{"id":7163,"date":"2008-11-11T21:30:16","date_gmt":"2008-11-11T21:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/11\/phpinally\/"},"modified":"2008-11-11T21:30:16","modified_gmt":"2008-11-11T21:30:16","slug":"phpinally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/11\/phpinally\/","title":{"rendered":"PHPinally"},"content":{"rendered":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>

We’re experimenting in the WC this semester with consultation by
\ndiscontinuous email<\/a>. Students can upload up to five pages of whatever they
\nare working on, the draft then zigs and zags (taking two lefts and then a
\nright?) through the internet to a listserv account where five always-on
\nconsultants take turns commenting and returning drafts, usually within 24 hours
\nafter the draft is sent. The system seemed to be working fine until recently
\nwhen we realized a flaw in the design of the upload form. Basically, the
\nform allows students to 1.) upload a file or 2.) copy and paste a chunk of text
\ninto the form. ‘Submit’ The form then calls up a PHP script, which, when
\nthere is an uploaded file, puts the file in a temporary directory, builds the
\nemail message to the listserv, attaches the file, sends the email to the
\nlistserv, and finally clears the file from the temporary directory. That much
\nseemed to be working fine for, oh, ten weeks, and we have 45 such consultations
\nto show for it. But: <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

About a week ago, the form seemed to stop working. We experienced a
\nlull in the previously steady stream of requests. I checked the files,
\nand, sure enough, there was an unnamed .doc file camping out in the temporary
\ndirectory. Did someone upload a nameless file? Seems so. But there
\nwas more. The form was not relaying messages that did not have
\nattachments. Never did any complaints alert us to a problem, but the PHP script
\nrelied on an if… function (e.g., if(filea)) without an else…. IF the file
\nwas attached, all was smooth-going. ELSE…broken. <\/p>\n

Sadly, I am not one of those PHP wizzes who can just glance the code and
\nefficiently drum up the needed lines. Writing PHP is slow and agonizing–a
\nreverse engineered grind. I re-draw the original script so that everything
\nroutes to my email address (so as not to bother the listserv with the sequence
\nof test messages), then tweak the code, upload, and test. Well, I thought
\nI had it up and running again on Saturday, but, lo and behold, I was wrong, so
\nagain today, straightaway from teaching class and two hours of face-to-face
\nconsulting, I was at it again, thunking my head against the immovable brick wall
\nof a PHP script I could not figure out. And then, suddenly the office was all
\nchildren’s chorus and sun beams: I realized what was the matter, added the two
\nor three lines (primarily a no_attachment function) and, for the last time,
\nFTPed the mended script into place. Tested it from all directions, and it
\nworked–a clear case of luck favoring the prepared<\/strike> desparate<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>We’re experimenting in the WC this semester with consultation by discontinuous email. Students can upload up to five pages of whatever they are working on, the draft then zigs and zags (taking two lefts and then a right?) through the internet to a listserv account where five always-on consultants take turns commenting and returning drafts,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[304,792,410,2104,1872,2105,783],"class_list":["post-7163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technologies","tag-code","tag-consulting","tag-form","tag-function","tag-php","tag-script","tag-writing-center"],"yoast_head":"\nPHPinally - Earth Wide Moth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/11\/phpinally\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PHPinally - Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: 2 minsWe’re experimenting in the WC this semester with consultation by discontinuous email. 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