http://www.abluestar.com/blog Rantings from Steven smethurst Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:02:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The procedure entry point_except_handler4_common could not be located in the dynamic link library msvcrt.dll This error is caused by a 3rd party utility or applcation overwriting your msvcrt.dll with a different version. For example if a windows vista version of this DLL was copied on to a windows XP computer you would ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/the-procedure-entry-point_except_handler4_common-could-not-be-located-in-the-dynamic-link-library-msvcrtdll/ I found this today while doing code review. it was ment to be a sleep timer... I just about shit a brick when I saw this. for(int i=0; i<PAUSE_LENGTH; i++) { i++; } http://www.abluestar.com/blog/your-daily-wtf/ This code snippet should let you add a new post to your wordpress database 2.5.1 require_once('wp-config.php'); // create post object class wm_mypost {     var $post_title;     var $post_content;     var $post_status;    /* publish, private */     var $post_author;    /* author user id (optional) */     var $post_name;      /* slug (optional) */     var $post_type;      /* 'page' or 'post' (optional, defaults to 'post') */     var $comment_status; /* open or closed for commenting (optional) */     var $post_category ;  } // initialize post object $wm_mypost = new wm_mypost(); $wm_mypost->post_title    = "Title2 ". date( 'r' ); $wm_mypost->post_content  = "content3"; $wm_mypost->post_status   = 'publish';  $wm_mypost->post_author   = 1; // Catagorys $post_category = split("," , "one"); foreach($post_category as $key=>$val) {     $post_category[$key] = get_cat_ID($val); } $wm_mypost->post_category =  $post_category ;  // Optional; uncomment as needed // $wm_mypost->post_type = 'page'; // $wm_mypost->comment_status = 'closed'; // feed object to wp_insert_post $post_ID = wp_insert_post($wm_mypost); echo date( 'r' ) . "\n"; echo "post_ID:". $post_ID . "\n";  http://www.abluestar.com/blog/insert-new-post-in-to-wordpress-from-php/ I got asked how to create a simple averaging class. If you where feeling smart you could enhance this class in to a template class for a object that has the =,+,>,< operator. But I'm feeling lazy today. class CMinMaxAvg { private : int m_count; int m_total; int m_min; int m_max; public: CMinMaxAvg() { m_count = 0 ; m_total = 0 ; m_min = 0 ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/how-to-make-a-cminmaxavg-class/ This tutorial will walk you thou the steps to install PHPBB3 on your system. Intro PHPBB3 has become one of the more popular bulletin board system (AKA, BBS, or forums) available. It is used for all types of websites, from corporate websites, online stores, online hobby groups, ect.  One of the ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/how-to-install-phpbb-301/ Have you heard about the ‘Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement,’ The agreement is being structured much like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) except it will create rules and regulations regarding private copying and copyright laws. Federal trade agreements do not require parliamentary approval. The deal would create a international regulator that could turn ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/anti-counterfeiting-trade-agreement-bad/ To help stop spam activate the Akismet plugin. Login to your wordpress blog On the right hand side there is a pugin button, click it Activate Akismet plugin (download here if its not all ready installed) Get a Wordpress API key http://wordpress.com/api-keys/ (its free) Set the Wordpress API key in the Akismet settings page. 99.98 % ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/how-to-block-spam-on-a-wordpress-blog/ I create a lot of windows application to make things easier for my customers. The simple act of coping a file from an email to a certain directory can become the most complicated tasks for a certain type of customer. I use an Scriptable Install System provided by NullSoft called NSIS ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/nsis-tips-and-tricks/ http://xkcd.com/305/ Rule 34: If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions. http://www.abluestar.com/blog/rule-34-if-it-exists-there-is-porn-of-it-no-exceptions/ http://xkcd.com/330/ Rule Social-b. 99.1 If friends spend more then 60 minutes unable to decide what to do, they must default to sexual experimentation. http://www.abluestar.com/blog/xkcd-social-b-991/ Ingredients 5 lbs oxtail, cut in 2 inch thick rounds 1 cup flour 1/2 cup cajun seasoning 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup port wine 1 large Spanish onion, diced 1 large carrot 3 stalks celery, diced 3 italian frying bell pepper, cut into large pieces 1 cup red wine ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/rabo-encendidocuban-oxtail-stew/ A CAPTCHA is a program that can tell whether its user is a human or a computer. You've probably seen them — colorful images with distorted text at the bottom of Web registration forms. CAPTCHAs are used by many websites to prevent abuse from "bots," or automated programs usually ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/what-is-recaptcha/ You've been buying your own booze at the local bar like a sucker ever since you turned 21. But with a stiff shot of science, you can hustle the tipsy into picking up your tab. Try this pub magic to score yourself some free rounds. — William Snyder Wired has a ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/bar-tricks/ On EveryDayFiction.com, in the titles of the posts our editors insisted on including a non alphanumeric character. The little dot that separates the title from the author. This causes havoc with a lot of my scripts and is really freaking annoying. This handy little function strips all the non  alphanumeric character from ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/php-strip-non-alphanumeric/ Do you remember the exact date or time when you last switched on the computer ? Here’s a simple DOS command to help you out: systeminfo | find /i “boot time” This will show the time when you last rebooted the computer. If you want to know when you stalled windows on your PC systeminfo ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/last-windows-boot-time-install-date/ I'm often surprised how many times this question has come up by beginner programmers. How do you tell the size of a file in win32? This method will fail on files greater then 4GB, and its slower then other methods but it quick and easy as long as you are not dealing ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/the-quick-and-dirty-way-of-getting-the-size-of-a-file-up-to-4gb/ I hate internet explorer, I hate it so much. At lest once a day I curse it to the pits of hell to be torched endlessly by a Richard Simmons kazoo band. My hate for internet explorer mainly comes from my own laziness, I just don't want to spend the ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/403-an-arrogant-initiative-in-defense-of-the-web/ February 29 is a date that only occurs once every four years, and is called leap day. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365.000 days. The chance of being born on leap ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/leap-year-post/ OpenDNS is a custom DNS server that you can use instead of using your IPS's DNS server. It checks any address that you lookup against its own list of bad sites (phishing scams, and other things) and redirects you accordingly. It also provides a simple way of enabling/disabling blocking of adult ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/opendns/ There are various reasons to disable your anti virus temporarily. AVG 7 does not make it easy to disable it.  Instructions  Right click on the AVG icon in your system tray (bottom right next to the clock) Select "Launch AVG Free Control Center" On the Security status page, you should see a list of items ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/how-to-disable-avg-7-temporarily/ This is a mild but spicy chicken soup (it can also be made with shrimp, pork, beef or mushrooms), flavored with the very unique flavor of galangal ("kha" in Thai) which creates a heavenly taste when combined with hot chile peppers, coconut milk, lime leaves and lemongrass. Ingredients 16 fluid ounces soup ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/tom-kha-gai/ This is a list of torrent sites that I use regularly. Ranked by popularity http://www.mininova.org/ http://www.youtorrent.com/ http://thepiratebay.org/ http://isohunt.com/ My favorite bit torrent client is http://www.utorrent.com/ http://www.abluestar.com/blog/links-to-torrent-sites/ For the poor SOB that are still using Visual studios 6, I have uploaded a copy of the service pack 6 to my website for reference. Feel free to download it, you have my sympathy http://www.abluestar.com/dev/sdk/vcsetup.exe http://www.abluestar.com/blog/vs6-sp6/ Introduction There has been a lot of talk recently about the micro blogging. Micro blogging is a blogging platform that lets you post very small updates about your life, to help keep you and your friends up to date with each others lives. The services are kept very simple so anyone ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/twitter-vs-tumblr/ If you build it they will come. That’s the mentality that most people have when building there first website. That’s just not the way the internet works. You have to advertise, you have to tell people that you exist. Ask your self how you found the last item you purchased from ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/if-you-build-it-they-will-come-mentality/ I use this snippet all the time to disable/enable, hide/show, move MFC controls. // Enables and disables an MFC control by name void CCILikeChease::EnableControl( int iControl, bool enable ) { // Enable Control      CWnd* wnd_control = (CWnd*)( GetDlgItem( iControl ) );      if( wnd_control != NULL ) {           wnd_control->EnableWindow( enable ) ;      ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/disable-and-enable-mfc-controls-by-name/ In my last article I talked about how to create a very simple Facebook Application. We created a simple hello world application that didn't do too much besides login to the Facebook API. In this article we are going to use the Facebook API to access you and your friends information. We are ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/how-to-access-facebooks-data/ We are going to build a simple facebook application to demonstrate how to use the Facebook API. Requirements: Basic knowledge of php A webserver running php5 that is open to the internet. A facebook account (sign up) Directions Add the developers application to your facebook account. Goto: http://www.facebook.com/developers/ and add the developers application to your account. After you ... http://www.abluestar.com/blog/how-to-make-a-facebook-applcation/ Finely! http://www.abluestar.com/blog/coyote-catches-the-road-runner/ http://www.abluestar.com/blog/how-to-beat-9-grandmasters-at-once/