This is a bit amusing only because I’m well renowned for talking for long peridos of time once I get fired up on something.

The something in question is my PHP Class I hold every Friday Evening 8pm US EST. Typically, we have gone for over 7 hours!

The Record of 2.5 hours is a record because wasn’t very long!

Why you ask… Well when the group wants to create a new script – well we just take that long. I talk when I’m not thinking and they all watch my desktop as I create whatever it is and i do get picked up on little mistakes. That means they are all still awake! Means I might not be – who knows!

Today we were chugging away on some more of a membership script we are all wanting to use and it’s going to be incorporated into our membership site so our members can get their webhosting with a membership script included.

It’s just one of the many little projects we do as well as talk about the basics of PHP, What is a Database and how to create one and write an application based upon it. Plus we tackle any script installation problems members have. Which usually ends up with me saying some choice things about some of these scripts once I get to have a peek inside the code…That wakes me up…

Makes me think, people make a killing selling these crappy scripts while I’m doing my bit in the background to fix them up for people. Somethings not right there!

Anyway, I love what I do and that’s the other reason we can go on for hours… If I have an audience that can put up with me, I’m only too happy to oblige!

During this last project where I’ve come up with a bunch of great ways to document up a project, you could give the results to someone and say – “Here – Make This!”.

I’m doing that now, but giving it to myself. It’s much easier to wear one hat at a time than to keep hat swapping during a project.

So Phase 1 is Draw it up – using Inkscape. yes it’s Free but you can easily create all of your layouts in no time flat. Phase 2 is Work out your Forms, Phase 3 is design the Database and Phase 4 is start coding.  Having a nice firm place to start from in Phase 1 makes a huge difference.

I must show everyone how to do it – It’s simple – really it is! Give me 2.5 hours one day and I’ll show you!

We’ve been doing this for well over 3 years…

In that time, we’ve done a load of stuff.  Enough to leave you alone with for a month or two then you can come on board and help out with some of the “many” projects I have lined up.

There is sooo much that is waiting to be created and put out there to start dragging in some money, it’s beyond rediculous!

It’s been a long day…So I’ll wind down for now and see you next time.

I’ve got to crank up on my other site http://www.LookingOverMyShoulder.com – At the moment you wont see a great deal. Not yet anyway… That’s more a reminder to myself. Now I have just got to remember to read my own blog some day soon!

Cheers

Tim Brownlaw

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This post has come about – again – due to being in the middle of  creating a brand new Website using CodeIgniter ( A PHP Framework) , MySQL and Stored Procedures.

Don’t worry about what they are, but what happened is I went out on a limb and started delving into Stored Procedures that return multiple DataSets. Something I’ve not had to deal with up till now. And a long story Short – CodeIgniter was a bit short on letting me do that. I like CodeIgniter and once you get your head around it, it does let you create your wonderful masterpiece of a Script without having to worry about all the housekeeping code.

Anyway, retrieving the multiple Datasets just wasn’t happening. A shortfall of CodeIgniter.

So I had a problem on my hands.

What did I do to solve it?

Simple, I opened up my trusty Open Office Writer – created a new document called – “Using MySQL Stored Procedures -A .odt” and started writing out the problem.

It’s very  important to actually State the problem. Then you can start writing out what isn’t happening. What you think should happen and you’ll eventually get somewhere. The reason being you are writing down what you need to do and you’ll be writing down what you have done… That’s where this works wonderfully well.

Yes, it takes a little bit longer to do than just blast away. But guess what! Taking your time actually helps. Plus you’ll more than likely create yourself a guide on the problem and how you solved it.

Any light bulbs going off yet? If you know of others who might be having the same problem….you’ve just written an Ebook about it, or the makings of one.

Actually with my particular problem, I noted that it would be beneficial to go back to basics and I documented everything… The PHP Code I created. That Database Tables, The Stored procedures. I even came up with a way to automatically install my Database from a Script loaded with all my SQL statements. That got included so I don’t forget….

So I got the main script working and tinkered till I got it right and wrote it all down.

Guess What?

I ended up discovering all the right ways to do what I wanted then I got into the guts of the CodeIgniter Framework and after a bit of headscratching I got it all working.

So now I have sample Scripts, The Ebook on what I did, and a working CodeIgniter Framework that has come up pretty swish ( which means Fantastic ). Now I can get back onto my project and keep going…

The whole point of this is to remember. When you have a problem. Write it out!!!!

I’ve still got a little tidying up of the Ebook before I unleash it upon the world. But for now – it’s a good guide for me for tomorrow. Hmm yes, that’s about how long my whatever that kind of memory is called… I forget..But at least I know where to find the info I’ve written down.

Find or create the problem, Solve it Once, Write it down Once and if it pops up again – you just re-read what you did last time. Absolutely Brilliant!

It does take some commitment to do this. But ask yourself, how important is it to you – to solve the problem you have.

If you do have any Techy Website or other kind of problems. Give me a shout. I’ll work it out – write it out and send you the result. I’ve done it before for others and I’ll do it again.

Are you thinking….”This is a great way to create Content”? You should be!

Ok well I had best get into documenting up the CI changes in another document…. That’s a bit too much for any poor soul to have to read through in the one book and it’s another problem.

Happy Problem Solving.

“If you aint having any problems with anything, you aint doing anything new OR you forgot how you solved it last time”

Till next time

Cheers

Tim Brownlaw… Now where did  I put those files………

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I’m sure that’s a statement that you’d have to agree on!

I was approached by a Mr Rob Gehring ( formerly of 10KHits4U.com – a traffic exchange ) to become part of the development team and assist in his new program with my various skills. Of course I accepted as I’ve known Rob for a wee while now and his concept for his new site was rather interesting and unique.

Now Rob loves to get in front of people and mentor them. When I met Rob those many years ago, that’s exactly what he was doing then and that’s what impressed me. I should say Rob loves to talk but what he says is invaluable to the newbie and to the seasoned pro. In fact a few of those individuals have jumped on this system with great enthusiasm.

What is it?

Well Rob has taken  mentoring and list building to the next level. His new program TrafficLeads2Income.com gives you the means to create your own list. Even if you don’t have an Autoresponder, as one is included. But of course many of the other popular ones like Aweber, GetResponse, TrafficWave, EasySponder are supported in this system.

What you can do is, join up for free, go through the steps and get yourself a Lead Capture Page created in minutes. But that’s only a small part of the system.

You get to join the Forum, and of course attend the Live Conference calls being held on a regular basis where Rob gives away some pretty neat stuff plus you’ll get mentored to death! In a nice way of course.

There is also a downline builder included which has a large number of participating Traffic Exchanges and other programs participating. But you don’t have to join them all and those you don’t , you can deselect so that your Downline members only get to join those programs that You Choose. Most other systems that do this end up getting signups for your sponsor on those programs you don’t join. So that’s a pretty good feature to have.

All the affiliate material is provided so you won’t be left out to dry in ways to promote this.

The idea is simple. Create your Lead Capture page, promote it how it ever you like, but remember that Traffic Exchanges are a very good source of leads.

Rob will tell you about all the “other ways” just to put him on the spot.

The Steps that are included are there to guide anyone through the whole setup. So you won’t be left scratching your head plus you can ask for help in the Forum and also in the conference calls. There is a support room, that at the moment, isn’t open 24/7 but that’s something that’s being worked on, so you’ll always be able to get live support.

If you upgrade and it’s not expensive to do so, you’ll get higher commissions than Free members and also a few extra benefits thrown in.

So if you want to learn from someone that ” Walks the walk” then Rob’s your man. Plus you get the system to get your list building up and running and you may “unfortunately” encounter me at some stage. I try to attend as many meetings as I can and when I get time I’ll be in the support room lending a hand!

It’s all about getting your list built, getting others into some of your programs and mentoring them with the services provided.

Come along to one of the calls  – They are run on a regular basis – usually at 9pm Sundays EST ( USA Time ).

Click here and find the “Support Room” link at the bottom of the page. This will take you to the page that will get you into the conferences.

The conference software is HotConference which runs in your browser so it’s not dependent on your operating system. Most conferencing programs only run on Windows so this is a great system.

Come along, say Hi and tell Rob that I sent you and he’ll look after you!

TrafficLeads2Income is definitely a great system to use and a great community to be a part of and by it’s very nature a great program to promote where you gain all the benefits.

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Stumbling blocks – things that happen that get in the way of you progressing and can, if you let them, defeat you!

I Never say Die – and I’ll battle any technical issue I come across until I succeed. But it’s how you get there that’s poked it’s head up.

Writing the Ultimate Membership Script.

I got it into my head that it’s time to settle down, pick a project and actually finish it.  So I did – I’m currently working on a new directory, membership site with all the bells and whistles I can think up. I’ve even gone down the path of documenting everything in a manner of ways which I’ll discuss in upcoming posts.

But what happened was this…. I’ve been starting scripts for sometime and I’m a great fan of using a PHP Framework called CodeIgniter. Now CodeIgniter is a nice elegant solution to providing the nuts and bolts to any system.  The only problem is, it’ll let you do anything and this is where people can get stuck. Again that’s for other upcoming posts.

I was merrily coding away, over coming other little stumbling blocks, ( finally solved my templating issues at long last – YEAH!!!!) and getting back into the swing when it came time to start creating the MySQL Stored Procedures.

Now, I’ve done this before in great and elaborate detail and so it was only a matter of copying and making slight modifications to get them to work in the new setup. BUT when it came time to create them in my neat little “MySQL Query Browser” Program ( available for Windows and Linux ) it refused to create them. WHAT!!!! This used to work fine.

So a mad search of Google on the subject led to lots of forums and sites with lots of – try this and the oh too common – “I’m having the same problem – help”.

The main problem is actually figuring out what the problem is. After hours of reading and getting confused I decided to take the extraordinary step of opening up a OpenOffice Writer Document ( you can use what ever you prefer ) and started writing up what I was doing – the results, that showed the problem and what I tried. Which in the end got my brain in order leading me to finally solve the mystery of the “Not working MySQL stored procedure creating process”.

The benefits of doing this are two fold.

1. You get a clearer picture of what wasn’t happening and
2. Let’s you document the solution.

Which gives you material for a future blog post or an E-Book.

I won’t bore you with what happened here but it was a matter of MySQL being upgraded on my system and not correctly setting itself up.

The moral of the story.

Step back, write down what’s happening and work through it systematically. It’ll lead you to a solution a whole lot faster.

Of course this doesn’t only apply to “head scratching over my something that used to work and stopped working” problems. It could be any problem.

Remember that others are after solutions to problems, so if you get into the habit of writing down the problem, working through it and detailing what you did, you’ll have something you can refer to forever but best of all, you’ll have something you can give to others.

One Final Note

I certainly consider it – nettiquete (probably spelled  wrong)  – to acknowledge those that help you out. Especially on Forums.

If someone has gone to the trouble to post a solution that solves your problem, tell them so and thank them. There’s another topic I’ll need to write about soon.

Cheers

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