Ocala’s Chamber and Economic Partnership (CEP) and the Ocala I.T. Professionals are sponsoring Ocala’s first hackathon at the Power Plant Business Incubator on October 15 & 16, 2016! For complete details and to register, visit http://powerupweekend.eventbrite.com. Attendance is limited to the first 100 people registered so be sure to sign up early! Both days will start…
All posts in Programming
Calculated Fields in CiviCRM
One of CiviCRM’s strengths is the ability to add custom fields to hold specific information about your contacts. One thing it doesn’t offer (yet) is a calculated field type that will present the results of calculations of other fields. While calculated fields are generally discouraged in relational database design, they are sometimes necessary within a…
MySQL User Defined Function Example: Data Cleanup
(Updated June 9, 2016) The Challenge One of my current projects involves migrating a large amount of data away from an old custom Borland Paradox application into a new CiviCRM system. As with too many quickly-constructed apps, this old Paradox database wasn’t especially well designed and, among other the other challenges in salvaging the data, there were…
Coding Basics – Deceptively Simple Programming
In my last post on coding basics, I talked about turning an algorithm into code and used Euclid’s Algorithm as an example of programming a sequence of steps. There’s an even simpler type of algorithm that I want to look at this time. A formula, such as the one for converting Fahrenheit to Celsius, is also…
A Return to Programming
I’ve been working on a number of different projects lately, from I.T. networking to a book on MySQL, so I haven’t had as much reason to break out the programming tools as I used to. If not used regularly, programming skills can get a little rusty or even disappear like old friends from your college…
From Algorithm to Code
In previous articles, I’ve talked about the importance of finding the right algorithm, or series of steps to follow, when coding a solution. Efficiency in terms of the amount of memory used and the amount of time taken by the operation are key factors for the program. Sometimes an appropriate algorithm is already available and in…
Adding Passswords to Microsoft Access Switchboard Options
The Switchboard Manager in Microsoft Access makes it easy to create a system of menus that will enable your users to navigate through your application. It also relieves you of the need to manage multiple menu forms and macro calls. Sometimes, however, you might want to keep all but a few users out of specific…
Fixing the Orange (or Red) Status Icon in WampServer
As part of my latest project, I decided to try out WampServer, the Windows development environment for developing web applications with Apache web server, MySQL database and PHP scripting (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP – WAMP). Packages like WampServer and EasyPHP are simplified ways to create a testing environment on your PC without spending a lot…
College of Central Florida Simulation & Automation Program Open House
The College of Central Florida Simulation & Automation Program is holding an Open House on Thursday, February 19, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Klein Center at 3001 S.W. College Road in Ocala. See the poster below and call (352)873-5855 or e-mail XCEL-IT@cf.edu for more information.
What is Recursive Programming?
When writing programs, it’s often necessary to perform repeating operations on collections of items such as customer orders or invoices. Often, you can just iterate through the collection or count the items to determine how many times to perform the operation. When working with a hierarchy of items such as a directory structure where you have…