1. Can Only See the Front Page – 500 Internal Server Error

When you click on a link, it says 500 error, or nothing at all. This can happen when you’ve just ported your site from your local development server.

Solution: It’s in your .htaccess file. Search for the line:

# RewriteBase /

Delete the # tag, then upload it to your server. If your Drupal install is in the main directory, this is all you need. However, if you installed it in a subfolder, say www.mysite.com/drupal, you’ll want to add that subfolder to the RewriteBase so it looks like:

# RewriteBase /drupal

Remember – if you’re still developing on your localhost, put the # back in before you start working with it. Otherwise, it will mess up.

2. Fresh Install – “Can Not Connect to Database”

You just installed Drupal using FTP and are going though the configuration pages, but you’re getting stuck on the database connection page. There could be a few reasons for this:

• Make sure you created a MySQL database on your hosting account.
• Double check your password. If you forgot it, you can easily reset it.

GoDaddy Database Settings

If you have the above things, you might have forgot to add the host name. Most of the time, you can leave it at “localhost”. Not with GoDaddy. There is a specific host name you can only find from the admin panel. If you don’t know what it is, go to your admin hosting, click on the MySQL menu item below the Hosting tab. You should see a list of your databases. Click on the pencil icon on the right (the edit button). This will bring you to a page with all the info you need.

Drupal 7 Install Page

When you are setting up Drupal for the first time, make sure the click the “Advanced Settings” box under the database name/pass boxes. Replace localhost with the host name. Now you’re good to go!

3. Install From Dev Server – “Can Not Connect to Database”

You have a pre-configured site that’s been uploaded. Did you forget to edit the settings.php file? It’s located in your drupalroot/sites/default folder. I keep a settings-production.php file in my development server, just for when I push it live, all I have to do is rename it on the live server.

Your settings should look similar to this:

settings.php file for GoDaddy

World of Warcraft guild site created with Drupal 7

Went live: September 2012

This was a personal project to exercise my Drupal 7 muscles. I shamelessly modeled this theme off of Blizzard’s current Warcraft theme. If you look close, Blizzard’s product sites are done in Drupal.

For the theme, I used the free template Alphorn, based off of the Omega theme.

There is still bunches to do with this site, like finish style formatting and flesh out the raiding groups (Organic Groups).

Highlights:

• Character ownership/validation/management per player
• Separate areas for each raid group
• Raiding resources via forms, videos, and rss feeds
• Blogs for each player
• Automated guild application system

The Problem: Various drop down lists are turned on and off (visible/hidden) depending on the value of other controls, most likely another ddl. This is usually fine, however, each conditional control has an ASP required field validator attached to them. If you just simply hide the control, the validator is still active. Uh oh.

The Answer: jQuery

• We don’t want to use server side validation, that would just cause a post back. No one wants one of those.
• We want the validation to happen all at once to all controls, not go though JavaScript validation that prevents your ASP validators from doing their job.

If you have conditional controls (like drop down lists) and want to put ASP validation on them, you want to do it in a way that doesn’t call a post back. The best way to do that is to use jQuery and some JavaScript so all of your validation stays client side.

For this example we have a Country drop down list that controls whether or not a state drop down list is shown. We want to put a required validation on the state drop down, but we do not want to validate the other controls that are not shown.

The form:

<form id="coolstuff" runat="server">
 <div id="form-style">
 <label>Country</label>
 <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlCountryList" runat="server"
DataTextField="CountryDesc"
DataValueField="CountryCode">
<asp:ListItem Selected="True" Text="United States" Value="US"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="Canada" Value="CA"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="China" Value=""></asp:ListItem>
 </asp:DropDownList>
 <br />

<label>State</label>
 <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlUS" runat="server">
<asp:ListItem Selected="True" Text="Select State" Value=""></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="California" Value="CA"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="New York" Value="NY"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="Texas" Value="TX"></asp:ListItem>
 </asp:DropDownList>
 <asp:RequiredFieldValidator id="valUS" runat="server"
ControlToValidate="ddlUS"
Display="Dynamic"
ErrorMessage="State is a required field."
ForeColor="Red">
 </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>

<asp:DropDownList id="ddlCanada" runat="server">
<asp:ListItem Selected="True" Text="Select Providence" Value=""></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="Alberta" Value="AB"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="Ontario" Value="ON"></asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem Text="Quebec" Value="QC"></asp:ListItem>
 </asp:DropDownList>
 <asp:RequiredFieldValidator id="valCanada" runat="server"
ControlToValidate="ddlCanada"
Display="Dynamic"
ErrorMessage="Providence is a required field."
ForeColor="Red">
 </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>

<asp:Label ID="lblStateNA" runat="server" Text="N/A" />
 <br />

<asp:Button id="btnSubmit" OnClick="submitBtn_Click" runat="server" Text="Validate Me!" />

 </div><!-- end #form-style -->
 </form>

Here is the JavaScript

$(document).ready(function () {
//changes the ddl depending on the selected Country
$("#<%=ddlCountryList.ClientID %>").change(function () { getDropDown(); });
startIt();
});

//set variables for the validators
 var valProv = document.getElementById('<%= reqCanada.ClientID %>');
 var valState = document.getElementById('<%= reqUS.ClientID %>');

//if we simply use getDropDown() in the jQuery document ready function, it will
//automatically show the validation alert on first page load, so we set up a custom
//initial function
function startIt() {
//initial setup
$("#<%=lblStateNA.ClientID %>").hide();
$("#<%=ddlCanada.ClientID %>").hide();
$("#<%=ddlUS.ClientID %>").show();
//turns off province validator
ValidatorEnable(document.getElementById('<%= valCanada.ClientID %>'), false);
}

function getDropDown() {
//reset all the conditional controls to hidden (this doesn't disable the validation)
$("#<%=lblStateNA.ClientID %>").hide();
$("#<%=ddlCanada.ClientID %>").hide();
$("#<%=ddlUS.ClientID %>").hide();


//if US is selected, turn on States and it's validator, turn off province validator
 if ($("#<%=ddlCountryList.ClientID %>").val() == "US") {
 reqUS.enabled = true;
 ValidatorEnable(reqCanada, false);
 $("#<%=ddlUS.ClientID %>").show();
 }
 //if Canada is selected, turn on province and it's validator, turn off state validator
 if ($("#<%=ddlCountryList.ClientID %>").val() == "Canada" || $("#<%=ddlCountryList.ClientID %>").val() == "CA") {
 reqCanada.enabled = true;
 ValidatorEnable(reqUS, false);
 $("#<%=ddlCanada.ClientID %>").show();
 }
 //if it's neither US or Canada, turn off both validators, show "N/A"
 if ($("#<%=ddlCountryList.ClientID %>").val() != "Canada" && $("#<%=ddlCountryList.ClientID %>").val() != "US") {
 ValidatorEnable(valUS, false);
 ValidatorEnable(valCanada, false);
 $("#<%=lblStateNA.ClientID %>").show();
 }


}

And here is the codebehind:

public partial class _default : System.Web.UI.Page
 {
public void submitBtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

}

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

}
}

Client: World of Wisdom Bookstore
Created:  December 2009

World of Wisdom Bookstore is a local Indianapolis metaphysical bookstore. They are one of the oldest and well known in the area. Their new site is made with the CMS Joomla! and incorporates their eCommerce store. The theme and logo is purely custom. The video on the front page was also made by me.

This site allows the business to connect to customers by linking to their social sites as well as keeping an updated events list.

I didn’t get my first true gaming console, the Nintendo NES until 1993. Before then, I would follow my brother to his friend’s house down the street. He was lucky enough to have an NES before us. I would just sit and watch them play. I was the little sister, so I didn’t get much chance to play, but I didn’t care – I just wanted to watch.

One game in particular caught my attention: Final Fantasy. Wow. I still love it. I have been a fanatic Final Fantasy fan since the beginning, playing all of the North American releases. Before I get carried away with Final Fantasy, let me continue to the explanation at hand.

Since our first NES, I can’t remember a time I didn’t have a game console. With the availability of games, I put the programming on the back burner for a while and just… played. I played the first Mario Brothers so much I was able to beat it in 1 guy, and in 3 levels.

I love both casual and serious games. I started back on programming in 1994 when we got AOL. I actually mowed lawns to pay for it. I was blazing the internet with my 56k modem. I fell in love with HTML and taught myself how to make web pages on GeoCities (before Yahoo! bought them). All I needed was my text editor and I could make really cool stuff. Well.. I thought it was cool at the time. Thinking about it now, I cringe at the horrid web page abominations I created, but hey – everyone starts somewhere, right?

My hobby faded in my late teens (dur… being a teen) and I thought I’d turn to more serious pursuits. I was taught having fun doesn’t pay the bills, right? I graduated High School, left on my own, and decided to go to college. I started school, majoring in Criminal Justice. It was interesting to me, but most of the classes were painfully boring. Needless to say I epicly failed my first two semesters.

Luckily for me, my school just created School of Informatics (around 2000) – a cooler version of the School of Computer Science. Now I knew I could go to school and possibly land a job… to have fun! It’s been a long hard road, and I’ve had to wait out semesters due to just life in general, but I am not a quitter. So here I am, almost 10 years later closing the long journey to validate my passion for programming and making fun interactive experiences. My last semester is here and I will graduate with a Bachelors in Science in New Media Arts and Science from IU and a certificate of Applied Computer Science from Purdue.

Personal Project
Created December 2009

Flash CS4 + ActionScript 3

This was an exorcise to see if I could incorporate Twitter, RSS Feeds and videos in Flash. Using custom php and a crossdomain.xml file, I achieved my goal.

Client: Frequency Marketing
Created: 2010

Lovingly hand crafted coded HTML and CSS. Site created from Illustrator files. Took approximately 3 hours total. All images, design and content © Frequency Marketing.

This is an example file showing how an array of items can be dynamically created and given random attributes including moving with gravity.

import flash.events.MouseEvent;
stop();
/**********************************************************************
Click! copyright 2010 by Aeryith
Flash CS5 - Action Script 3

This is a test file showing how an array of items can be dynamically
created and given random attributes including moving with gravity.
Feel free to experiment with this code and make new versions, but do
not claim this unadulterated code as your own work.
**********************************************************************/

//trig variables for trajectory objects
var speed:Number;
var angle:Number;
var xSpeed:Number;
var ySpeed:Number;
var gravity:Number = .03; //change this to see how the circles react

//container to hold square and circles
var container = new mc_container();
	container.x = 1;
	container.y = 1;
	addChild(container);

//square holds the circles
var square = new mc_square();
	square.x = 250;
	square.y = 200;
	container.addChild(square);
	square.buttonMode = true;
	square.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, createCircles);

function createCircles (event:MouseEvent):void {
  speed = 2; // set speed of object
  //create our circles using an array
  var circle:Array = new Array();
  for (var i:int = 0; i < 5; i++)    {
                circle[i] = new mc_circle();
                square.addChild(circle[i]);
                //get random angle
                angle = Math.random()*2*Math.PI;
                circle[i].angle = angle;
                circle[i].xSpeed = Math.cos(circle[i].angle) * speed;
                circle[i].ySpeed = Math.sin(circle[i].angle) * speed;
                //place the circle on a random spot
                circle[i].x = Math.floor(Math.random(  )*200);
                circle[i].y = Math.floor(Math.random(  )*200);
                //give each circle a random color
                var myColor:ColorTransform = this.transform.colorTransform;
                myColor.color = Math.random() * 0xFFFFFF;
                circle[i].transform.colorTransform = myColor;
                //add event listeners
                circle[i].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, poof);
                circle[i].addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveObj);
            }//end for
         }//end createCircles()

        //removes circle from parent (square)

        function poof (event:MouseEvent):void {
                //uncomment below for *boing* sound on click
                //var snd:Sound = new snd_boing();
                //snd.play();
                event.target.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveObj);
                event.target.parent.removeChild(event.target); }

               //moves circles each frame
                function moveObj (event:Event):void {
                 //when the circles fall below this line, it is removed from square
                 if (event.target.y > stage.stageHeight) {
		event.target.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveObj);
		//trace(event.target + " has been removed.");
		event.target.parent.removeChild(event.target);
	}
	else
	{
		event.target.ySpeed += gravity;
		event.target.x +=  event.target.xSpeed;
		event.target.y +=  event.target.ySpeed;
	}
}//end moveObj

Click by Aeryith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Client: The Perfect Stitch, LLC
Created: March 2009

Website created using Joomla! CMS. Custom theme and graphics.

Shows up in first page Google results for “Indianapolis Bridal Alterations”

Title: Champaign
Created: December 2009
Client: Personal Project
View Theme
View CSS

I have always wanted to do a Zen Garden theme, and I finally got around to doing it in late 2009. It shows how much control CSS has in design of a website. This project honed by CSS skills and best practices.

The maintainer no longer accepts submissions, so this wasn’t submitted to the site.

My theme Champaign, was inspired by one of my hardest professors who taught intro to web design. In one of our first classes, I remember him saying people don’t make websites in circles. I took that as a challenge and in a homage to him, I used Century Gothic, one of his favorite fonts.

Ludwick, this is for you.

P.S. I totally deserved an A. Just sayin.