However, some of you were not good enough in interpreting/using the information provided in this blog (or maybe I’m the one who got terrible writing skill ) and commenting with inappropriate manner.

I think this is the time for me to come up with a clear disclaimer statement. Nowadays, lot of bloggers have their own disclaimers. So, why don’t I have my own? In this post, I just want to highlight several things, you may refer to the disclaimer page for more details. This is just a review/sneak peak.

This is a personal blog

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, mother, father, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, step relations, or any other blood relative (unless stated otherwise). I’m writing based on my past experiences and knowledge, and the information maybe valid at that time (or maybe not true at all).

Quoting from Chrislott.org disclaimer statement:

This is a blog. That fact means nothing. This is not a peer-reviewed journal, a final archive of my writing, a sponsored publication, or the product of gatekeeping and editing. What this site is not does mean something… it means that while the ideas and thoughts here are often vital and the product of a long gestational period, the writing itself is not. It is essentially as it came from the keyboard: spontaneous, unproofed, unrevised, and corrected afterward only when necessary to address mistakes that grossly effect the intent. Where such changes have been made they are explicitly noted.

While every caution has been taken to provide you with most accurate information and honest analysis, please use your discretion before taking any decisions based on the information in this blog. I will not compensate you in any way whatsoever if you ever happen to suffer a loss/inconvenience/damage because of/while making use of information in this blog.

I would like to expressly convey to you that were I to accidentally defame, purge, humiliate and or hurt someone’s person or feelings as a result of them reading and or acting upon any or all of the information and or advice found here at my site, it is entirely unintentional of me to do so.

To be continued.

This is what I came up after playing with photoshop.

What you need?

1. Photoshop / or any graphic editor (obviously)

2. Univers 67 Bold Condensed font (I AM)

3. Humanist 777 font (PISYEK KUMAR)

And that’s all!

P/s: This post was inspired by Muaz. I’m gonna print this on my tshirt. Sooooon.

Committed to help carve the future career path and uncover the full potential of talented scholars who join the Gamuda family, we have awarded full and partial scholarship assistance amounting to RM21million benefiting over 250 students since 1996.

The Gamuda Scholarship Award is an education grant that covers both the students’ tuition and living expenses in local, private and foreign universities. In the best interest of the scholar, a structured mentoring, training and career guidance is offered during the scholars’ education and employment period with the Group.

The Scholarship Offers

1. Full tuition fees and living expenses for local public/private universities

2. Full/half tuition fees for local foreign universities

Course of Study

1. Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, or Environmental)

2. Quantity Surveying / Housing, Building and Planning

3. Economics, Business Administration, & Sociaal Sciences

How To Apply

Visit https://ea.gamuda.com.my/ to apply online or https://www.gamuda.com.my/ to download the application form. Completed form must reach them by 30 April 2012.

More Details

You can go to http://www.gamuda.com.my/scholarship.html to find more information about the scholarship award.

The IJM Scholarship Award programme was established to help develop, nurture and raise young and bright Malaysian talents of the future. Through our awards, students are given a chance to realise their potential, hence, achieving their highest ambitions.

Students with excellent academic record, who are proactive and highly-motivated, and intend to pursue or are pursuing any one of the following disciplines are encouraged to apply for the IJM Scholarship Awards.

Disciplines

Bachelor of Accounting
Bachelor of Architecture
Bachelor of Estate Management
Bachelor of Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical)
Bachelor of Housing, Building, and Planning
Bachelor of Quantity Surveying
Bachelor of Applied Science (Polymer Science, Mineral Science, Geology)
Bachelor of Economics/Business Administration
Bachelor of Agricultural Science/Agribusiness

How To Apply

Online application can be submitted via IJM.com/v2. Any enquiries can be emailed at hr_scholarship@ijm.com. For more detail, check it out at IJM website.

Closing date: April 20, 2012.

P/s: For STPM/Matriculation leavers, you may apply this scholarship and further your study at UTP in Bachelor of Engineering. Just my 50 cents. (Ayat nak promot UTP je, dah macam promoter pun ada. puiii~~)

I was a PETRONAS scholar during my day at UTP and for SPM 2011 leavers, this is a chance for you to get scholarship from PETRONAS to further your studies either in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS or overseas.

At UTP, they offer programs such as:

• Chemical Eng.
• Electronic & Electrical Eng.
• Information & Communication Technology
• Civil Eng.
• Mechanical Eng.
• Petroleum Eng.
• Petroleum Geoscience
• Business Information System

The offer start from 9.00 am, 21 Mac 2012 until 5.00 pm 28 Mac 2012. Do not forget to submit your application via SPMOnline.Petronas.Com.My.

For more details, you may check at the website.

P/s: I took ICT at UTP and survived! LOL

1. Ninja Chicken

“The Funky Chicken Who Thought He Was a Ninja!”

A terrible, most unfortunate accident has happened leaving our poor chicken with chicken dementia. This funky chicken now truly believes that he is a ninja and not just any ninja – the best ninja of them all!

With the greatest powers ever bestowed on ninja before. More

---

2. Skater Boy

“Skater boy” is so easy but super fun.

Speeding up, jumping，performing various tricks in the air and landing safety.

The game “Skater boy” is so easy but super fun. You only need to accelerate or jump over the obstacles on the road and get the scores as possible as you can. More

---

3. Angry Birds

Use the unique powers of the Angry Birds to destroy the greedy pigs’ fortresses!

The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the greedy pigs who stole their eggs. Use the unique powers of each bird to destroy the pigs’ fortresses. Angry Birds features challenging physics-based gameplay and hours of replay value. More

---

4. Fruit Ninja Free

Fruit Ninja is a juicy action game with squishy, splatty and satisfying fruit carnage! Become the ultimate bringer of sweet, tasty destruction with every slash.

With three games modes in single player and worldwide leaderboards using Openfeint, the addictive gameplay will keep you coming back for even higher scores. More

---

5. Mission Impossible Free

Evil breeding city, full of murders, curses and messy businesses. Multiple weapons and strong power.

You are the dauntless knight-errant, beat em up！Beat the villains! More

---

P/s: Anyone interested to buy me an android phone?

Until now, there are two notable free services related to this; PayWithATweet and TransactSocially. Both offer pay with a tweet and wall post on facebook.

The benefits

You can get lot of benefits via viral marketing. In today’s world Networking and Socializing has made its way in most of the people’s lives. Considering this scenario viral marketing proves to be the simplest way of promoting a website or a product. It proves to be a low cost and highly efficient way of popularizing your business. Some say that viral is the new “organic“.

1. Free advertising
2. Short term gains – gain immediate visitors.
3. Long terms gains – attracts visitors for years to come.
4. Causes exponential growth – reaches a large audience.
5. Automate your marketing methods – set it up once and forget about it.
6. Inexpensive to set-up – it primarily involves some investment of time.
7. Viral marketing tools are easy to develop i.e. you can create an e-book without knowing how to write.
8. Quickly build your reputation.
9. Easy to combine with other marketing methods – i.e. include as a bonus with other products.
10. Increase targeted traffic to your web site.

(source: TransactSocially)

Examples

There are some websites which are using pay with a tweet concept.

1. Blog Pisyek
2. Oh My God What Happened
3. Gift A Follower

This is what i’m offering to you!

I just finished coding my own version of pay with a tweet system and want to sell it at a really reasonable and affordable price. But then, you may though why should you buy it if there are free services, did you?

The ultimate benefit from using the system is branding! Look at the tweet screenshot below.

You can “brand” the tweet using your own application, for example via Burung Pisyek. Hence, you get free advertising and able to increase targeted traffic to your website.

The pricing & packages

Pay with Paypal

What is CampusCamp?

CampusCamp is a Barcamp style event organized in educational institutions. Its goal is to promote knowledge sharing and building communities of practise between students, postgraduates, lecturers and staff within the educational institution.

Venue: D5, Pocket D, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Date: 3 March 2012
Time: 1100 – 1800

Sign up now!!!
http://bit.ly/wtoGYf

Sessions Registration Form
http://bit.ly/yfrAzO

List of expected sessions
http://goo.gl/b2U2Z

Twitter hashtag: #campuscampUTP

Please use the latest CodeIgniter version for better functionalities and security (now CodeIgniter 2.1). You can look at the Codeigniter user guide on how to update your Codeigniter. You also can download the latest stable Ion_Auth library at github.

Click here to tweet & download the sourcecode or look at the live demonstration first.

The steps:

1. Install the ion_auth library first.

You may refer to Ben Edmund website for online documentation or if you already downloaded the library package from github, you may find the documentation inside the package.

2. Add a new directory called admin in the views directory.

In the admin directory, create 3 new files; index.php, add_new_entry.php, and add_new_category.php. In index.php, you can copy the content from views > blog > index.php or anything. This page will served as the administrator dashboard.

Edit the function index() in auth controller so that it will load views/admin/index.php. So, your administrator dashboard link would be domain.com/auth/index.

function index()
{
	$data['title'] = 'Dashboard - '.$this->config->item('site_title', 'ion_auth');

	if (!$this->ion_auth->logged_in())
	{
		//redirect them to the login page
		redirect('auth/login', 'refresh');
	}
	elseif (!$this->ion_auth->is_admin())
	{
		//redirect them to the home page because they must be an administrator to view this
		redirect($this->config->item('base_url'), 'refresh');
	}
	else
	{
		// get user detail
		$data['user'] = $this->ion_auth->user()->row();
		$this->load->view('admin/index',$data);
	}
}

add_new_entry.php basically is just same as the one in the blog views folder but this time we will limit the access. Only administrator can add new entry. The content for add_new_category.php will be discuss later.

Open up the ion_auth config file. You may want to customize the settings such as the site title, admin email, etc. Then, test the login function. It should load the views > admin > index.php page.

3. Create 2 new tables in our database, named as entry_category and entry_relationships.

Entry_category table is for storing details about our category such as category name, category slug, etc. In entry_relationships, we will store records such as which category is related to the posts/entries.

--
-- Table structure for table `entry_category`
--

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `entry_category` (
  `category_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `category_name` varchar(150) NOT NULL,
  `slug` varchar(150) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`category_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=6 ;

--
-- Table structure for table `entry_relationships`
--

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `entry_relationships` (
  `relationship_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `object_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `category_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`relationship_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=6 ;

--

After this two steps, your table in the database should be like Figure 1.

Figure 1

4. Add a new function called add_new_category() into the Blog controller.

public function add_new_category()
{
	$data['title'] = 'Add new category - '.$this->config->item('site_title', 'ion_auth');

	if( ! $this->ion_auth->logged_in() && ! $this->ion_auth->is_admin() ) // block un-authorized access
	{
		show_404();
	}
	else
	{
		$this->load->helper('form');
		$this->load->library(array('form_validation'));

		// set validation rules
		$this->form_validation->set_rules('category_name', 'Name', 'required|max_length[200]|xss_clean');
		$this->form_validation->set_rules('category_slug', 'Slug', 'max_length[200]|xss_clean');

		if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE)
		{
			//if not valid
			$this->load->view('admin/add_new_category',$data);
		}
		else
		{
			//if valid
			$name = $this->input->post('category_name');

			if( $this->input->post('category_slug') != '' )
				$slug = $this->input->post('category_slug');
			else
				$slug = strtolower(preg_replace('/[^A-Za-z0-9_-]+/', '-', $name));

			$this->blog_model->add_new_category($name,$slug);
			$this->session->set_flashdata('message', '1 new category added!');
			redirect('add-new-category');
		}
	}
}

So, this function basically will help us to add a new category into our database. Take note that we restrict the access to this function. Only administrator can add a new category.

5. Add a add_new_category() function into the Blog model.

function add_new_category($name,$slug)
{
	$i = 0;
	$slug_taken = FALSE;

	while( $slug_taken ==  FALSE ) // to avoid duplicate slug
	{
		$category = $this->get_category(NULL,$slug);
		if( $category == FALSE )
		{
			$slug_taken = TRUE;
			$data = array(
				'category_name'	=> $name,
				'slug'			=> $slug,
			);
			$this->db->insert('entry_category',$data);
		}
		$i = $i + 1;
		$slug = $slug.'-'.$i;
	}
}

Both of the functions are named same so that it is easy for us to identify the relationship between the functions and purpose of the functions. However, this function is related to query and database, compared to the previous add_new_category function.

6. Edit add_new_category.php in the views > admin directory.

<?php echo form_open('add-new-category');?>
	<p><label>Category Name</label>
	<input type="text" name="category_name" size="30" /></p>

	<p><label>Slug</label>
	<input type="text" name="category_slug" size="30" /></p>

	<br />	

	<input class="button" type="submit" value="Submit"/>
	<input class="button" type="reset" value="Reset"/>	

</form>

I only show here the add new category form segment of code because in my view file, it consists of many new variables, which may produced errors if you copy paste it from here. Please refer to the attachment for the full sourcecode.

Next you can add a menu/link to our function to view the add new category page. Your add new category is accessible via domain.com/blog/add_new_category. Do add a custom url for add new category in route.php config if you want.

Test your add new category function by adding some categories such as tutorial, codeigniter, freebie, and etc. Up to this step, the function and its page should be finished.

7. Add get_categories() function in Blog model.

function get_categories()
{
	$query = $this->db->get('entry_category');
	return $query->result();
}

This function will be called in your add new entry view to display a list of available categories.

8. Edit your add_new_entry function in Blog controller.

public function add_new_entry()
{
	if( ! $this->ion_auth->logged_in() && ! $this->ion_auth->is_admin() ) // block un-authorized access
	{
		show_404();
	}
	else
	{
		$data['title'] = 'Add new entry - '.$this->config->item('site_title', 'ion_auth');
		$data['categories'] = $this->blog_model->get_categories();

		$this->load->helper('form');
		$this->load->library(array('form_validation'));

		//set validation rules
		$this->form_validation->set_rules('entry_name', 'Title', 'required|max_length[200]|xss_clean');
		$this->form_validation->set_rules('entry_body', 'Body', 'required|xss_clean');
		$this->form_validation->set_rules('entry_category', 'Category', 'required');

		if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE)
		{
			//if not valid
			$this->load->view('admin/add_new_entry',$data);
		}
		else
		{
			//if valid
			$user = $this->ion_auth->user()->row();
			$title = $this->input->post('entry_name');
			$body = $this->input->post('entry_body');
			$categories = $this->input->post('entry_category');

			$this->blog_model->add_new_entry($user->id,$title,$body,$categories);
			$this->session->set_flashdata('message', '1 new post added!');
			redirect('add-new-entry');
		}
	}
}

Add restriction to it. Only administrator can add a new entry. Don’t forget to call get_categories() so that we can list the categories.

9. Update add_new_entry.php file  in views > admin.

<?php echo form_open('add-new-entry');?>
	<p><label>Title</label>
	<input type="text" name="entry_name" size="30" /></p>

	<h3>Category</h3>
	<p><?php if( isset($categories) && $categories): foreach($categories as $category): ?>
		<label><input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" name="entry_category[]" value="<?php echo $category->category_id;?>"><?php echo $category->category_name;?></label>
		<?php endforeach; else:?>
		Please add your category first!
		<?php endif; ?>
	</p>
	<p><label>Your Entry: (in html)</label>
	<textarea rows="16" cols="80%" name="entry_body" style="resize:none;"></textarea></p>

	<br />	

	<input class="button" type="submit" value="Submit"/>
	<input class="button" type="reset" value="Reset"/>	

</form>

The updated form of add new entry should be similar to the above code. Notice that I add a new input checkbox field name as entry_category in array because a post may have in several categories.

10. Do not forget to update add_new_entry() in the blog_model

Because I’m too lazy to put up the code here, I leave it to you guys on your preferences / way of your coding. You may see the way I code it in the source code if you downloaded it. So, do download the source code if you want to see it.

Since we are using ion_auth library, I also do some changes to the comment and entry table so that we can store information about the author of the entry and admins who logged in do not has to enter the name and email to reply comments.

If you are willing to retrieve the posts which categorised in a particular category, the following function works well. You may find it the blog model.

function get_category_post($slug)
{
	$list_post = array();

	$this->db->where('slug',$slug);
	$query = $this->db->get('entry_category'); // get category id
	if( $query->num_rows() == 0 )
		show_404();

	foreach($query->result() as $category)
	{
		$this->db->where('category_id',$category->category_id);
		$query = $this->db->get('entry_relationships'); // get posts id which related the category
		$posts = $query->result();
	}

	if( isset($posts) && $posts )
	{
		foreach($posts as $post)
		{
			$list_post = array_merge($list_post,$this->get_post($post->object_id)); // get posts and merge them into array
		}
	}

	return $list_post; // return an array of post object
}

How to make pagination in CodeIgniter?

If you want to do pagination in this codeigniter based blog, please refer to l0wg33k posts in comment section in Create A Simple Blog Using CodeIgniter 2.0 – Part 2. I’m sure the pagination function works but I didn’t test it myself. You also can refer to the CodeIgniter official user guide page on how to make pagination.

What about update/delete posts and categories?

For a complete CRUD task for post and category, you may look the examples at active record class in CodeIgniter user guide page. NetTutsPlus also has some video tutorial on CRUD operations.

I think this is the last part for Creating a simple blog with CodeIgniter tutorial series. Don’t forget to download the source code for better understanding! Have questions? Do ask in comments!

Last week, I shared some css hacks on how to fix the BlueBubble theme. And today I want to share about how to fix the author comment highlighting in BlueBubble theme. By the way, thanks to Thomas Veit and Mike Walsh for creating this simple, minimal and elegant wordpress theme.

While testing the BlueBubble 3.5 wordpress theme, I found out that when someone replied to an admin’s comment, his comment also got highlighted as well. You may refer to the screenshot bellow.

When the admin replied to a comment, the comment and avatar background will be filled by grey color. However, Tester 1′s comment also is highlighted just like an admin’s comment when he replied to the admin and Tester 1 is absolutely not an administrator for the tested blog.

How to fix the BlueBubble 3.5 CSS.

1. Open style.css and search for the following classes.

.comment-body {
	background: #dde3e9;
	border:1px solid #c3cfdc;
	margin-top: 10px;
	margin-bottom: 30px;
	margin-left: 100px;
	padding: 20px;
}

.bypostauthor .comment-body {
	background: #ccc;
	border:1px solid #999;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.bypostauthor .comment-body a{
    color:#202020 !important;
	font-weight:normal;
}

.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #ccc;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

.bypostauthor .avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #999 !important;
	background:#ccc;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

Replace the above code with the one bellow:

.commentlist > li div.comment-body {
	background: #dde3e9;
	border:1px solid #c3cfdc;
	margin-top: 10px;
	margin-bottom: 30px;
	margin-left: 100px;
	padding: 20px;
}

.commentlist > li div.comment-body > div.comment-author > img.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #ccc;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

/* Post author highlighting */

.commentlist > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body {
	background: #ccc;
	border:1px solid #999;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.commentlist > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body a{
    color:#202020 !important;
	font-weight:normal;
}

.commentlist > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body > div.comment-author > img.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #999 !important;
	background:#ccc;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

/* Post Author threaded comments */

.commentlist .children > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body {
    background: #ccc;
	border:1px solid #999;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.commentlist .children > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body  a{
    color:#202020 !important;
	font-weight:normal;
}

.commentlist .children > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body > div.comment-author > img.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #999 !important;
	background:#ccc;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

2. For the dark theme, open dark.css and search for the classes as follow:

.comment-body {
	background: #333 !important;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	margin-top: 10px;
	margin-bottom: 30px;
	margin-left: 100px;
	padding: 20px;
	color:#eee;
}

.bypostauthor .comment-body {
    background: #999 !important;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	color:#eee !important;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.bypostauthor .comment-body a{
    color:#333 !important;
	font-weight:normal;
}

.bypostauthor .avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	background:#999 !important;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

And replace it with:

.commentlist > li div.comment-body {
	background: #333 !important;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	margin-top: 10px;
	margin-bottom: 30px;
	margin-left: 100px;
	padding: 20px;
	color:#eee;
}

.commentlist > li div.comment-body > div.comment-author > img.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	background:#333 !important;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

/* Post author highlighting */

.commentlist > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body {
    background: #999 !important;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	color:#eee !important;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.commentlist > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body  a{
    color:#333 !important;
	font-weight:normal;
}

.commentlist > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body > div.comment-author > img.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	background:#999 !important;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

/* Post Author threaded comments */

.commentlist .children > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body {
    background: #999 !important;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	color:#eee !important;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.commentlist .children > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body  a{
    color:#333 !important;
	font-weight:normal;
}

.commentlist .children > li.bypostauthor > div.comment-body > div.comment-author > img.avatar {
	position: absolute;
	padding: 3px;
	border: 1px solid #101010 !important;
	background:#999 !important;
	margin: 0 20px 5px 0;
	top:1px;
	left: 1px;
}

That’s all. I hope that the developers of BlueBubble theme; Thomas Veit and Mike Walsh will make up the correction in their next BlueBubble wordpress theme release.