One afternoon, while eating a great pizza with a glass of melon juice I noticed a guy wearing a Magen David around his neck. We are taught that there are Jews all over the world, but what does that really mean? And what does it mean to meet another Jew so far from home?

The curiosity of Jews

I’d already spent the last few weeks sailing with my new friend Tom, she and I had marvelled at our shared Jewish knowledge. It wasn’t that here, thousands of miles from home, we both know what a mezuzah is, and no, Rabbi, we didn’t have late night Torah study sessions (although we did do a Shabbat Service and Friday night dinner on board). For us, it was the songs, we knew the same words to the same tunes!

Here in Panama was another opportunity, rather than meeting Jews by chance through other activities, I now felt compelled to introduce myself to him. So I did. “Hey, are you Jewish?” sounds much stranger when you say it out loud but he smiled, said "yes, and we started chatting. He was visiting some family in Portobello, and heading back to Panama City, I was also heading to Panama City to buy some supplies for the boat and he offered me a lift. It’s an hour and a half’s drive during which we discussed Judaism in Panama and in London, and he explained that I’d be quite safe in the dangerous city of Colon because I was too scruffy to look worth robbing. Thanks…. I think!

I asked him about Purim, which was coming up in a few days, it’d be cool to see how they do things here. Without a moment’s hesitation he invited me along to his Synagogue! There are 3 or 4 communities in Panama City, and he was a member of the Progressive community, Kol Shearith Israel.

Purim Arrives!

A week went by, the captain said the weather was clear, we were going to set sail for San Blas on Thursday morning at dawn. I said I’m afraid I cannot come, I’ll be in Panama City for Pruim and can’t be back until the afternoon. I honestly felt like Mordechi, as if the whole of Judaism rested on my being a good Jew this week (which had nothing to do with the huge party Chabad were throwing that night, honest). The captains face wasn’t good, as his First Mate I helped to run the boat. It was only a small trip and he could manage without me (this captain was so epic he could manage without anyone), but I think he hoped I’d stay on after this last leg – despite knowing I had to get to Guatemala. He agreed to leave Friday morning (weather permitting) so I could make it back in time.

Wednesday afternoon I hopped on one of the amazing pimped out Panama buses, music blaring and neon lights streaking all the way to Colon where I changed for a comparatively dull coach to Panama City. A rude-beyond-belief taxi driver took me to the Synagogue which I entered tentatively. Greeted by smiles and offerings of fancy dress broke down all barriers, I entered the sanctuary and sought out my friend, not seeing him I sat next to a family and made a new one. Halfway through the service, I moved a few rows forward when I spotted him.

Right at Home

More than 5 thousand miles from home, on the coast of the Pacific, in a land of a Spanish, American and tribal mix, the closest to the Equator I’d managed, aside from reading the Megila in Spanish I could have been in Finchley. The rabbi was over dressed and over excited, the kids were running amok in their as super hero costumes, the teenagers chatted and the parents tried to make everyone enjoy it as much as they remembered enjoying it.

My Spanish was still awful, but I knew the story through and through and booed and cheered along with everyone else. At the end, some of the Bar Mitzva students came on and gave a little show. It seemed like one super talented young man wanted to perform and dragged his friends along. Ever seen that one before? He did some break dancing, and a magic show, and every was happy! He even had an en-core.

After the service there was a reception and I had food thrust upon me. Ahh Jews There was Pizza, biscuits, wine and coke. Not too different from how we’d have done it at WLS. I mingled and spoke to bugs bunny and batman for about an hour before I had to head off to the Chabad Party. My friend had already left, but the Rabbi had found me earlier and asked whether I needed a lift anywhere, he introduced me to a family who offered me a lift without a moments hesitation.

Purim on a Boat

The week before all this happened I was staying in a hostel called Mamallenas, and there I saw a poster for a Purim party on a boat. Now that’s three of my favourite words in one title. It was the local Chabad house organising it, they had hired a massive boat and filled it with falafel and whisky. Charging a US$10 entrance to cover some costs, after that everything was free. Best of all, it started a about an hour after the service at Kol Shearith Israel finished, so after the friendly family dropped me off in the centre of town, they spoke to a Taxi driver so that he would know exactly where to take me – and a Panama price not Tourist price!

Finding the entrance was a bit tricky, it was down a dark road to the entrance of a small dock. I arrived to meet a large group of Israelis chatting in their typical super-fast Hebrew. Not the easiest conversations to join, but I made a few friends. The night was long, and excellent, the boat left the dock around 11pm and made a huge loop of Panama Harbour returning around 4 in the morning. After about an hour the falafel buffet and BBQ were unleashed, and soon after that was the Megila reading. In between and after everyone was chatting to everyone, it was a huge boat full of Jews from all over the world, with tales of their travels and stories of their own to tell.

Finding Jews Abroad

Panama was the first time I have sought out Jews while abroad, but I have done it ever since, in Nicaragua I visited the Chabad House for Friday night prayers, in Guatemala I the unique Adat Israel had my Guatemalan friend and myself round for Friday night dinner and in Mexico the Jewish area has many shops packed with Vegan goodies! The Internet has brought people closer together like never before, and special websites connect Jews all over the world to share in the joys of being Jewish. Particularly useful I found www.JewGether.com and www.kosherdelight.com for finding communities and making contact.

Rope/String	A short piece a foot or two long. Handy for holding things together, and stopping toilet doors banging on long bus journeys.
Duct Tape	Hardly needs explanation, good for fixing books, bottles, boats, beds, bags and all manner of things beginning with a b.
Playing Cards	Great for breaking the ice with strangers, and having something to do when conversation is thin.
Pens	One in your pocket, a few in your bag. Only ever carry pens with lids or where the nib is protected, else you’ll end up with ink stains everywhere.
Photocopies of your important documents	Copies of anything you might possibly need: passport, vaccination record, visa. Keep one on you and one in your bag, or bags. In addition to the real things.
Notebook	Jot down numbers, directions, hotel rooms so when you’re exhausted, drunk or lost in another language, you’re not stuck. Also great for jotting down words you’re currently learning.
Toilet Paper	I was never to be found without a healthy wad of toilet paper in my back pocket. Great for when the toilets aren’t up to scratch, or when you spill your soup on the bus.
External Hard Drive	When your camera memory card fills up, you need to unload it somewhere. Get a small one if possible, they take up less space and are powered by USB rather than a mains plug.
Backup External Drive	Keep it in a separate bag/place to your storage drive. If the internet is frequent and reliable, you could backup to the Internet before deleting from your card (but after copying to your External Drive). Remember, if you don’t have two physically separate copies you don’t have a backup.
Alarm Clock	So you don’t miss your bus, train station or evening meeting with the local you befriended the day before.
Tea Towel	A personal favourite, I like to take packed lunches to save on eating out costs. Wrap it in the tea towel to keep it warm, then use the towel in case you make a mess.
Tupperware Container	I like long thin flat-ish ones so you can shove them down the side of a bag. Obviously only useful if you want to carry packed lunches.
Sewing Kit	Long bus journeys are a great time to finish patching up your trousers.
Small Torch or reading light	For sneaking around dorm rooms, reading on dark buses and finding things you’ve dropped under tables. My phone has a built in torch.
Spare Phone	Losing your phone abroad is bad enough, having to find out how to buy a new one can be expensive and time consuming.
Carrier Bags	I’ve always got a few plastic bags in the side pocket of my rucksack. They’re handy for when you go shopping, as laundry bags, something to sit on, somewhere for your rubbish and for when things leak.
Contact Cards	If your lucky, you’ll make loads of friends. The downside is having to write your email, facebook and number over and over again in ever scrawly writing. I met someone who had a couple of dozen business cards printed, saved lots of time!
Diary	If your the kind to reminisce, keep a brief log with date and a few words about where you were. Once you get home, you may have great difficulty remembering the order of some events! I did mine in a document on the computer.
Skype Credit	So when you run out of money, you’ve already topped up your Skype account with enough to phone home with.
First Aid Kit	In addition to duct tape, a few plaster and magic creams. Ibuprofen for the long-journey cramps, Melatonin for the by-golly-I-wish-I-was-asleep moments and Imodium for the floods of diarrhoea.
Portable Charger	Cool and useful. Don’t forget a cable!
Elastic Bands	To seal unfinished bags of nibbles, tie your hair when you’re out of bands and to improvise games on the beach.
Money pouch	Never have all your money in one place, keep most of it somewhere not pickpocket-able but have enough on you to get to a safe place if you lose everything else.
Compass	If you’re a map-reader you’ll already have your map, hence I don’t need to list it here, however some places have really bad labelling of roads so being able to orient yourself without names is really handy. Also good for knowing which way to look for an excellent sunset (look west). If you want to get really cool, whip it out in a hostel to pick the best room for warmth (south facing windows) or a lie in (east facing windows).
Cooking Oil	I don’t mention a whole cooking set because that’s up to you style of travel. I have, however, been known to whip out my olive oil to keep the hostel door quiet.
Spare Bank Card	It could take weeks to get a replacement card sent to your home and then to your foreign location. My bank wouldn’t let me have two cards on one account, so I opened a joint account with my brother and took both cards, meaning I had three bank cards to lose before I was actually in trouble.
Stuff for getting home	An envelope with some home money, an oyster card and house keys might be handy when you get back.
Hand bag	I travel with three bags, a big one on my back, a smaller one on my front (which I hate and try to avoid), and an empty one inside the big one. This is so I can go to the pub with a few essentials without having to re-pack before and after.
Towel	Ah, the famous towel from HHG2G. Not only does it dry you off, they make excellent blankets, holdalls, pillows, padding for souvenirs and insulation for cold beers.
Family Photo	Bit of an odd one, but the places I’ve visited have been very family orientated and on several occasions I wish I’d had a small photo in my wallet.
Small change from home	You’re going to meet foreigners and travellers, they’re often interested in money from around the world, having something to show them can be good fun.

Some other thoughts:

• Even though you have no idea if it’s a good deal, I always exchanged about £20 worth of cash with the traders at the border. You’ll never save that much by waiting, but having some cash for a bottle of water or a taxi can be really handy.
• Some foods are better than others on a bus. Avoid crumbly bread and any peanut butter jars if you can’t scrape the bottom with your finger. I’ve stopped carrying anything I can’t eat the moment I get fed up carrying it (i.e food which needs cooking). Food is heavy.
• Write your name and contact info on anything you’d like back if you lose (especially notebooks or cameras). You may not get them, but at least there’s a chance.
• Backup your photos. Seriously, you will cry if you don’t.
• Whenever you take a photo, think about what you’re going to say when you show it to someone. It’ll help you decide if you should be taking photos or watching the volcano erupt.
• Think good and hard about carrying a laptop, and between eBooks and heavy paper ones. There’s a blog on that coming…. soon.

Feel free to leave more advice in the comments below!

Unless otherwise noted, all of these features are available in the free version also.

Cubby

Pros

• Cheap (may go up after Beta period).
• DirectSync means you can use the Cubby software to sync files between computers on your LAN without those files counting towards your quota (unless you are also syncing them to the cloud) Only for paid accounts
• Very simple interface.
• Easily lets you merge a Cloud folder with a Local folder.

Cons

• You get told how many files and how many bytes still need to be synced, but you don’t get any indication as to the speed it’s transferring at.
• You can share a Cubby with other users, but you can’t share only a subfolder.
• Support are not very helpful. Syncing got stuck with files left for me on two machines, on one occasion a support guy phoned me to try and diagnose, but basically told me to look through the log file myself and find the problem. Email support then refused to help because I had mentioned I’d used a network drive on one machine, they left me with “we don’t support network drives” regardless of my other machine having the same problem without the network drive.

Wuala

Pros

• The security concious will enjoy their pre-transfer encryption.
• Sync files and folders in place, no need to move or symlink them.
• Backup Option lets you have a single-directional syncing folder.
• Small, cheap options for sizing.
• Easy to contact support by email or through the forum.

Cons

• Very limited view of the status of your files.
• Requires Java for both

SparkleShare

Self-Hosted option, based on Git.

Pros

• Self Hosting gives you flexibility and the option of cheap space.

Cons

• Self-Hosting means you’re responsible for your own redundancy.
• On large amounts of files (dozens of thousands) SparkleShare appeared to try and handle them in batches of a few hundred, but still froze and never finshed.

Google Drive

Pros

• Get to your files quickly if you use Gmail.

Cons

• Hogged resources when tracking many files (I added dozens of thousands, and often had to quit Drive to keep everything else running).
• You have to keep your files in the Google Drive folder.
• Doesn’t follow symlinks.
• You can only sync into an empty folder, you cannot merge your Drive contents with some local files (an issuee after a reinstall) to save downloading files again.

Dropbox

Pros

• Most of the people I’ve wanted to share files with, already have Dropbox.
• Easily see the status of your files and you have the information you need to judge how long until everythnig is in sync.
• Share individual folders with other users.
• Follows Symlinks (Junctions/Hardlinks).

Cons

• The smallest package is £10 for 100GB, if you only need 20GB it can feel nasty to pay for all the space you don’t need.
• Based on Amazon s3 you’re supporting Amazon and their less than friendly business and environmental practices.
• All your files must be in your Dropbox folder, however following Symlinks eases this trouble.

xDebug lets you turn file names into click able links, which can in turn be used to launch your text editor in the right place.

Requirements:

• bash & sed – These come when you install Git and ask for the Unix tools to be globally available
• Programmers Notepad – naturally. Though this is easy enough to tweak to any editor.
• Firefox and xDebug

Step 1 – Create the SH file

Put this text into a file called “EditWithPnotepad.sh” and save it somewhere sensible. You may need to tweak the last line, especially if you want to use this for an editor other than PNotepad.

#!/bin/bash
uo=$1
protocol=$(echo $uo | sed 's/\([a-z]*\):\/\/\(.*\):\([0-9]*\)\//\1/');
file=$(echo $uo | sed 's/\([a-z]*\):\/\/\(.*\):\([0-9]*\)\//\2/');
line=$(echo $uo | sed 's/\([A-z]*\):\/\/\(.*\):\([0-9]*\)\//\3/');
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Programmer's Notepad\pn.exe" --line $line "$file" &

Step 2 – Register the protocol

Open regedit and create the following keys – we’ll set the values after. Do this by right clicking on the parent (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, then pontepad etc) and clicking on New > Key.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pnotepad]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pnotepad\shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pnotepad\shell\open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pnotepad\shell\open\command]

Click on pnotepad and the double click on (default) to change it. Set it to “URL: PNotepad Protocol”.

Under that same (default) key right click in the blank space and click on New > Key and name it “URL Protocol”. It needs no value.

Now click on Command and set its (default) to your own version of the following, be careful not to mess up the quotes or spaces.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin\sh.exe" "D:\Path\To\Your\EditWithPnotepad.sh" "%1"

Step 3 – Tell xDebug how to format URLs

Open up your php.ini and add or edit this line, then restart PHP/Apache as required.

xdebug.file_link_format="pnotepad://%f:%l"

Step 4 – Test

That should be it, make some code code throw an error and try clicking the link.

Any touble, or updates let me know!

• Written for Zend Framework 1.11.12
• It will resize the image and save it into the correct location so that Apache will find it next time and not call the PHP.
• You can specify the required width, height, both or neither.
• If a width or height is given as 0 then the original dimension will be used.

Add some settings to application.ini

cache.publicDir = '/cache'
cache.dataDir = APPLICATION_PATH "/../public/cache"
data.dataDir = APPLICATION_PATH "/../public/data

Add a route in the Bootstrap

The regex router must match a URL containing the required file sizes, the file name and as many sub directories as thrown at it. It matches the following and sends them to the ThumbAction on FilesController:

• /cache/100/200/file.jpg
• /cache/100/200/subdir/file.jpg
• /cache/100/200/another-subdir/file.jpg

$router->addRoute('file_resized_thumbnail', new Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Regex(
	'cache/([0-9]*)/([0-9]*)(.*/?)/([^/]*?)',
		array(
			'controller'	=> 'files',
			'action'		=> 'thumb',
		),
		array(
			1	=> 'width',
			2	=> 'height',
			3	=> 'subdir',
			4	=> 'file'
		),
		'/cache/%d/%d/%s/%s'
));

FilesController.php::ThumbAction()

/**
*	Loads the file, gets a resized version and saves it in a location identical to 
*	the current URL so Apache can find it next time.
**/
public function thumbAction()
{
	$this->view->layout()->disableLayout();
	$options = $this->_helper->container->get('options');
	
	$fileName = $this->getRequest()->getParam('file');
	$subdir = $this->getRequest()->getParam('subdir');
	$width = $this->getRequest()->getParam('width');
	$height = $this->getRequest()->getParam('height');
	
	$cacheUrlPrefix = $options['cache']['publicDir'];
	$cachePathPrefix = $options['cache']['dataDir'];
	$dataPathPrefix = $options['data']['dataDir'];
	
	$fileName = urldecode($fileName);
	$subdir = ($subdir == "") ? "" : urldecode($subdir);
	
	$fullPath = $dataPathPrefix.'/'.$subdir.$fileName;
	
	if(realpath($fullPath) == false){
		throw new Zend_Controller_Action_Exception('File not Found: '.$fullPath, 404);
	}
	$file = new Pata_File(array(
		'path'			=>	$fullPath
	));
	
	if ($file == false) {
		throw new Zend_Controller_Dispatcher_Exception('That file was not found in that subdir');
	}
	$cacheDir = $cachePathPrefix.'/'.$width.'/'.$height.$subdir;
	$cacheFile = $cacheDir.'/'.$fileName;
	if (file_exists($cacheDir) == false) {
		mkdir($cacheDir, 0777, true);
	}
	imagepng($file->getThumbnailPng($width, $height), $cacheFile);
	
	header('content-type: image/png');
	readfile($cacheFile);
}

library/Pata/File.php

/*
*	This is a model I use to make working with files a bit easier. Several of the functions are used by thumbAction but the code could be moved to the controller if you so desired.
*/
<?php
class Pata_File
{
	protected $path;
	protected $relativePath;
	protected $url;
	protected $image;
	protected $thumbUrl;
	protected $thumbnailDimensions = array();

	protected $thumbnailPng = array();
	
	protected $description;
	
	public function __construct($options)
	{
		if (isset($options['path'])) {
			$this->path = $options['path'];
		}
		if (isset($options['relativePath'])) {
			$this->relativePath = $options['relativePath'];
		}
		if (isset($options['url'])) {
			$this->url = $options['url'];
		}
		if (isset($options['thumbUrl'])) {
			$this->thumbUrl = $options['thumbUrl'];
		}
	}

	public function getName()
	{
		return basename($this->getPath());
	}
	
	public function getPath()
	{
		if ($this->path == null) {
			throw new Exception('No path has been set');
		}
		return $this->path;
	}
	
	public function getRelativePath()
	{
		return $this->relativePath;
	}
	
	public function getDir()
	{
		return substr($this->getPath(), 0, - strlen($this->getName()));
	}
	
	public function setDescription($description)
	{
		$this->description = $description;
	}
	
	public function getDescription()
	{
		return $this->description;
	}
	
	/**
	 * The URL to the actual file itself - not a page displaying it, see getPageUrl()
	 * @return type 
	 */
	public function getUrl($width = 800, $height = null)
	{
		if ($this->url == null) {
			throw new Exception('No url has been set');
		}
		$height = $height ?: round($width * 0.75, 0);
		return str_replace(array(':width:', ':height:'), array($width, $height), $this->url);
	}
	
	public function getThumbUrl($width = 120, $height = null)
	{
		if ($this->thumbUrl == null) {
			throw new Exception('No thumbUrl has been set');
		}
		$height = $height ?: round($width * 0.75, 0);
		return str_replace(array(':width:', ':height:'), array($width, $height), $this->thumbUrl);
	}

	public function setPath($new)
	{
		$this->path = $new;
	}
	
	public function setUrl($new)
	{
		$this->url = $new;
	}
	
	public function setThumbUrl($new)
	{
		$this->thumbUrl = $new;
	}
	
	public function setPageUrl($new)
	{
		$this->pageUrl = $new;
	}
	
	/**
	 *	Page Url is the URL to the page on which this image can be viewed
	 */
	public function getPageUrl()
	{
		if ($this->pageUrl == null) {
			throw new Exception('No pageUrl has been set');
		}
		return $this->pageUrl;
	}
	
	public function getExtention()
	{
		if (preg_match('/\.[A-z0-9]+$/', $this->getPath(), $ext)) {
			$ext = $ext[0];
			$ext = substr($ext, 1);
		} else {
			$finfo = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME);
			$mime = $finfo->file($this->getPath());
			$mime = explode(";", $mime);
			$mime = $mime[0];
			$mimeToExt = array(
				"text/plain" => "txt",
			);
			if (isset($mimeToExt[$mime])) {
				$ext = $mimeToExt[$mime];
			} else {
				$ext = "";
			}
		}
		return $ext;
	}
	
	public function freeMemory()
	{
		imagedestroy($this->getImage());
		$this->img = null;
	}
	
	public function getImage()
	{
		if ($this->image == null) {
			switch(strtolower($this->getExtention())){
				case "jpg":
				case "jpeg":
					$this->img = imagecreatefromjpeg($this->getPath());
					break;
				case "png":
					$this->img = imagecreatefrompng($this->getPath());
					break;
				case "gif";
					$this->img = imagecreatefromgif($this->getPath());
					break;
				case "bmp";
					$this->img = imagecreatefrombmp($this->getPath());
					break;
				case ".txt";
				case "doc";
					$this->img = imagecreatefrompng(realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/File/Images/thumb_doc.png'));
					break;
				case "xls";
					$this->img = imagecreatefrompng(realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/File/Images/thumb_excel.png'));
					break;
				default;
					$this->img = imagecreatefrompng(realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/File/Images/thumb_unknown.png'));
					break;
			}
		}
		return $this->img;
	}
	
	public function getThumbnailDimensions($width, $height, $return = 'both')
	{
		$cacheName = $width.'x'.$height.$return;
		if (isset($this->thumbnailDimensions[$cacheName])) {
			return $this->thumbnailDimensions[$cacheName];
		}
		
		if ($this->getType() == 'images') {
			$imgSize = getimagesize($this->getPath());
			$imgWidth = $imgSize[0];
			$imgHeight = $imgSize[1];
		} else {
			$img = $this->getImage();
			$imgWidth = imagesx($img);
			$imgHeight = imagesy($img);
		}
		if ($width > 0) {
			$thumbWidth = $width;
		} else {
			$thumbWidth = ($imgWidth / $imgHeight) * $height;
		}
		if ($height > 0) {
			$thumbHeight = $height;
		} else {
			$thumbHeight = ($imgHeight / $imgWidth) * $width;
		}
		
		$thumbWidth = floor($thumbWidth);
		$thumbHeight = floor($thumbHeight);
		$returnValue = null;
		if ($return == 'both') {
			$returnValue = array('width' => $thumbWidth, 'height' => $thumbHeight);
		} elseif ($return == 'width') {
			$returnValue = $thumbWidth;
		} elseif ($return == 'height') { 
			$returnValue = $thumbHeight;
		} else {
			throw new Exception($return . ' is not a valid parameter for return type for getThumbnailDimensions in Pata_File');
		}
		
		$this->thumbnailDimensions[$cacheName] = $returnValue;
		return $returnValue;
	}
	
	public function getThumbnailPng($width = 0, $height = 0)
	{
		if (!isset($this->thumbnailPng[$width.'x'.$height])) {
			$img = $this->getImage();
			$imgWidth = imagesx($img);
			$imgHeight = imagesy($img);
			$thumbTop = 0;
			$thumbLeft = 0;
			// If we have specified widths and heights, use them. Otherwise calculate them
			if ($width == 0 && $height == 0) {
				$thumbWidth = $imgWidth;
				$thumbHeight = $imgHeight;
			} else {
				$dimensions = $this->getThumbnailDimensions($width, $height);
				$thumbWidth = $dimensions['width'];
				$thumbHeight = $dimensions['height'];
			}
			// These default to not being changed
			$scaleWidth = $thumbWidth;
			$scaleHeight = $thumbHeight;

			if ($imgWidth > $imgHeight) {
				$scaleHeight = ($imgHeight / $imgWidth) * $thumbWidth;
				$thumbTop = ($thumbHeight - $scaleHeight) / 2;
			} elseif($imgWidth < $imgHeight) {
				$scaleWidth = ($imgWidth / $imgHeight) * $thumbHeight;
				$thumbLeft = ($thumbWidth - $scaleWidth) / 2;
			}
			
			$thumb = ImageCreateTrueColor($thumbWidth, $thumbHeight);
			// Fill the image with transparency
			imagesavealpha($thumb, true);
			$trans_colour = imagecolorallocatealpha($thumb, 0, 0, 0, 127);
			imagefill($thumb, 0, 0, $trans_colour);
	
			imagecopyresampled($thumb, $img, $thumbLeft, $thumbTop, 0, 0, $scaleWidth, $scaleHeight, $imgWidth, $imgHeight);
			imageinterlace($thumb, true);
			$this->thumbnailPng[$width.'x'.$height] = $thumb;
		}
		return $this->thumbnailPng[$width.'x'.$height];
	}
	
	function getType()
	{
		$types = $this->getFileTypeExtentions();
		foreach ($types as $type => $exts) {
			if (in_array(strtolower($this->getExtention()), $exts)) {
				return $type;
			}
		}
		return 'unknown';
	}
	
	function getFileTypeExtentions($type = null)
	{
		$types = array(
			'images'		=> array('jpg','jpeg','gif','png','tiff','bmp'),
			'documents'		=> array('doc', 'docx', 'txt', 'rtf', 'odt', 'pdf'),
			'spreadsheets'	=> array('xls'),
		);
		if ($type != null) {
			if (!isset($types[$type])) {
				throw new Exception('Pata_Gallery->getFileTypeExtentions() does not have a list of extentions for the "'.$type.'" type');
			}
			return $types[$type];
		}
		return $types;
	}
}

I have this as a function to which I pass a form name; in Dojo I then check whether there are any .richTextEditor elements and begin the initialisation if required.

I guess it would be good to wrap this into a dojo module of some sort.

Versions:

• Dojo version: 1.7.2
• jQuery: 1.7.1
• WYMEditor: 1.0.0a5

require(['dojo/DeferredList', 'dojo/io/script'], function(DeferredList, script) {
	// We don't want to include things twice because it's bad and breaks WYMEditor.
	var requireds = [];
	if (typeof jQuery == "undefined") {
		requireds.push(script.get({ url: '/js/jquery/jquery-1.7.1.min.js', checkString: 'jQuery' }));
	}
	// If you wanted, it would not be a bad idea to check for each plugin individually.
	if (typeof WYMeditor == "undefined") {
		requireds.push(script.get({ url: '/js/jquery/wymeditor/jquery.wymeditor.js', checkString: 'WYMeditor' }));
		requireds.push(script.get({ url: '/js/jquery/wymeditor/plugins/hovertools/jquery.wymeditor.hovertools.js', checkString: 'WYMeditor.editor.prototype.hovertools' }));
	};

	var dl = new DeferredList(requireds);
	dl.then(function(res){
		jQuery(function(){
			// Fill in your options here
			var editorOptions = {};
			jQuery('.richTextEditor').wymeditor(editorOptions);
			// You might also want to add the wymupdate class to your submit button here
		});
	});
});

So I dreamed up a tool to parse a web page for postcodes and plot them, this afternoon my brother asked me for one so I finally got around to making one.

It is here: http://www.pata.cat/maps/postcode-picker

Comments, ideas and feedback are welcome. The source is also yours on request – it’s a part of a bigger Zend Framework project and a little finickety to share easily.

Installing PHPUnit on Windows is done with PEAR.

Installing PEAR

1. Create the folder c:\program files\PEAR (This is your PEAR path)
2. Download go-pear.phar from here: http://pear.php.net/go-pear.phar (the one which comes with PHP is usually broken) and save it in your PEAR path.
3. Open a command prompt and navigate to your new PEAR folder, type php go-pear.phar
4. Hit Enter to agree to a System install then Enter again to confirm all the settings are good (after checking them, of course).
5. PEAR is now installed. When we use PEAR to install things, it creates a .bat files in our PEAR directory which can is used to run them. For example by the end of this page PHPUnit.bat will be installed and we can call it from the command line as ‘phpunit’ since windows is clever like that.

To be able to run these commands from outside of the PEAR directory we must add the PEAR directory to our PATH Environment Variable.

1. Press Windows Key and Pause/Break to load the System screen.
2. On the left click on Advanced System Settings.
3. Click on the Advanced tab then “Environment Variables..” button at the bottom.
4. In the bottom list, “System Variables” find and select the PATH variable and click Edit.
5. Add a semi colon to the end of the list, and enter the path to your PEAR directory.
6. Click OK and then OK again.

You will need to open a new CMD window if you already have one open so that you get one with the new environment variables available.

1. Run “pear upgrade” to test and get the latest version in one handy step.

Installing PHPUnit

Navigate to your PEAR folder and run the following commands

1. pear config-set auto_discover 1

2. pear install --alldeps pear.phpunit.de/PHPUnit

PEAR creates a file called PHPUnit.bat, which we can run from anywhere because we put our PEAR directory into our PATH variable in the first step. It’s also created a bunch of other files which PHPUnit.bat uses.

You may wish to add C:\Program Files\PEAR\pear\PHPUnit to your php.ini include_path.

Installing Selenium for Integration Testing

Our Integration Tests use Selenium and involve launching a browser and running through things, they take siginificantly longer to run than Unit Tests and you’ll probably not run them every day. They’re useful when you’re changing the back end but not the UI, and will  need updating if you’re making changes to the UI. They also pick up JavaScript errors.

Selenium is a server to which PHPUnit will connect and issue commands, the server then launches a browser and tells it what to do.

1. You need Java installed, take the Offline version from here: http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
2. Download Selenium Server here: http://seleniumhq.org/download/ Create a folder and save this in c:\program files\selenium\
3. Right click on your desktop, go to New > Shortcut. For Location simply type “Java”, hit Next and type Selenium Server as the name.
4. Right click your new shortcut and click Properties, at the end of the “Target” field add -jar “C:\Program Files (x86)\Selenium\selenium-server-standalone-2.23.1.jar”
5. Running this shortcut should give you a console screen with happy output.
6. To install the PHPUnit Selenium extensions (to be able to run the Integration Tests) download this file (or check for a later version of PHPUnit_Selenium from here) and merge the PHPUnit_Selenium-1.2.7\PHPUnit\Extentions folder with it’s sister in your PEAR Directory under pear\PHPUnit

Note that we are using Selenium 2, so you must use the Selenium2 classes.

Running the tests

Running the tests should take a matter of seconds and are run from the command line. From within the Squadify code base cd into the tests folder, type “phpunit” and hit enter, you should see something like:

PHPUnit 3.5.15 by Sebastian Bergmann.

.... Errors Come out here ...

Time: 0 seconds, Memory: 5.25Mb

PHPUnit looks for a file called phpunit.xml from which it learns how you with the tests to run. There are command line options for running only sub sets of the tests specified, controlling the output and other cool things.

Writing or Editing Tests

Tests are seperated into TestCases, each TestCase will test one unit. Examples of units are models, pages and forms. Refer to PHPUnit’s documentation for specific details on how to write tests.

It’s very easy to write useless tests, some pointers to avoid doing so:

• Before writing tests, write a Doc Comment description before the Test Case explaining why the test exists.
• Write descriptive names for tests, similar to a Doc Comment these force you to think about what and why you’re testing.
• You’re supposed to write tests that fail, this means running it so you can see it fail, then fix the code to make it pass. It’s important to remember that you must change the code being tested, not the test itself, for this.

For the sake of maintainability put as much care into reusing your test cases code as any other code, without violating these:

• TestCases should never be dependant on another Test Case, individual tests can be when it makes lots of sense but it should be avoided. The reason is so that (for speed) you run a subset of the tests (hence the name Unit Test).
• Factory methods (such as getEmptyUser() or getYoungUser()) should be begin with “get” and placed at the bottom of the class. They’re used to make maintaining easier.

More Information

PHP Unit Docs: http://www.phpunit.de/manual/3.2/en/
Advice on writing tests: http://blog.stevensanderson.com/2009/08/24/writing-great-unit-tests-best-and-worst-practises/

Dozens of diddie water falls falling a few feet down steps 50m wide, and just above? Another step separated by a tranquil pool of crystal clear calm water.

We dove right into the first pool, splashed about, hopped between underwater rocks and threw fruit at each other.

It was blissful, transported to another planet like refugees from stress. Not that Alex or I are much ones to stress, but Steph sure makes up for our lacking!

After a time we climbed up the slippery waterfalls of the first of 7 steps (the last some might say, since we were at the bottom) and dipped into the next pool.

Fish Food

The three of us lazily floated around being nibbled by fish feasting on the breakfast buffet of our dead skin, I wonder which they preferred ‘ the Guatemalan, the USAian or the Brit?

Turns out they probably liked me best, though only because while Alex fetched off for the camera and Steph explored the pool I sat still as a rock waiting for more fish, tempting the larger ones to come and nibble.

I loved it, dozens of them a few cm long swarmed over my legs and back while those a few inches long bided their time – no doubt a trait that helped them get so big.

For the most part it felt like being prodded with a pencil, though every now and then tehy either bit harder or hit a nerve and the pinprick like shock made me jump and the fish in turn all jumped back a foot too.

The best, though, were those feasting on my feet. Tops and toes no worries, but soles had me giggling like a gaggle of girls in jumpsuits.

After, we walked a little.

The Arrival

It was not always so tranquil, however. This brief spell in paradise took an alarming amount of effort, 2 days is not enough to see Semuc from Guatemala City.

Alex is here volunteering in a hostel called El Retiro. Steph and I caught the 7am bus from Guate city to Coban (5.5 hours) then the skull rattling unbelievably slow paced mini bus (2.5 hours) to Lanquin, finally arriving around 3pm.

More Numbers

We now learned that the 11km to Semuc takes about an hour, we had to catch the 1730 bus from Coban the next afternoon, which meant leaving Lanquin at 1330 and so Semuc at 1230. The earliest shuttle from Lanquin to Semuc Champey arrives there at 1000 giving us a mere 2.5 hours!

We opted to stay in El Portal, a hostel right by the park entrance where the electricity stops at 10pm but the bar is well stocked and we can enter the park at 8am.

Home Time

In the end we left at 12:30, didn’t get the 2pm bus because it didn’t exist, got the 3pm one which left at 3:20 and missed the last bus from Coban to Guate.

Steph stressed out in her own delightful way, I did consider dragging out for for my personal enjoyment but instead raided a cash machine (for which my banked blocked my card as suspected fraud) and haggled with a taxi driver and got her back to Guate by midnight before either turned into a pumpkin and her mum went mad with crazy.

Some Tips:

• You might need to do them one at a time if you find they’re going very slow.
• Don’t forget to back up your files. Always: virus or no virus.
• Each scan here could take between 1 and 8 hours to finish, depending on how much stuff you have on your computer.
• They are all free, don’t pay for anything! Look for the “Free Version” or “Free Edition”
• Where you get the option, ask for a Full Scan. You may need to click an “Advanced” button first.
• Some will not clean “low-threat” items such as Cookies. Don’t worry about them, but clean anything else they let you.
• You will need to have a working Java installed, go to http://www.java.com to check or download.
• No Anti-Virus picks up everything, that’s why you need to run several to have a really good scrub.
• If you have an anti virus installed, run a full scan with that first. Then disable it so it doesn’t scan files every time one of the other scans does.

Run these from your browser:

• http://www.pandasecurity.com/activescan/index/ (Must be Internet Explorer)
• http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/
• http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html
• http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA-Labs/security-threats/tools/online-scanner

You need to download and install these ones. Remember to uninstall them after to free up your disk space:

• http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html (Un-check TeaTimer when it asks if you want to install it)
• http://www.malwarebytes.org/
• http://msnvirusremoval.com/

Also make sure your current anti virus is up to date and not complaining about anything. If you don’t have one then install:

• http://www.avast.com/en-gb/free-antivirus-download

If you know any other free online anti viruses, which actually clean up for you at the end, post them in the comments!