If you find yourself in need of a better PHP editor, especially if you’re working on WordPress plugins, I recommend you give phpDesigner 7 a try. It has helped me immensely with every issue I’ve had in creating and editing a WordPress plugin. Here’s how you can get it to help you:

Install phpDesigner 7

You can get a full featured trial version here. I don’t know if the core version has everything needed to follow this instructional, so I recommend getting the full version. The OS requirement is XP, Vista, or Windows 7, and I’ve found that it runs reliably on 64-bit versions. It may only be an issue with 64-bit versions, but I have found that the editor will lose focus after using code completion unless the program is run as Administrator. If you are running 32-bit versions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 and you find that code completion or auto completion causes phpDesigner to lose focus, just run it as Administrator and please leave a comment so I can update this post.

Create a New Project

Start Screen

Before you get started, you should make sure you download the version of WordPress for which you want to develop. I know WordPress 2.8.5 was just released, but for this instructional we will be using WordPress 2.8.4. You can get the current version (2.8.5) here. Once you have WordPress downloaded, extract the zip to an easy to remember location. I’ve chosen to use my desktop, but we’ll get into the reason for this later.

With a fresh copy of WordPress ready, launch phpDesigner and take a look at the start screen. If this is your first time launching phpDesigner, you’ll notice most of the window is blank. From here, we’re going to create a new project. In the menu bar, click Project → Project Manager or press F11. The Project Manager will open and give you several options. By clicking New, the New Project Wizard will open and guide you through the creation of a new project.

Project Manager

General

The New Project Wizard opens with a General options dialogue. Here, you should give your project a title — I recommend using the name of the plugin you are creating or editing — and provide a description of the project. The description is not required, but I find it helps to remember what the plugins is supposed to do when you haven’t edited it for a while. This should help you keep track of which plugins are updated, as you can later edit the description and add a reminder such as Edited On: , which can be useful when you have authored multiple plugins.

Project Root

Clicking Next will take you to the Project Root dialogue. You should consider choosing a location and creating a new folder to become the home of your new plugin, unless you are editing an existing plugin — in which case, you should simply select that folder. Any files later added to the selected folder will be automatically included in your project.

Libraries

Clicking Next takes you to the Libraries dialogue. Libraries are your friend here, as they allow you to access the functions, classes, and objects defined by other source code, such as the fresh copy of WordPress you just downloaded. Click the Add button and select the folder containing the WordPress files you extracted earlier. If you have other plugins or source files you want to be able to interact with, you can also add the folders containing those files and you’ll have access to those functions, classes, and objects as well. Once you’re done adding libraries, click Next.

FTP Accounts

The FTP Accounts dialogue will allow you to add the information needed for phpDesigner to access an FTP server and quickly update files. Since this isn’t important to what we’re doing right now, I’ve skipped this part. I recommend exploring this option later, since it will prove to be the fastest way to update, upload, and replace existing files on your host server.

Filters

The Next button takes you to the Filters dialogue. Filters let you select and/or exclude files that will be analyzed during the parsing of files. The parsed files include those added on the Libraries dialogue, as well as any existing files in the selected folder from the Project Root dialogue. I recommend keeping the default settings. Keep in mind, filters only affect which files are parsed, NOT which files are available to your project. Just because there are no image extensions listed doesn’t mean they won’t be accessible, it just means images won’t be analyzed for useful programming data.

Summary

Finally, clicking the Next button will lead you to the Summary dialogue. This will show you a breakdown of all files and libraries included in your new project. You’ll notice the top level item Test Project has two subfolders, Test Project and Libraries, with Libraries having a subfolder of wordpress-2.8.4. If the root folder for the project had contained any files to start with, they would be nested inside the Test Project folder. Clicking Finish will take you to the Edit Project dialogue, which is not important right now, so you can just click Ok and continue with the Project Manager.

Open Your New Project and Start Writing

The Project Manager dialogue now has a new Open button available. Select your new project and click Open to begin working on your new project. You’ll be returned to the start screen, with a few differences. To start with, you will be able to see the name of your opened project at the center of the phpDesigner status bar. Also, if it isn’t already visible, if you click the tab on the right pane labeled with a P, you’ll access the Project pane which should look just like the Summary dialogue from earlier. On the left, you can see a New File header and a list of file types you can create. By double-clicking on PHP, you’ll start a new PHP document which will serve as the base to your plugin. I’m not going to go into detail on how to write a plugin, but I’ll give you some insight as to what you can expect phpDesigner to do for you.

Code Completion

Variables

Functions

WordPress Functions

Error Highlighting and Function Insight

Error Highlighting

Function Insight

Function Insight: WordPress

The Final Product

Once you’re done writing your new plugin, save the file in your project root folder. The example below is what my Test Project looks like after I’ve finished.

Test Project: Saved

With any luck, you’ll get just as much use out of phpDesigner as I have, and you’ll have an easier time creating WordPress plugins — or programming any PHP — because of it.

At the time I was using an HTC Apache (6700) and it had a standard QVGA [240x320] screen. Now, however, I’m using a Samsung Omnia (SCH-i910) – with a WQVGA [240x400] screen, and moBlog is not compatible. Actually, I’ve looked into three other WinMo apps with very limited success – meaning two crashed instantly and the last took nearly 10 minutes to enter the setup screen, and then it crashed.

PocketPress is my own personal solution for the lack of WordPress publishing apps for the Windows Mobile platform.

For the past week, I’ve been coding PocketPress, and I couldn’t be happier with the way it is progressing. I hope to have it done soon, and I will probably be offering it for public consumption. The initial release will be targeted towards WQVGA devices, such as the Samsung Omnia, since that’s what I’m using. However, I’ve run a few tests and it would appear that porting PocketPress to other WM5 – WM6.x+ devices will be a piece of cake.

If anyone is interested in seeing a public release after completion, please leave a comment. Otherwise, I’ll probably just keep it to myself.

I had a small issue with my new wireless dongle that was causing it to disconnect from my router and become unable to reconnect to the same router without being reset – [disconnected|disabled] and [reconnected|re-enabled] – but it always happened while I was at work. This meant that I could not access my computer until I got home, and I could not access the internet until I reset the dongle.

I decided my best course of action would be to add a task to the Task Scheduler which would detect the error and disable then re-enable the dongle, thus fixing the problem without requiring my interaction. There was, however, one small hitch: Task Scheduler cannot interact directly with devices, and there is no built-in command line controller for the Device Manager in Vista.

This new issue led me to search for a command line interface for the Device Manager, and as luck would have it I found one. DevCon. And as my luck would have it, it is available for x86 and ia64 platforms only. Since ia64 is not the same as x64, and the x86 version cannot interact directly with x64 devices, I had come to a brick wall. Fortunately, I’m a resourceful person, and I found – through no small feat, I might add – an x64 version of DevCon. I now make this version of DevCon available to you. For information on the usage of DevCon, please refer to the Microsoft documentation page here.

You may download devcon_x64.zip below. It contains the x64 version of devcon.exe ONLY! This x64 version of devcon.exe will work on XP64 and Vista64 with AMD64 processors (e.g. Intel Core 2 / Intel Xeon and AMD Phenom / Athlon 64)  but WILL NOT WORK on Itanium (ia64) processors.

DevCon x64 (Version x64 (AMD64)) - 1478 Hits

Was I the only one that didn’t know that Word 2007 could post to WordPress?

I had to try it out, and this post is the result.

Not that I plan on using Word 2007 to write my posts, but it would be a great option if I ever had to go back to a dial-up and had minimal bandwidth. Not that I plan on that happening, but just in case.

While I can attest to the increased performance, I cannot confirm full functionality with WM6.1, as I do not have it.

Along with the general improvements with each update, the one thing I’ve been waiting for has been ever so slightly improved. I speak, of course, about power consumption.

I ran my own little benchmarking test for power consumption. The only differences in the tests were the phone status (normal or standby) and the status of AIM (not running or running), and the results are as follows.

Control 1: Normal, AIM not running

• Average: 80mA
• Total: 13mAh

Control 2: Standby, AIM not running

• Average: 18mA
• Total: 3mAh

Test 3: Normal, AIM running

• Average: 200mA
• Total: 34mAh

Test 4: Standby, AIM running

• Average: 53mA
• Total: 9mAh

Pretty much what you can expect is a largely decreased run time between charges with AIM running, and an even larger decrease while actively messaging others with AIM. The most noticeable thing is that running AIM while on standby still draws 3/4 of the power of running the phone normally without AIM running. However, even with a 1350mAh battery, I get around two hours of use between charges while messaging in AIM on and off. I’d still consider that a win, especially if you crave the use of AIM on the go.

The AIM for Windows Mobile page is here, and the direct download link is here.

I don’t know what prompted my renewed interest in Linux, but I typed ubuntu.com into the Firefox address bar and hit enter, and here I am.

I decided to go with Kubuntu 8.04 LTS with KDE3 instead of KDE4, and I’ll wait for 8.10 final before I switch to KDE4.

It was actually a difficult decision for me, as to which version of Ubuntu to go with. On one hand, the simplicity of the Gnome environment of Ubuntu would make it a bit easier to transition from Windows to Linux, but I would always be missing out on the advanced features available with KDE in Kubuntu, and going with Xfce in Xubuntu would just be a waste of my computer’s potential. In the end, I made my decision based on my most recent use of a Linux environment.

I had been using Knoppix to repair issues or recover data on my Windows drives for a long time, and KDE was the desktop environment of choice for Knoppix, so that’s what I went with.

I think I’m in for an adventure, and if you’ve never used Linux, you are definitely missing out.

I should also point out that I have not abandoned Windows XP in my Kubuntu adventure, as I have installed Kubuntu using Virtual PC 2007. If you’d like to do the same and see the wonders of Linux for yourself, but you don’t want to leave the familiar Windows environment, leave a comment and I’ll post instructions. As it turns out, parts of installing Kubuntu in VPC are troublesome, and usually require some tweaking to get it to work.

Now I’m off to see if I can crash Kubuntu!

Don’t expect any bells and whistles, however, as its simple design is good for only two functions. Sending and receiving IMs using your data plan instead of text messages, and – as of version 1.0.60.1 – checking your AOL/AIM email.

I’ve been using MobileAIM for a few weeks now, so here’s what I can say about it:

Pros:

• Starts quickly
• Supports buddy alerts and IM sounds
• Keeps history of conversations until you sign out
• IT’S FREE!!!

Cons:

• Requires just under 3300K for installation.
• Uses nearly 8MB of RAM at peak usage
• Only supports the AIM protocol
• Quickly drains the battery, even in the background

All things considered, you can’t really go wrong with AIM for WM. If you use AIM a lot and you’d like to use AIM on the go, but you don’t want to use up your text messages, AIM for WM is your best FREE solution.

You can get AIM for Windows Mobile at http://mobile.aol.com/AIM4WinMo.

I’ve used other IM software, and AIM for WM is by far the best. The other software includes Palringo and Gizmo5, but if you have another suggestion, please let me know.