edit Task screen.

The check box submits the same values as if 100% were selected from the drop-down menu.

In modules/tasks/tasks.class.php, search for the first row of the task listing table

$s = "\n"\n\t<tr style='".$style."' id='taskRow'">"

This is the area where the HTML for the task list table is generated. Find the spot in the list of table cells where you want to insert the checkbox, and add:

$s .= "\n\t<td align=\"center\" width=\"15\">";





$s .= "<form name='taskCompleteForm".$a['task_id']."'  action='?m=tasks&a=view' method='post'>";


$s .= "<input name='dosql' type='hidden' value='do_task_aed' />";


$s .= "<input type = 'hidden'  name='task_id' value='".$a['task_id']."'>";


$s .= "<input type = 'hidden'  name='task_percent_complete' value='100'>";


$s .= "<input type='checkbox' name='completeIt' onclick='document.taskCompleteForm".$a['task_id'].".submit();'>";


$s .= intval( $a["task_percent_complete"] ).'%';


$s .= "</form>";

Easy way to escape text using Dreamweaver

Do you ever need to escape HTML in your blog posts, so that it will not execute as code? I've been using Accessify.com's quick escape tool, but realized that there was another tool even closer at hand: Dreamweaver!

If you paste code into Dreamweaver's Design view, then open Code view, it will be escaped automatically, ready for you to copy and paste into your blog or whatever.

Implementing search using indexing services and asp

I wanted to add a search function to the learning modules housed in our learning management system. These modules are of several types, most are HTML/javascript-based modules, but there are also flash, pdf, and MS producer ones as well. Many of them are meant to be viewed while under SCORM control, so it is important that the search feature not interfere with SCORM communication by allowing the user to navigating away from the current module or by removing the surrounding frameset.

When under SCORM control, the script must be able to detect which module is current, and search only within that directory. When not under SCORM control, the user can have the option of searching all content on the server.

It is also important to be able to hold obsolete or private items out of the search.

I used this excellent article by Chris Maunder as a basis for the project:
Adding a search facility to your website

Creating the catalog

When I first set up indexing, I assumed the best way to set up the catalog was to make a catalog that would search only the items I wanted searched, as detailed in the article. So besides the 2 standard catalogs that indexing services creates, "System" and "Web", I created a new one. Unfortunately I found that I had better luck simply using the "web" catalog and restricting my query to find what I needed. I am still not sure what I did wrong, but I could never get the new catalog to function properly.

Setting up the query

I wanted to exclude any javascript, css or includes files from the search. Also, Dreamweaver generates "notes" folders which had to be excluded, and we use folders called "z_old" to contain backups of obsolete versions of modules. (the "z" is to keep them at the bottom in alphabetical listings) . The search also had to be limited to files with the extensions .htm, .html, .doc, .pdf, or .swf.

Based on these requirements our query reads:

 strQuery = "((NOT #vpath *\_notes*) AND (NOT #vpath *\js*) AND (NOT #vpath *\css*) AND " &_

  "(NOT #vpath *\z_old*) AND (NOT #vpath *\includes*) AND (NOT #vpath *\prototypes*))" &_

  " AND  ((#filename *.htm) OR (#filename *.swf) OR (#filename *.html) OR (#filename *doc))" &_

  " AND (" & target & ")"

Search for a complete phrase

To change the above query to find only the entire phrase, change the last line of the query from

  " AND (" & target & ")"

to:

" AND (@contents  " & target & ")"  

Restricting the search to the current module's folder

The function "util.AddScopeToQuery" will limit the results to items found within whatever scope you define. So I wrote a little function to look at the current URL of the learning module and split off the last directory, and add that to a common path. Since I want only the files within This will work as long as the modules are at the same depth, which they are in our case.

dim str0, folderarray, lastone, thisfolder
str0 = request.ServerVariables("url")
folderarray=Split(str0, "/")
lastone = UBound(folderarray)-2
thisfolder = folderarray(lastone)

Using a virtual directory

The biggest challenge was the fact that our learning modules are on a server which is accessed solely through a virtual directory on the learning management server. In other words, if the LMS server domain is: http://lmsdomain.com, the learning modules are accessed by "http://lmsdomain.com/content," even though they are actually on another server, and in another domain.

It turns out that in this configuration, the catalog and indexing services must reside on the main server with the domain, not the server whose domain is being masked by use of the virtual directory. So I turned on indexing services on the learning management server. Conveniently, when you create a virtual directory on IIS, it automatically adds that directory's content to the indexing services Web catalog.

The AddScopeToQuery path needed to be set up using the virtual directory path to the content, not the actual filesystem path.

  util.AddScopeToQuery ixQuery, Server.MapPath("/content/modules/"& thisfolder), "deep" 

"thisfolder" is the variable created with the string functions shown above. Document titles suddenly increase in importance

We have not been very careful about titling each and every HTML page, but it is now worth it to go back and do that for all of our modules. It makes a huge difference in the usability of the results.

The final script is shown below, and is included in each module.

<% option explicit 
' Search scripts

  'Modified from a script written by
  ' C Maunder (cmaunder@mail.com)

  ' www.codeproject.com

  %>
<html><head><title>Search This Learning Module</title>

  <style>

  body, td {

  font:normal 11px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;

  }
a.resultTitle:link, a.resultTitle a.resultTitle:visited  {font:16px;color:blue;}

  </style>

  </head><body>
<%

  '/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

  '// Initialisation
' Declare variables.
'Response.Write Request.ServerVariables("PATH_TRANSLATED")
dim target, firstRow, rowCount


 
' Get the request parameters.

  target	 = Request("target")	' The search request

  firstRow = Request("fr")		' First row of results to display

  rowCount = Request("rc")		' Record Count - number of rows to show

  

  ' Set default values if none found

  if firstRow = "" or not IsNumeric(firstRow) Then 

  firstRow = 1

  else

  firstRow = CInt(firstRow)

  End If

  if rowCount = "" or not IsNumeric(rowCount) Then 

  rowCount = 50

  else

  rowCount = CInt(rowCount)

  End If
Dim ScriptName, ServerName

  ScriptName = Request.ServerVariables("SCRIPT_NAME")

  ServerName = Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_NAME")
' Construct base URL for navigation buttons

  dim URL

  URL = ScriptName & "?target=" & Server.URLEncode(target)

  URL = URL & "&rc=" & Server.URLEncode(rowCount)
'/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

  '// The search form
%>

  <form name="searchForm" action="<%=ScriptName%>"  onsubmit="javascript:window.resizeTo(800,600);">

  <b>Search this learning module:</b>

  <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="target" SIZE="45" MAXLENGTH="100" VALUE="<%=target%>">

  <INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE=" Search ">

  <br> 

  </form>
<hr size=2 noshade><br>

  <%
'response.write(Server.MapPath("."))

  dim str0, str1, str2, str3, str4, folderarray, lastone, thisfolder

  str0 = request.ServerVariables("url")

  folderarray=Split(str0, "/")

  lastone = UBound(folderarray)-2

  thisfolder = folderarray(lastone)

  'response.write(folderarray(lastone))
 %>

  <% 

  DoSearch target
'/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

  '// Perform the search
sub DoSearch(target)
 on error resume next

  if target <> "" then
 dim strQuery

    

  strQuery = "((NOT #vpath *\_notes*) AND (NOT #vpath *\js*) AND (NOT #vpath *\css*) AND " &_

  "(NOT #vpath *\z_old*) AND (NOT #vpath *\includes*) AND (NOT #vpath *\prototypes*))" &_

  " AND  ((#filename *.htm) OR (#filename *.swf) OR (#filename *.html) OR (#filename *doc))" &_

  " AND (" & target & ")"

  dim strQuerytest

  

  ' Create the Index Server query object, setting the columns, the sort to

  ' descending, the max records to 300, and the query string to the given

  ' target. Note that the query string specifies, with NOT and the

  ' #vpath operators, that any files in the *\_vti path, should be excluded.

  ' (_vti* directories contain FrontPage Extension files, and we don't want

  ' users browsing them.)

  
  dim ixQuery   ' Index Server query object.

  set ixQuery = Server.CreateObject("ixsso.Query")

  if (Err.description <> "") Then

  Response.Write ("<p><b>Query object Error: " & Err.description & ".</b></p>" & vbCRLF)

  Exit sub

  end if

  

  ixQuery.Columns    = "doctitle, path, vpath, filename, size, write, characterization, rank"

  ixQuery.SortBy     = "rank[d], doctitle"

  ixQuery.MaxRecords = 300

  ixQuery.Query      = strQueryLocal

  ixQuery.Catalog = "Web" ' Specify you catalog here if it's not the default
 ' Create a search utility object to allow us to specify the search type as 'deep',

  ' meaning it will search recursively down through the directories

  dim util 

  set util = Server.CreateObject("ixsso.Util")

  util.AddScopeToQuery ixQuery, Server.MapPath("/content/modules/"& thisfolder), "deep"

  if (Err.description <> "") Then

  Response.Write ("<p><b>Search Utility Error: " & Err.description & ".</b></p>" & vbCRLF)

  Exit sub

  end if

  

  ' Run the query (i.e. create the recordset).

  dim queryRS   ' Query recordset.

  set queryRS = ixQuery.CreateRecordSet("nonsequential")
 ' Check the query result. If it timed out or return no records, then show

  ' an appropriate message. Otherwise, show the hits.

  if (Err.description <> "") Then

  Response.Write ("<p><b>Search Recordset Error: " & Err.description & ".</b></p>" & vbCRLF)

  Exit sub

  Else

  if queryRS is Nothing Then

  Response.Write ("<p>Query returned no matches.</p>" & vbCRLF) 

  elseif (ixQuery.QueryTimedOut) then

  Response.Write ("<p><b>Error: " & timedOut_Text & ".</b></p>" & vbCRLF)

  elseif (queryRS.EOF or queryRS.BOF or queryRS.RecordCount <= 0) then

  Response.Write ("<p>No matches found.</p>" & vbCRLF)

  else

  queryRS.PageSize = rowCount

  call showHits(queryRS)

  if (Err.number <> 0) Then

  Response.Write ("<p><b>Record Display Error: " & Err.description & ".</b></p>" & vbCRLF)

  End If 

  end if

  End If

  

  ' Clean up

  queryRS.close

  set queryRS = nothing

  set ixQuery = nothing

  set util = nothing

  

  End if 

  end Sub
' showHits(): Displays the query hits from the query recordset.

  '

  sub showHits(queryRS)

  dim recordNumber  ' record number

  dim docTitle      ' document title

  dim endRow        ' last row being displayed

  dim prevRow       ' row to display for "prev" option

  dim nextRow       ' row to display for "next" option

  dim lastRow       ' row to display for "last" option

  dim remainder     ' remainder (used to determine if last page is short)

  dim recordCount   ' numner of records returned

  

  recordCount = queryRS.RecordCount

  if firstRow > recordCount Then firstRow = 1 

  

  endRow = firstRow + RowCount-1                      ' Last row on page to show

  if endRow > recordCount Then endRow = recordCount

  

  prevRow = firstRow - RowCount                       ' Start of previous page's rows

  if PrevRow < 1 Then PrevRow = 1

  

  nextRow = endRow + 1                                ' Start of next pages rows. May be > CommentCount 

  

  remainder = recordCount mod RowCount

  if remainder = 0 Then

  lastRow = recordCount - RowCount + 1

  else

  lastRow = recordCount - remainder + 1

  End If

  if lastRow < 1 Then lastRow = 1                     ' Start of last pages rows
 ' Go to the top of the record set, then move forward to the record that

  ' corresponds to the first row.

  queryRS.MoveFirst()
 if (firstRow > 1) then

  queryRS.Move(CInt(firstRow) - 1)

  end if
 ' Show the summary info.: # of records found and range showing.

  %>

  <table border=0>

  <tr><td colspan=2>
<table border=0 width=100%><tr>

  <td nowrap><b>Found:</b> <%=queryRS.RecordCount%> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<b>Showing:</b> <%=firstRow%> - <%=endRow%></td> 

  <td align=right nowrap>

  <% if firstRow <> "1" Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr=1"%>">First</a> |

  <% Else %>

  First |

  <% End If %>

  <% if firstRow <> "1" Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr="&prevRow%>">Prev</a> |

  <% Else %>

  Prev |

  <% End If %>

  <% if firstRow + RowCount <= recordCount Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr="&nextRow%>">Next</a> |

  <% Else %>

  Next |

  <% End If %>

  <% if firstRow + RowCount <= recordCount Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr="&lastRow%>">Last</a>

  <% Else %>

  Last

  <% End If %>

  </td></tr>

  </table></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan=2>&nbsp;</td></tr>

  <%

  ' Show the records.
recordNumber = firstRow
do while ((not queryRS.EOF) and (recordNumber <= endRow))
 ' Get the document title. If it's blank, set it to "Untitled".

  docTitle = queryRS("doctitle")
 if docTitle = "" then docTitle = "Untitled"

    

  ' Show the record #, link to the document, URL, and characterization.

  Response.Write "<tr >"

  Response.Write "<td valign=top style='border-top:1px solid #CCC;padding:6px;'>" & recordNumber & ".</td>"

  Response.Write "<td valign=top  style='border-top:1px solid #CCC;padding-bottom:12px;'>"

  Response.Write "<a href='" & queryRS("vpath") & "' target='myStage' class='resultTitle'>" & ">" & docTitle &"</a><br>"

  Response.Write Server.HTMLEncode(queryRS("characterization"))

  Response.Write "<p><span style='font:9px Courier, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'><b>URL: </b> <a href='" & queryRS("vpath") & "' target='myStage'>http://" & ServerName & queryRS("vpath") & "</a></span></p>"

  Response.Write "</td>"

  Response.Write "</tr>"
 recordNumber = recordNumber + 1

  queryRS.MoveNext()

  loop
 ' Display the navigation links.

  %>

  <tr><td colspan=2>&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan=2 align=center>

  <% if firstRow <> "1" Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr=1"%>">First</a> |

  <% Else %>

  First |

  <% End If %>

  <% if firstRow <> "1" Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr="&prevRow%>">Prev</a> |

  <% Else %>

  Prev |

  <% End If %>

  <% if firstRow + RowCount <= recordCount Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr="&nextRow%>">Next</a> |

  <% Else %>

  Next |

  <% End If %>

  <% if firstRow + RowCount <= recordCount Then %>

  <a href="<%=URL&"&fr="&lastRow%>">Last</a>

  <% Else %>

  Last

  <% End If %>

  </td></tr>
</table>
<% end sub %>
</body>

  </html>

Still to add is a "hit highlighting" feature which will pinpoint the location of the search term in the results, much as Google's results do. This will be the topic of a later post.

Explanation of relative, absolute, network and web paths

Paths can be one of the most confusing aspects of web development. Most web designers are familar with absolute paths and relative paths:

Absolute paths point to files that can be anywhere on the internet. They don't assume any relative location to the current document. An absolute path to a file will always be the same, no matter where the link to it is located.

Example of an absolute path:

http://yourdomain.com/directoryname/otherfile.htm

Relative paths("document-relative"), point to files that are on the same server, and where the location with respect will always be the same.

Example of a relative path:

directory3/directory4/otherfile.htm

or

Example of a relative path that points to the parent of the current directory, then down two directories.

../directory3/directory4/otherfile.htm

"../" means "move up one directory from the current one."

so "../../" means "move up two directories from the current one."

So, if the current page is located at

http://yourdomain.com/directory1/yourfile.htm

and you add a link to the current page like:

<a href="directory3/directory4/filename.htm">Link</a>

your link is actually pointing to:

http://yourdomain.com/directory1/directory3/directory4/yourfile.htm

and, if you use the dot-dot-slash notation:

<a href="../directory3/directory4/otherfile.htm">Link</a>

your link points to

http://yourdomain.com/directory3/directory4/otherfile.htm

 

Relative to web root:
What if you want to use the same navigation bar all throughout your site, and your files could be located at different depths away from the web root? You can use this notation:

/directory1name/directory2/filename.htm

Beginning the path with a slash means this path is relative to the web root.

This means no matter where the current page is located on the site, no matter how many folders deep,

and you add a link to the current page like:

/directory3/directory4/otherfile.htm

your link is pointing to

http://yourdomain.com/directory3/directory4/otherfile.htm

What if you see a link like:

C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\Desktop\otherfile.htm

This is a local filesystem path which is ONLY USABLE on one computer. The "C:" refers to a hard drive, and the backward pointing slashes are an indicator that this is a filesystem path, NOT a web path. In other words, it points downward into your computer or server, not outward to the web. These types of paths are often used by mistake by newcomers to Dreamweaver who link to local files without realizing it. However they are also used by server-side scripting languages like ASP and PHP when referring to files within the filesystem. If you use a local filesystem path in your webpages, assuming it points to a file that exists on the server, Internet Explorer will accept it, but other browsers will not.

How about a link like:

\\servername\directory1\directory2\otherfile.htm

This is a network filesystem path, referring to a directory on a server on the network.

You may also come across paths like this particularly in ASP scripts:

"." or "/"

"."

means simply "the current directory"

"/"

means "the web root"

".."

means the parent directory

Emptying reluctant trash in OS X

Sometimes, when attempting to empty the trash in OS X, you will get an error

"This operation could not be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items."

The best method I've found yet for getting around this is to open the terminal window, type in

sudo rm -drf

and then drag in the items from the trash.

or to delete entire directories within the trash:
sudo rm -r
and then drag in the directory that is within the trash folder. BE CAREFUL not to drag in a higher folder, such as the trash folder itself.

Thanks to Pink for the tip.

Other tips on emptying reluctant trash are listed here:
OSX FAQ
AppleInsider