[Editor's note: Revised to reflect new links on Matt's own site]
PHP and mysql, when used together, provide a rich environment for creating dynamic database driven web pages. PHP is a script-like programming language that contains features that make it quite easy to pull data from mysql databases and integrate them into web pages. As an example of what they can do together, this site is created dynamically by PHP serving data from a mysql database (using a prewritten program known as GeekLog). Unfortunately, PHP support is not included in the standard Apache install that ships with OS X PB, and mysql is not part of the UNIX core installed by the PB.
Matthew Vaughn has created pre-packaged versions of both mysql and PHP which are easily installed via the Apple installer. He's also got the original Apache compressed online, in case you want to reverse the install. If you're truly adventurous, he also has a page of instructions on how you can build both components by yourself.
Matthew points out a couple of minor glitches with mysql, but everything works. There are also a couple of good threads on the MacNN boards about installation and autostart scripts for mysql.
I've found that the PHP site is a great place to get a handle on the language, and I've picked up the "SAMS Teach Yourself PHP4 in 24 hours" book as a reference.
Surfing randomly the other day, I happened upon webmin, a collection of Perl scripts that are designed to help manage a UNIX system via a web-based front end. Webmin includes a mini web-server which serves up browser pages designed to help you visually manage a number of basic UNIX tasks, such as process management; scheduling tasks (including a visual scheduler, quite cool!); viewing system logs in real time, managing servers such as apache, dns, sendmail, and mysql; installing custom commands; and a numer of other key tasks.
You can get a flavor for the front-end from this screenshot of the Apache management panel. As you can see, it can customize nearly every piece of the Apache configuration file.
I downloaded and installed webmin just to see if it would work. It supports a huge number of UNIX variants, including freeBSD and Mac OS X Server. I told it I had OS X Server, and found that some modules worked, and some did not. The important ones (the scheduler, Apache configuration, system log browsing) all seemed to work fine. I had to edit a couple paths in the webmin settings, but this was easily done via the web browser.
One note of caution - this is a large package, consisting of over 4,000 files and 17+mb of disk space. It comes with a very nice installer and uninstaller, both of which worked as advertised ... with one exception. Make sure you install it on a volume with no spaces in the volume name, otherwise the installer will complain and fail.
Read the rest if you'd like to see how to install it.
The Stickies app in OS PB has some pretty cool features, including windowshades and styled text. However, one thing it seems to lack is a "Bring all windows to front" for when you have 300 stickies scattered on your desktop. If you click on a visible stickie from another app, you'll only get that stickie to come forward.
The only menu option is "Arrange all in front," which brings them all forward, but also stacks them like cards, forcing you to move them around again to read them.
The solution turns out to be simple ... just click on the Stickies icon in the dock. This will bring all the notes to the foreground while leaving them in their current positions. This is default behavior for apps when clicked from the dock, but it's most obvious with something like Stickies, where I tend to have a large number of small windows open.
[Editor's note: I have added one key missing instruction about modifying apache.conf to the details; this is also discussed in the comments.]
"Guestwhat" wrote in with a question:
Could someone help me to enable a turn key on my web site in Mac OS X Beta? What I meant was when a user log go to my web site I want to have a username and password inorder for them to access.
One method of doing this is with .htaccess files. When your server goes to serve a page, it looks in the top directory for an .htaccess file, and then checks each sub-directory down to and including the directory that holds the requested page. So if you place an .htaccess file in the top directory of your server pages folders, you will protect all the files in your domain. Read on to see how I used this to protect my home site.
The Apache web server built in to OS X can support virtual hosts (basically more than one web server on one machine; read all about it on Apache's Virtual Host information page).
Over on this MacNN forum, however, there was a discussion on difficulties getting SSI (server side includes) to work on virtual hosts.
In a nutshell, you need to add a new section to the apache.conf file. Read on to see the exact required steps.
A few days ago I posted in "Help Me" if anyone knew how to use Palm desktop Software to HotSync with a Handspring Visor Deluxe. Though there was a comment "not possible" I finally got a reply from Handspring Online-support which is quite interesting:
Dear Handspring User,
Thank you for your e-mail.
At this time there is only a Beta Version that is available for the Mac OS X. Once the software becomes available it will be posted on the web site.
jedit is an amazing Java/php/text processor. It comes with a large number of installable plug-ins, is capable of color-coding syntax for java, php, HTML, perl, and other languages, stores each open document on a tabbed window, and has an aqua-ish appearance theme! And, best of all, it's open source and totally free. You can read more about it on the jedit home page.
Kris Kopicki has created a pre-compiled package version of jedit for OS X PB, and I've been using it for a day or so. It's written in Java, and runs fine on the PB (perhaps it's a tick slow, but not enough to bother me). You can find it on Kris' page right here.
Highly recommended if you do coding of any sort, or just want to see a slick Cocoa/Java app.
Carbon applications like Internet Explorer, Desktop and Napster cannot choose applications because Navigation Services doesn't recognize packages yet in Mac OS X. However, you can work around it easily. Simple type the application's path (like /System/Applications/Music Player.app) in the "Go To" field at the bottom of all Open windows.
Rember to add the .app extension to the application name! it is actually part of the folder (bundle) name but the Finder hides it automatically.
[This is one of the most basic of OS X tips, but I neglected to publish it earlier...most everyone is familiar with it, but I figured it was at least worth having in the system! -rob.]
There's a bug (feature?) in the PB in which new downloads from IE do not immediately show up in the finder.
There are a couple of ways to make them show immediately. The easy way is to go to the Download Manager window within IE, double-click the filename, and then click the Reveal in Finder button.
Alternatively, if you do something to the finder, the new files will show up. For example, create a new folder and drag it to the trash, and you should then see your newly downloaded files.
I assume this bug will be squashed before OS X 1.0 ships.
[Editor's note: Please see the comments for the resolution of this issue]
I have recently bought a Handspring Visor. Thats a PDA with native USB-support. Unfortunately, the Desktop Software under Classic cannot access the USB-Port and thus not exchange Data unless I reboot into Mac OS 9.