Given the following line of PHP:

$xml = DOMDocument::loadXML(
'<r xmlns="urn:a"/>');

The easy way to print the namespace URI of the root node, urn:a, is:

echo $xml->documentElement->namespaceURI;

But how do you retrieve it using DOMElement::GetAttributeNS()? What are the two magical input parameters to coax that value out?

I’m trying to use PHP 5.2 to talk to Skype via the COM extension and Skype4COM interface.

I’m using this example from the Skype Forum, but I get a COM exception of “Skype client is not installed.”

However, I do have Skype on my machine and I’m not the only one with this problem, so I don’t think I’m completely crazy.

Unfortunately, I don’t normally develop on Windows or Skype, so it’s very hard for me to debug the COM extension. If anyone has some pointers on where I should start, it would be very useful. Thanks!

I don’t know what caused by to look at that code again, but here’s the one line version:

print str_replace('<font size=-2> </font>', ',' ,
  preg_replace('(.+<b>.+= (.+?)</b>.+)s', '$1',
    file_get_contents('http://www.google.com/search?q=' .
      urlencode(join(' ', array_splice($argv, 1)))))) . "\n";

Clicking on the [+] expands the image:

This is just a fixed image, not a AJAX scrolling panel. Clicking on the map sends you to the full AJAXy Google Maps site.

Interestingly enough, this feature went away when I logged out, so it may or may not work for you.

Here’s the key requirements:

• Work with eBay’s Internet Marketing and Product Management teams to define and enable third-party development of applications to drive activity to eBay.com.
• Evangelize and communicate the benefits of developing on the eBay Platform using our Application Programming Interface (API) and other web services to third parties (primarily affiliates) through conference appearances, one-on-one interaction and personal innovation.
• Maintain and continue to develop/streamline the platform access infrastructure for third parties.

And here’s the full description. (If that link doesn’t work, go to ebaycareers.com and search for job “12439BR”.)

If you’re interested, please e-mail me. The domain is “ebay.com” and my username is “atrachtenberg”.

// logging function that accepts printf-style formatting
// it prints a time stamp, the string, and a new line
function logf() {
	$date = date(DATE_RSS);
	$args = func_get_args();
	$format = array_shift($args);

	return print "$date: " . vsprintf($format, $args) . "\n";
}

Just sharing.

PHP/FI had a quirky function declaration syntax:

function sum $a, $b (
    return($a + $b);
);

This was changed in PHP 3, but you could continue to use the old form in PHP 3 and PHP 4 if you declared your function as an old_function:

old_function sum $a, $b (
    return($a + $b);
);

Alas, after six years, this backward compatibility feature is now gone. Another nostalgic remnant of PHP/FI has passed away.

I must say, I used PHP/FI, but I never resorted to the old_function hack to ease my PHP 3 migration issues.

Did anybody ever use this?

The EFF, short for Electronic Frontier Foundation, describes themselves as:

[A] group of passionate people — lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries — working in the trenches, battling to protect your rights and the rights of web surfers everywhere. The dedicated people of EFF challenge legislation that threatens to put a price on what is invaluable; to control what must remain boundless.

List priced at $29.99, the auction starts at $0.01, so you’re guaranteed to get a good value. As an extra special bonus, I will custom autograph the book to the winning bidder or a friend. Or, for an additional $5, I will not sully up your clean new book with my autograph. Your choice. Okay, just kidding about the $5.

If you’ve been looking to get up to speed on PHP 5, now’s the perfect chance to buy a book and give money to a great cause. Check out my listing and bid today.

Like all Web 2.0 concepts, it’s in perpetual beta. (Why does “perpetual beta” seem like the Web 2.0 phrase for Web 1.0’s “Under Construction” image?) Thanks to a helpful prod, I sat down this morning and fixed the outstanding IE bugs, so now it works in IE, Firefox, and Safari. That means I can officially blog about it.

For those of you interested in the technical details, the backend code is written in PHP 5. I’m using the ext/soap extension to talk with eBay Web services and PEAR’s HTML_QuickForm, HTML_Javascript, and Date packages. I tried to use HTML_AJAX, but it was buggy when I first tried it; I see there have been many recent updates, so I should look again.

Not surprisingly, writing the PHP part was pretty easy. It was the JavaScript code that took forever and a day to write and debug. Many thanks to the QuirksMode Web site for documenting cross-browser woes.

Please check out the site and let me know what you think.

Here’s one of their examples:

#Flash {
  text-align: left;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  font-size: 14px;
  margin: 0 7px 12px 0;
  padding: 5px 5px 5px 30px;
}

div#Flash.good {
  border-color: #9c9;
  color: #060;
  background: url(/images/alertgood_icon.gif) #E2F9E3 left no-repeat;
}

<div id="Flash" class="good">Oh yes, that's nice!</div>

This technique is nice when you have one specific element that needs decorating. Since element ids are unique within a document, you can apply the exact formatting you need to that one section. However, you need to define an explicit CSS block — div#Flash.good in this case — each time you wish to combine styles.

A similar approach is assigning multiple classes to the same element:

.Flash {
  text-align: left;
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  font-size: 14px;
  margin: 0 7px 12px 0;
  padding: 5px 5px 5px 30px;
}

.good {
  border-color: #9c9;
  color: #060;
  background: url(/images/alertgood_icon.gif) #E2F9E3 left no-repeat;
}

<div class="Flash good">Oh yes, that's nice!</div>

Use this to compose more general styles. For example, if you want all error text to be red and bold, you could define a general error class. You can then use that style anywhere in the document with any other style without needing to update your CSS.

Nothing too earth shattering, but two good tools to have in your bag.