Archive for December 2006
Hiccup installing OpenOffice.org 2.1
So I had to stop the installation and rollback but on checking I realised that my old OpenOffice.org 2.0 had not been restored and so I had to re-install OpenOffice.org 2.0 from the cover disk DVD from one of the magazines I subscribe to.
Actually I have had this issue before when I downloaded Openoffice.org 2.0 and I had to once
again install it from the version available on the magazine cover DVD. So it seems I will
have to wait when its available on the magazine cover DVD.
delicious
digg
Not easy selecting PHP IDE
Two years ago when I did a similar exercise there wasn't as much choice as there is today and I think the quality of the free IDEs available has also improved tremendously.
This time I chose to go with PSPad plus Top Style Lite for the CCS bit. I chose PSPad for its broader functionality and ease of configuration and handling of projects.
One of the best IDEs that I came across though is PHPEdit from Waterproof but you have to pay for this one or you can use their 30 day trial version. The good thing about the 30 day trial version is that it counts the actual number of days its used and not the calendar number of days.
The sites I found useful include PHP Editors and also a thread on Lifehacker.
In the end I think the actual choice of IDE depends on user taste and preferences.
Reporting Tools for MySQL
LogiXML offers their cut down report version for free and normally I don't go for cut down versions but this one is a useable and good cut down version. This tool only works on Windows and requires the IIS web server to be running because that's the web server the report engine uses and you also need the .Net framework 1.1 or 2.0 installed on your machine.
Let me point out that LGX caters for a number of other databases and SQL server could be its main target but it works pretty well with MySQL producing some good reports in no time at all with features including cross-tab reports, drill-down and drill-through reports.
The other tool that I tried out is Agata Report. Agata is open source and runs on both Windows and Linux and I found that although it lacks the fanciness of LGX Report you are able to produce your reports with relative easy.
You can also export the reports to pdf, xml etc which I think is good and the fact that you can go through the php classes was a winner for me.
The Agata website is in both Portuguese and English and may be a bit confusing at times(especially if you don't know Portuguese) but with time you can easily navigate to the areas you want once you get to know the site a little bit more.
The other tool that I never got time to play with but which looks good is Ariacom Business Reports which has a
free version for personal use.
