Archive for the 'Web' Category

How to add a MediaWiki article to a category

Published by xcosminel July 3rd, 2009 in Site and Web. 0 Comments

Assigining your articles to corresponding categories is very important for helping your visitors navigate your MediaWiki site with ease. Thankfully, MediaWiki comes with an included system for handling categories.

To add an article to a category:
Simply edit the article you want to add to the category, and add the following line at the end of the contents:

[[Category: Nameofcategory]] (where Nameofcategory is your category name)

It doesn’t matter if the category does not exist or was never used before. MediaWiki will create a new page for each category containing all of the articles that were added to it.

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Pasting from Word into Wordpress (Paste from Word)

Published by xcosminel June 26th, 2009 in Site and Web. 0 Comments

There is a common issue when posting from Word into the Wordpress editor which causes problems when trying to view the article using the Internet Explorer browser (it simply won’t display).

The reason behind this is because Word uses some unstandardized tags for its formatting, and those tags are not recognized by IE.

Quick Fix (and a really bad way to do it):

To quickly fix an article where the issue occurs, follow these steps:

  • Go back and edit the article.
  • Switch from Visual view to HTML view.
  • Remove any text occuring before the tag, including the tag itself.
  • Switch back to Visual view and see if the article was fixed.
  • Update the article.

Currently a few different plugins for WordPress are being developed which should stop the issue from occuring. I haven’t found a working one yet. If anyone does please comment away!

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How to end a telnet session (Windows)

Published by xcosminel April 23rd, 2009 in Uncategorized, Utilities and tools and Web. 0 Comments

This article assumes that you’ve started a telnet conection through the Windows command prompt. (you can do so by typing: “telnet address port“)

To end your current telnet session you must reach the telnet prompt and type quit.

Here are the steps for doing so:

 
1. Open the telnet prompt by holding down the ‘Ctrl’ key and push the ‘]’ key. (prompt: Microsoft Telnet>)

2. Type quit.

3. Push the ‘Enter’ key.

 

You can change this default telnet prompt key by starting telnet like this:
 
telnet –e p  192.168.1.81 (this will change the telnet prompt key to lowercase ‘p’)

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Blue hyperlink border around images in HTML

Published by xcosminel October 20th, 2008 in Site and Web. 0 Comments

When you add a hyperlink to an image in HTML it will automatically display with a blue border around that image. We don’t want it because it makes our page look ugly and unprofessional.

There are a couple of ways to remove the blue hyperlink border:

Using CSS
Add the following line to your style sheet code:

img {   border-style: none;   }

Using HTML
Add the following attribute to your image HTML code:

border="0"

Your line of code should look like this :

<img src="/image.jpg" border="0" />
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How to password protect a web directory.

Published by xcosminel April 9th, 2008 in Web. 0 Comments

Password protecting a web directory is useful for restricting access to important information on your website that is not intended for everyone to see.

 To password protect your web directory (using the Apache webserver) follow these steps:

 1. Create a file called “.htaccess” in the web directory you want to password protect and paste the following code into it. (change the non-bolded text to your own information)

AuthUserFile /your/directory/here/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName “Secure Document”
AuthType Basic<LIMIT GET PUT POST>
require user username
</LIMIT>

2. Create a file called “.htpasswd” into the web directory you want to password protect. Use a .htpasswd content generator to generate the code for this file (eg. http://home.flash.net/cgi-bin/pw.pl). The code output should look like:

username:****************  

(where the *s are the encrypted version of your password)

3. Browse to your website and test the protection. If the password does not work, there is likely an incorrect directory target or typo in the “.htaccess” file:

AuthUserFile /your/directory/here/.htpasswd

A good “.htpasswd” content generator can be found here:
http://home.flash.net/cgi-bin/pw.pl
More information can be found here:
http://ag.arizona.edu/ecat/web/password-protect.html

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Changing the header of a phpBB3 forum.

Published by xcosminel February 28th, 2008 in Site and Web. 2 Comments

Changing the default header of a phpBB3 forum is easy.

I used this very useful website that is pretty self-explanatory to change the picture shown within the header:

http://www.easytutorials.org/phpbb3_styles_logo.html

Note: When you refresh your forums to see if the changes have taken place, do so by pressing SHIFT+F5. (This clears the cache and does a full refresh)

A faster way would be to rename your image to “site_logo.gif” and overwrite the default one by moving it into the “styles/*stylename*/imageset/”  folder.  The image will most likely be scaled to a default size so you must change the size manually by going into Administration Control Panel>Styles>Imagesets>Edit and under Select Image select Main Logo. Select ‘yes’ to Include Dimensions and manually type in the desired image size.

Keep in mind that if your image has a background with a solid colour, it will show up on top of the background of the header, sometimes making it look unprofessional. To fix this you must either create the image with a transparent background,  or edit the header background to match the image.

To do the latter, go to Administration Control Panel>Styles>Themes>Edit and comment out the following line by changing:

background-image: url(”{T_THEME_PATH}/images/bg_header.gif”);

to

//background-image: url(”{T_THEME_PATH}/images/bg_header.gif”);

Right on top of this line, the code “background-color: #FFFFFF;” can be seen. The “FFFFFF” part can be changed to any colour hexidecimal code (more colour codes can be found here).

When done, hit Submit and check out the new forum header (remember to refresh with SHIFT+F5).

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Wireless Sensor And Web Applications Product

Published by Steven Smethurst October 23rd, 2007 in Scott Cosby and Web. 0 Comments

The Arch Rock Corporation has developed an effective wireless sensor and web services system in their Primer Pack/IP product.

This product has unique qualities that would be beneficial to the following areas of building automation:

  • Data Management
  • Building Safety
  • Security Applications
  • Environmental Controls

The Primer Pack/IP will offer the end-user the option to move from a static, wired system to a dynamic wireless network able to share valuable data and information to all areas of operation through Ethernet, WiFi, and other connections. The wireless network allows the user a more effective and simple integration process as well.

The Primer Pack/IP is described as a complete standards-based, wireless sensor network (WSN) application development and deployment platform. Composed of a service-oriented architecture (SOA), Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking, and a secure, reliable, responsive, low-power mesh networking.

Primer Pack/IP Set-up

The process requires the separation of the logical communication of data in such functions as naming, routing and security from the physical links that carry the data.

Recently, developers of communication networks have adopted the Internet Protocol (IP) as their common routing protocol, along with transport protocols that enable data bits to be delivered properly to their destination.
The Primer Pack/IP product should work well within BACnet due to the protocol’s communication through RS232, RS485, Ethernet, and others that conform to BACnet.

Another advantage for the BACnet protocol would be through the various services included in the protocol. Such as the following services:

  • Data Sharing
  • Alarms
  • Scheduling
  • Remote Device Management

Primer Pack/IP users can actually develop custom applications to monitor physical conditions without special programming that’s usually required to build sensor network applications. Sensor data becomes immediately available to the plant manager or field worker on the desired mobile IP device, or to the office worker in a web browser environment.

This technology removes the limitations of wired sensors, and develops networks to make that information readily accessible. In addition, the leading internet and web technology provides a platform for the networks and to further the development of varying information sources.

The San Francisco-based Arch Rock Corporation is a developer that concentrates on products and technology for wireless sensor networks. The corporation’s goal is to connect the physical and digital world through wireless sensor networks, where the data can be simply viewed, analyzed, and managed by the user.

For more information about the Arch Rock Corporation and its products, visit the following link: http://www.archrock.com/
Written by: Scott Cosby
© Chipkin Automation Systems 2007

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CTC WebHMI Software

Published by Steven Smethurst May 29th, 2007 in CTC, HMI, Scott Cosby and Web. 0 Comments

newbanner_r1_c1.gifControl Technology Corporation (CTC) has developed a reliable, web-based controller software package for automation activities called “WebHMI“. This software package will provide the user with a real-time, interactive, graphical interface for the access and control of automation activities within the browser environment of today.

CTC WebHMI offers a variety of features in this product for the automation industry. CTC provides the user with a variety of interactive panel media (i.e. switches, dials, displays, and etc.) at various sizes to remotely view and adjust automation activities from any workstation through the Internet. The interactive WebHMI panel media are created with CTC’s HMIBuilder software and developed into webpages on an embedded webserver, such as the company’s Blue Fusion 5100 series controller. CTC WebHMI will then allow the user to access the webpage from an Internet or Ethernet connection. CTC does require the user to have version 5 or later of Internet Explorer and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) version 1.4.2 for the WebHMI pages. The proper versions of these required programs are available at no charge to the user from CTC’s website. Adjustable security levels are included in WebHMI to maintain the stability of the user’s automation processes. The CTC website offers specific software information and downloads in the site’s support tab.

Human Machine Interface (HMI) is part of the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. SCADA is described as a macro-scale system to monitor and control automation processes, and recognized as a link in the engineering of industrial instrumentation. HMI is the actual means in which the user accesses and controls the automation processes through a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or other such device over some form of network, which presents process data to the user. Some HMI packages offer the option to be linked to a database that provides other detailed information (i.e. device schematics, diagnostic and/or management information, etc.) to further enhance automation processes for the user. HMI/SCADA products have been used by a variety of engineers and technicians because of its simple implementation and reliability qualities.

Control Technology Corporation is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts with offices in Wisconsin, Michigan, and California. CTC is a premier designer and manufacturer of products that access and control automation process. CTC was founded in 1975, provides automation solutions to a wide customer base for over 30 years. CTC has maintained expertise in digital and analog circuit design, language technology, control software engineering, and other aspects for the automation industry.

Written by:

Scott Cosby is an Engineering Technician and experienced writer at a state agency in Oklahoma for over 10 years. Mr. Cosby holds a B.S. degree in Geography from Oklahoma State University (OSU), studies in Engineering and Electronic Technology at the OSU campus in Oklahoma City.

© Chipkin Automation Systems 2007

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