Why do you use PHP’s short open tags?

Short open tags are considered harmful by some, but they result in much tighter syntax in our PHP based templates. Here are some possible ways to print ‘Hello World’ in different template systems:

   PHP long tags: <?php echo $Hello_World ?>
  php short tags: <?= $Hello_World ?>
             ASP: {% $Hello_World %}
          Django: {{Hello_World}}
          Smarty: {Hello_World}

As you can see, PHP with long tags is the noisiest. The main reason for deprecating short tags is because the <? token conflicts with XML tags. In our case, this is highly unlikely to ever be a problem, and even if it is it’s a vanishingly small edge case. We’re optimizing for a good developer experience here by requiring them to type less to do more. If at some point PHP short tags goes away, we can pretty easily convert the entire app over to using long tags.

Short open tags will still be enabled by default in all future versions of PHP. While there was initially an idea to change this in PHP 6, plans have changed and short open tags are here to stay.

Source: http://codex.gallery2.org/Gallery3:FAQ#Why_do_you_use_PHP.27s_short_open_tags.3F

So, if your host doesn’t have short tags on, or if you just don’t like to use code that requires them in general you can try out this fork I made of Gallery v3 on github:

Repo | Download Zip

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
			   xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
			   xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx">
 
	<fx:Script>
		<![CDATA[
			import mx.controls.Alert;
 
			protected function graphic1_clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
			{
				Alert.show('Nope!', 'Click Event');
			}
		]]>
	</fx:Script>
 
	<fx:Declarations>
		<!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->
	</fx:Declarations>
 
	<s:HGroup id="container">
		<s:Graphic click="graphic1_clickHandler(event)">
			<s:BitmapImage source="path/to/image.jpg"
						   smooth="true"
						   smoothingQuality="high" />
		</s:Graphic>
	</s:HGroup>
 
</s:Application>

Flex Builder Project

In AS3 it looks like this:

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
			   xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
			   xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"
			   creationComplete="application1_creationCompleteHandler(event)">
 
	<fx:Script>
		<![CDATA[
			import mx.controls.Alert;
			import mx.events.FlexEvent;
 
			import spark.primitives.BitmapImage;
			import spark.primitives.Graphic;
 
			protected function application1_creationCompleteHandler(event:FlexEvent):void
			{
				var myBI:BitmapImage = new BitmapImage();
				myBI.source = 'path/to/image.jpg';
				myBI.smooth = true;
				myBI.smoothingQuality = 'high';
 
				var myG:Graphic = new Graphic();
				myG.addElement(myBI);
				myG.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, graphic1_clickHandler);
 
				container.addElement(myG);
			}
 
 
			protected function graphic1_clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
			{
				Alert.show('Nope!', 'Click Event');
			}
		]]>
	</fx:Script>
 
	<fx:Declarations>
		<!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->
	</fx:Declarations>
 
	<s:HGroup id="container">
	</s:HGroup>
 
</s:Application>

Flex Builder Project

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Oct  2 21:12:05 phptest sshd[31998]: error: buffer_get_ret: trying to get more bytes 4 than in buffer 0
Oct  2 21:12:05 phptest sshd[31998]: fatal: buffer_get_int: buffer error

Check to make sure your public key in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys or ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2 is on one line. The prefix “ssh-rsa” followed by a space and then your key should all be on one line. You may also have a comment after that describing the key on another line, but the whole prefix and key have to be on the same line or you will get an error similar to the above in your /var/log/secure log file. I see people running in to this problem frequently when copying a public key out of PuttyGen, which only has “ssh-rsa” on the first line of the output key.

You may be wondering what it means, and more importantly how to fix it. What appears to be the sole cause of this error is your versions not matching up between your Flex/AIR SDK and the AIR application descriptor file. This can happen after you update/reinstall Flash Builder, or the SDK folder manually.

The fix is pretty easy: Just open your AIR descriptor file(generally the only XML file in the project src folder) and change the xmlns to the current version of the SDK you are using(1.5.3 => 2.0 for instance). See screenshot below for an example(warning: it’s big):

1. (Re)start the Windows Installer service
   1. Right-click on Computer
   2. Click Manage
   3. Expand Services and Applications
   4. Select Services
   5. Scroll down to “Windows Installer”
   6. Right-click or double-click on it and make sure it is started and NOT disabled
2. Run “sfc /scannow” from a command prompt as Administrator
   1. Should see something like: windows resource protection found some corrupt files but was unable to fix them
      1. Check the log to see if the problem is a corrupt file such as “msi.dll”
         1. Do this by searching for “cannot repair”
      2. If that is the case you can restore this file from the Windows DVD by:
         1. Insert the Windows DVD in the drive, cancel the autorun if it pops up
         2. Open 7-zip and browse to “install.wim” in the DVD:\Sources folder (open it)
         3. Inside you will find numbered folders corresponding to the windows version, open yours:

            1=Home Basic

            2=Home Premium

            3=Professional

            4=Ultimate

         4. Browse to the folder for the version you have installed, and you can copy/extract the file(s) you need. In my case I needed “msi.dll” in the #\Windows\System32 folder
         5. Note that if you are restoring a sensitive file such as this that you have to take ownership of the original file to rename/remove it before you can restore this file from the DVD, and ideally set the restored file back to the original owner and permission.
         6. Also note that the “msi.dll” file is owned by “TrustedInstaller”, so if you are getting a security error you need to take ownership of the file to replace it and then restore TrustedInstaller as the owner. If you can’t find it when you “check” the name use “NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller”
3. Restore an earlier restore point(not verified to work but try it..)
4. Run the repair option from the installer DVD
5. Reinstall Windows

Hope this helps someone.

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
    layout="absolute"
    width="600" height="588"
    applicationComplete="start()">
    <mx:HDividedBox id="divBox"
    	height="100%" width="99%"
    	liveDragging="true"
    	doubleClickEnabled="true">
          <mx:Canvas width="50%">
          		<mx:Text text="Some example text" />
          </mx:Canvas>
          <mx:Canvas width="50%">
          		<mx:Text text="Some example text" />
	      </mx:Canvas>
     </mx:HDividedBox>
     <mx:Script>
          <![CDATA[
               private function start():void {
                    divBox.getDividerAt(0).addEventListener(MouseEvent.DOUBLE_CLICK, handleDoubleClick);
               }
 
               private function handleDoubleClick(e:MouseEvent):void {
                    Alert.show('Event captured!');
               }
          ]]>
     </mx:Script>
</mx:Application>

The specific resolution was to enable liveDragging and add the event to the divider itself(most people try to set it on the doubleClick property of the DividerBox).

Hopefully this post will be helpful to some people out there with the same issue!

So, with that said the process is fairly simple. The following is a hypothetical example of a class you have imported into your application:

package com.example.scope
{
    private var myVar:String = "This is NOT the value we're trying to get";
 
    public class scopeExample
    {
        public function scopeExample()
        {
            // Flex 4
            import mx.core.FlexGlobals; // make "FlexGlobals" available in the current scope
            trace(FlexGlobals.topLevelApplication.myVar); // outputs the value of myVar in the main application
 
            // Flex 3
            import mx.core.Application; // make "Application" available in the current scope
            trace(Application.application.myVar); // outputs the value of myVar in the main application
        }
    }
}

You could also use:

trace(parentDocument.myVar); // if the component is a child of the main application

I ran across a post on Holly Schinsky’s blog the other day that had good descriptions of the various scope keywords, and a few tips. All of which is good knowledge to possess, so check it out.

To run as administrator you have a couple of options.. if you’re running a home version of Vista, you might not have some of them:

1. Right-click on the Shortcut or game executable and click Run as Administrator
2. Right-click on the game executable and Click Properties->Compatibility->Check the “Run as Administrator” box, Apply
3. Right-click on the Shortcut, Click the “Shortcut” tab->Advanced, Check the “Run as Administrator” box, Apply

Now, with that said, none of these would work properly for me. The only solution I could find that would work is downloading this update from PunkBuster, adding my game, and hitting Update. Once updated the game ran fine without giving it extra privileges.

Good luck!