Archive for the ‘Life: Work and Techy’ category

e-Commerce: ClickCartPro making all product ids safe

December 8th, 2008

Basically, in ClickCartPro product “identifers” can not have spaces, commas, full stops or brackets in them (basically only the letters A-z, numbers and underscores) and they have to be a maximum length (I’m not sure what the exact maximum is).

If you are maintaining an “established” store (i.e. one with products) where a number of products are showing up on the front end, but when you try to “Add to cart” they don’t appear in the cart then this is probably the problem. To “fix” it (this is more a work around), run the following UNREVERSABLE MySQL code (i.e. make sure you have a backup before hand):

create table temp_replacetest(id varchar(250),hash char(32));
INSERT INTO temp_replacetest (SELECT id,md5(id) from gbu0_prod);
update gbu0_prod,temp_replacetest SET gbu0_prod.xprod=replace(gbu0_prod.xprod,temp_replacetest.id,temp_replacetest.hash) where temp_replacetest.id IN (gbu0_prod.xprod);
drop table temp_replacetest;
update gbu0_prod set id=md5(id);
select id,xprod from gbu0_prod

This will set all product ids to be md5 hashes which, since they only consist of 32 numbers or the letters a-f, are “safe” to use as product identifiers.

e-Commerce: Changing the VAT Rate in ClickCartPro (UK Edition)

December 5th, 2008

If you are using the UK edition of Kryptonic’s ClickCartPro ecommerce system (sold by Greenbarn Web) and you still haven’t updated the VAT rates in it to take into account the reduction in UK VAT on the 1st of December from 17.5% to 15%, then here’s how to do it.

To change the VAT rate in ClickCartPro from 17.5% to 15% (or vice versa), just login to the admin panel (normally via http://www.example.com/admin.php ) and select from the left hand menu “Commerce: Orders and Checkout” (it should be the third option down) and then “Manage EU Tax Rates”. You’ll probably see three rates “High Rate”, “Low Rate” and “Zero Rate”. If you select “Update” next to “High Rate”. In the “EU Tax Rate” box, you should see the current rate of VAT being shown and be able to adjust it to 15%. Click “Submit” and it should take immediate effect.

Techy: Rounded Corners in Adobe Photoshop

November 6th, 2008

Want to de-roughen the look of your site? Well, if you have Adobe Photoshop then you can follow the steps in this tutorial to add rounded corners to your photos to make everything that little bit more Web2.0 ish: http://matthom.com/archive/2004/09/10/fast-rounded-corners-in-photoshop

Work: Still working flat out!

November 5th, 2008

Sorry I haven’t been blogging much – the work hours at my new startup are only meant to be 9.30 to 6pm, but once you take into account 30 minute commutes and the fact we never finish at 6pm (7pm tonight) means I haven’t got much time to blog… But it’s certainly an exciting role and we’re still recruiting! So if you are a Flash Game Developer looking for a Permanent role in London (W1W/Great Portland Street area) or you are a Teacher specialising in Maths looking for an exciting and challenging role building an interactive learning system – get in touch via [email address removed] before the end of November!

I must admit to get this role I turned down an interview at MTV for Paramount Pictures and, within the last 48 hours, I have had to say “no” to the BBC three times (twice for a permanent role and once as a contractor!).

Anyway, I’m going to spend 20 minutes just writing some blog posts so I can set them to publish in the future… Keep visiting and live long and prosper!

New Job – and two jobs up for grabs

October 23rd, 2008

Woot! I’ve secured myself a Lead PHP developer role in London which I’m absolutely ecstatic about! It does mean my short-lived contracting career is already at an end (well, at least for the foreseeable future!). More details later!

However, I am aware of two other positions currently available. If you are interested in either of these roles, please email me via blogpost984@rac.me.uk and I’ll reply with more details (this email address will be deactivated at the end of November at the latest!).

* Flash Developer (ideally with Games experience)
Permanent position (no remote-working). Based in London (W1W postcode, nearest Underground station: Great Portland Street)
Salary: Still to be decided
Start date: Between 27th of October and 17th November 2008

A new,well-funded, startup in the educational arena is looking for an on-site Flash designer/developer that ideally has some experience developing games in Flash utilising XML files for configuration data and XML feedback to the server. Graphic designs of characters/background etc will be done via a third party. Ideally needs to have examples of previous work.

* Technical Lead
Permanent position (no remote-working). Based in London (W1B postcode, nearest Underground station: Oxford Circus)
Salary: 60,000 and 80,000 GBP
Start date: ASAP

A highly organised person with experience of LAMP technologies (ideally with the Xaraya CMS, pluck.com and AJAX/Flash) is needed to work in a magazine-website orientated client-facing role with a number of internal and external stakeholders to help lead development and solve problems and performance issues. You will need to be able to recruit an in-house and offshore development team and migrate from the currently outsourced team.

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