DEV Community: Rishi Ezhava

Codeigniter Helper functions part 2

Rishi Ezhava — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 13:24:19 +0000

Hey folks,
I am back with some more codeigniter helper functions that may ease up with your development. You can merge these functions with my Part-1 post and make a single helper file. All you have to do then is load and fire.😜

/* Checking if the field exists in specified table of database
Response => returns true if not found otherwise false
*Params*
$id : value which you want to check
$tableField : name of the field in table which you want to compare
$tableName : name of table from which you want to check
*/
function checkIfExists($id, $tableField, $tableName){
    $CI = & get_instance();
    $res = $CI->db->select($tableField)
    ->where($tableField,$id)
    ->get($tableName)
    ->row_array();
    return empty($res) ? false : true ;
}

/* Email helper
Response => returns true if send successfully otherwise false
*Params*
$data['from'] : from email address
$data['from_name'] : From name displayed in email
$data['to'] : to email address
$data['cc'] : to cc email address
$data['bcc'] : to bcc email address
$data['subject'] : subject of email
$data['message'] : content of email
*/
function sendEmail($data){
    $CI = & get_instance();
    $CI->load->library('email');
    $config = Array(
        'protocol' => 'smtp',
        'smtp_host' => 'smtp.mailtrap.io',
        'smtp_port' => 2525,
        'smtp_user' => '*************',
        'smtp_pass' => '*************',
        'crlf' => "\r\n",
        'newline' => "\r\n",
        'mailtype' => 'html'
    );
    $CI->email->initialize($config);
    $CI->email->from($data['from'], $data['from_name']);
    $CI->email->to($data['to']);
    $CI->email->cc($data['cc']);
    $CI->email->bcc($data['bcc']);
    $CI->email->subject($data['subject']);
    $CI->email->message($data['message']);
    $CI->email->send();
    return ($CI->email->send()) ? TRUE : FALSE ;
}

/*  Get Ip Address
Response => the ip address of the system
*/
function fetchIpAddress(){
    return $ip = getenv('HTTP_CLIENT_IP')?:
    getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR')?:
    getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED')?:
    getenv('HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR')?:
    getenv('HTTP_FORWARDED')?:
    getenv('REMOTE_ADDR');
}

/* Upload file 
Response => the details of file uploaded
*Params*
$data['file'] : file eg $_FILES['testfile']
$data['inputFileName'] : input file tag name in form field
$data['path'] : path where you want to store image
$data['allowedExtension'] : name of extensions you want to upload '|' seperated eg 'jpg|png'
$data['maxSize'] : maximum size of file you want to upload
$data['maxWidth'] : maximum width of file you want to upload
$data['maxHeight'] : maximum height of file you want to upload
*/
function uploadFile($data){
    $CI = & get_instance();
    $filename= $data['file']["name"];
    $file_ext = pathinfo($filename,PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
    $config['file_name'] = md5(uniqid(rand(), true)).'.'.$file_ext;
    $config['upload_path'] =  $data['path']; //'assets/uploads/food_images';
    $config['allowed_types'] =  $data['allowedExtension']; //'jpg|png';
    $config['max_size'] = $data['maxSize']; //5000;
    $config['max_width'] = $data['maxWidth']; //1500;
    $config['max_height'] = $data['maxHeight']; //1500;
    $CI->load->library('upload', $config);
    if (!$CI->upload->do_upload($data['inputFileName'])) {
        $response = array('error' => $CI->upload->display_errors());
        return $response;
    }
    else{
        $response = $CI->upload->data();
        return $response;
    }
}

/*upload file and generate thumbnail 
Response => The details of file and thumbnail uploaded
*Params*
$data['file'] : file eg $_FILES['testfile']
$data['inputFileName'] : input file tag name in form field
$data['filepath'] : path where you want to store the image
$data['thumbPath'] : path where you want to store the thumbnail
$data['allowedExtension'] : name of extensions you want to upload '|' seperated eg 'jpg|png'
$data['maxSize'] : maximum size of file you want to upload
$data['maxFileWidth'] : maximum width of file you want to upload
$data['maxFileHeight'] : maximum height of file you want to upload
$data['thumbailWidth'] : maximum height of file you want to upload
$data['thumbnailHeight'] : maximum height of file you want to upload
*/

// function fileUploadAndCreateThumb($file, $inputFileName, $filepath, $thumbPath, $allowedExtension, $maxSize, $maxFileWidth, $maxFileHeight, $thumbailWidth, $thumbnailHeight){
function fileUploadAndCreateThumb($data){
    $CI = & get_instance();
    $filename= $data['file']['name'];
    $file_ext = pathinfo($filename,PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
    $config['file_name'] = md5(uniqid(rand(), true)).'.'.$file_ext;
    $config['upload_path'] =  $data['filepath'];
    $config['allowed_types'] =  $data['allowedExtension'];
    $config['max_size'] = $data['maxSize'];
    $config['max_width'] = $data['maxFileWidth'];
    $config['max_height'] = $data['maxFileHeight'];
    $CI->load->library('upload', $config);
    if (!$CI->upload->do_upload($data['inputFileName'])) {
        $response = array('error' => $CI->upload->display_errors());
        return $response;
    }
    else{
        $fileData = $CI->upload->data();
        $config['image_library']    = 'gd2'; 
        $config['source_image']     = $data['filepath'].'/'.$fileData['file_name'];
        $config['new_image']         = $data['thumbPath']; 
        $config['maintain_ratio']     = TRUE; 
        $config['width']            = $data['thumbailWidth'];
        $config['height']           = $data['thumbnailHeight']; 
        $CI->load->library('image_lib', $config);
        if($CI->image_lib->resize()){ 
            $response['fileName'] = $CI->image_lib->source_image;
        }else{ 
            $response = array('error' => $CI->image_lib->display_errors());
        }
        return $response;
    }   
}

?>

Any suggestions to improve this post will be highly appreciated.
Thanks

Stop wasting your time in setting up basic things for laravel admin panels

Rishi Ezhava — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 13:34:06 +0000

For guys out there who don't wanna waste time setting up admin templates every time when creating a new project, here I present you a basic laravel setup which you just have to download it and tweak it as you wish.

Note : I have used Admin LTE template which is a popular open source WebApp template for admin dashboards. Also uploaded the sql file named 'laravel_admin.sql' in the root directory.

Following are the features

1 Login with validation

2 Admin profile

admin details are prefilled in the admin form
can edit the deatils with profile pic too
jquery validations applied

3 Customer module

listing of customers with search, pagination and sorting in datatable
adding, updating and deletion of customers along with laravel validations

Link
[https://github.com/ezhurik/laravel-admin-template]

Perform the following steps after cloning the project

run composer install after you clone the project
copy the .env.example to .env or simply rename it to .env or copy from another project and set your configurations and APP_KEY
Create a symlink for storage (run this command - php artisan storage:link)
I have set up virtual host for this project because I prefer my urls to be '/public/' free so I would request to make one to run things smoothly.

Login credentials

email: admin@gmail.com
password : 123456789

So whenever you wanna setup a fresh laravel project just download it, setup the database and you are ready to focus on the main logic.
Hope it will help laravel developers to some extend.
Any suggestions to improve code or anything regarding this post is highly appreciable.

Things to consider before choosing a framework or technology for a project

Rishi Ezhava — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 05:56:33 +0000

Hello guys, here I am going to list some important points to consider before you decide go for a framework/technology when starting a project.

First things first

1) Whether it have a detailed documentation or not?

The documentation helps a lot in understanding the basic stuffs. It should have a simple and understandable language. Having proper examples would be a bonus.

2) How big is the community and can I find people to help me when I am stuck?

It is a big factor while choosing a framework or technology. The documentation provides us the structure of framework and its functionality. But as we know all projects don't have similar requirements and we developers aren't behind in the matter of encountering strange abnormal issues😉. So before choosing the framework, you should make sure that it has a huge community support and large developer base.

3) How expert is my team and how wide is their knowledge base?

Another important factor to consider before committing to a framework is the expertise and the knowledge base of your team. Any project involves as much effort after the completion of development as before and during the process. Besides, the product developed must be easily testable.

4) Is there any learning resources?

Check whether it have something new that you can learn in the process of development. Always look to learn something new, so don't be afraid to add something new, different to the project.

5) How scalable is the proposed application?

Scalability is not a part of the development process though it needs to be considered while developing the application. Any app generally is scalable in two ways:
a) Vertical scalability: It means the app has the flexibility of adding new components to a web application without affecting its performance.
b) Horizontal scalability: It means the app must be capable of handling the increasing number of users.

6) Which is the best shot financially?

Even though most of the web development tools and techniques are free and open source, yet sometimes they require you to pay some additional fee to enjoy the advanced benefits. Depending on the technology, you may sometimes be required to purchase the license as well. Thus, before committing to a technology you must understand the financial implications(including maintenance cost as well) it brings along and proceed accordingly .

7) Time to develop and market

The technology stack may depend on your time to market in the way that it supports reusable components and third-party integrations. If tools and frameworks allow easy integration, this is going to speed up the development process, therefore, resulting in faster development.

8) What do my instincts say?

Lastly, developers often tend to choose what appeals to them the most. A technology may be the best in the market but if it doesn’t fall in the skill set of a particular developer, he/she won't choose it. The personal preferences of the developer also play a significant role in the choice. Its upto you whether you consider the various suggestions being given to you or ignore them all and choose something entirely different.

That's it guys. These all are purely my opinions. Every developer is unique thus each have different strategies.
Please ignore any typos. Any suggestions to improve this post is much appreciated 😊.

Codeigniter custom helper functions which will increase your productivity

Rishi Ezhava — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 05:10:41 +0000

Getting time wasted writing common things over and over in Codeigniter...?

Here is a helper file that may help you create your project in a faster way.

Just load this helper file and call these functions with parameters specified.

/*
Pre-format text
$array : Array -> Required => Array to be pre formatted 
*/

function pr($arr) {
    echo '<pre>';
    print_r($arr);
    echo '</pre>';
}

/*
Pre-format text and then die
$array : Array -> Required => Array to be pre formatted 
*/
function prd($array){
     echo "<pre>";
     print_r($array);
     echo "</pre>";
     die;
}

/*
Get Since Time
$time : time -> Required => time to  calculate 
Must be in Y-m-d H:i:s format eg 2019-07-27 20:31:43
*/

function getSinceTime($time) {
    $time = time() - $time;
    $time = ($time<1)? 1 : $time;
    $tokens = array (
        31536000 => 'year',
        2592000 => 'month',
        604800 => 'week',
        86400 => 'day',
        3600 => 'hour',
        60 => 'minute',
        1 => 'second'
    );

    foreach ($tokens as $unit => $text) {
        if ($time < $unit) 
            continue;
        $numberOfUnits = floor($time / $unit);
        return $numberOfUnits.' '.$text.(($numberOfUnits>1)?'s':'').' ago';
    }
}

/*
Get greater date from two dates
$date1 : date time -> Required 
$date2 : date time -> Required 
eg: 27-07-2019, 27/07/2019, 27-07-2019 16:00:00, 27/07/2019 16:00:00
*/
function getGreaterDate($date1,$date2){
    $firstDate = str_replace("/","-",$date1);
    $secondDate = str_replace("/","-",$date2);
    $firstDate=trim($firstDate);
    $secondDate=trim($secondDate);
    $firstDate=strtotime($firstDate);
    $secondDate=strtotime($secondDate);
    if($firstDate < $secondDate){
        return $date2;
    }
    else{
        return $date1;
    }

}

/****************database related functions ********************/

/*
Get all records from a single table
$table : String -> Required => name of the table 
*/
function getAllRecords($table){
     $CI = & get_instance();
     return $CI->db->get($table)->result_array();
}

/*
Get records with where and not where conditions from a single table
$table : String -> Required => name of the table 
$selectFields : Array -> Optional => fields you want to select
$whereArray :   Array -> Required => where condition to be fulfilled
$notWhereArray : Array -> Optional => where not conditions to be fulfilled
*/
function getRecordsWhere($table,$selectFields= array(), $whereArray, $notWhereArray = array()){
    $CI = & get_instance();

    if(!empty($selectFields)){
        $selectString = implode(',', $selectFields);
        $CI->db->select($selectString);
    }
    foreach ($whereArray as $wKey => $wValue) {
        $CI->db->where($wKey,$wValue);
    }
    if(!empty($notWhereArray)){
        foreach ($notWhereArray as $nwKey => $nwValue) {
            $CI->db->where($nwKey.'!=',$nwValue);
        }   
    }
    return $CI->db->get($table)->result_array();
}

/* 
Get number of records with where and not where conditions from a single table
$table  : String -> Required => name of the table 
$whereArray : Array -> Required => where condition to be fulfilled
$notWhereArray : Array -> Optional => where not conditions to be fulfilled
*/
function getCount($table, $whereArray=array(), $notWhereArray = array()){
    $CI = & get_instance();
    if(!empty($whereArray)){
        foreach ($whereArray as $wKey => $wValue) {
            $CI->db->where($wKey,$wValue);
        }
    }
    if(!empty($notWhereArray)){
        foreach ($notWhereArray as $nwKey => $nwValue) {
            $CI->db->where($nwKey.'!=',$nwValue);
        }
    }
    $res = $CI->db->get($table)->result_array();
    if(!empty($res)){
        return count($res);
    }
    else{
        return '0';
    }
}

/*
Print the last query
*/

function lq(){
    $CI = & get_instance();
    echo $CI->db->last_query();
}


/*
Get last inserted id
*/
function insertId(){
    $CI = & get_instance();
    return $CI->db->insert_id();
}

Any suggestions to improve this post is appreciated 😊.
Thanks

How-tos of git: git commands you should know as a beginner

Rishi Ezhava — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 11:00:18 +0000

If you have heard about git and wished that you had a quick glimpse of cheat codes of it then here it is for you.

Here I am listing some commands which you might use daily when working with git.

1) How to change the current username and email

git config --global user.name [Your username]
git config --global user.email [Your email]

For detailed info: git config -help

2) How to clone an existing project

Go to the repo and click on 'clone or download' and copy the link of repo

Move into the directory in which you have to clone the repo

git init // Create an empty Git repository or reinitialize an existing one

git clone 'https://github.com/gitrepo/repo.git' //Clone a repository into a new directory

3) How to list all branches

git branch  // list all branches of the local repo. Branch with asterisk denotes current branch

git branch -a // list all branches of the local and remote repo

For detailed info: git branch -help

4) How to switch to another branch

git checkout [branch name]  //switches to the desired branch of your repository

For detailed info: git checkout -help

5) How to add files to staging state

git add .  //adds all changed files to the staging state

git add [file 1] [ file 2] ... [file n] //adds multiple files to staging

For detailed info: git add -help

6) How to commit staged files

git commit -m [commit message]

For detailed info: git commit -help

7) How to push changes to repo

git push

For detailed info: git push -help

8) How to save changes temporarily and retrieve afterwards

git stash // all uncommitted local changes have been saved 

git stash pop // The "pop" flag will reapply the last saved state

For detailed info: git stash -help

9) How to create a new branch and push it to remote

git checkout master // checkout to the master branch

git pull // pulls the latest change from the master if any

git checkout -b [branch name] // creates a branch locally

git push -u origin [branch name] // pushes the branch to remote

10) How to delete branch locally and remotely

Note:If you are in the branch which you want to delete then checkout to another branch

git branch -d [branch name] // deleted branch locally

git push origin --delete [branch name] deletes the branch of remote

11) How to rename branches locally and remotely

git branch -m [old-name] [new-name] // renames branch locally

git push origin: [old-name] [new-name] // renames the branch of remote

12) How to upload your local project to remote

Go to the root of the project folder

git init

git add .

git commit -m "commit message"

git remote add origin [url]

git push -u origin master

Please ignore any typo and suggestions are welcomed to make this a better post.