Ryan Sechrest - Ryan Sechrest (Page 4)

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Ryan Sechrest

Software Engineer developing in PHP and JS. Parent of two little humans. Rower because it beats running. Gamer when everyone's in bed. Obsessed with the minutiae of code and life. Advocate for digital freedom and privacy.

Sparkly lights silhouette of a person.

Permanently share a folder between host (Mac) and guest (Linux) OS using VirtualBox

This is mainly for my own reference, but here it goes. Share a folder on the host OS * In VirtualBox, click your OS on the left and click on Settings. * Click on the Shared Folders tab. * Click on the folder with the plus on the right. * Browse to a folder

Three website mockups colored in water color.

$wpdb queries not working properly on child sites in WordPress multisite install

I’m working on a WordPress multisite plugin that uses a global table to store logs. When a user performs a certain action on my site, I’m executing a function similar to this one: function add_log($source, $user_id, $action, $status) { global $wpdb, $blog_id; $table_name = $wpdb-&

Piggybank leaning on its nose on top of a pile of coins.

Prevent autosave on a custom post type in WordPress

I have a custom post type that doesn’t use the WordPress editor or its contents externally, but every time a post is saved or programmatically created, I do write contents to the post_content field so I can search for certain data in the WordPress back-end. The problem is

MacBook with a CD sticking out from its CD drive on the side.

Amazon MP3s don’t play in car CD player

I bought several albums on Amazon recently and burned them all to a CD in the MP3 format. When I inserted the disc into the car CD player, two albums wouldn’t play. I compared the MP3 files from an album that worked to one that didn’t, and couldn’

Laptop keyboard with a padlock on top.

How to install and configure OSSEC to monitor the integrity of your website/server

OSSEC is a lightweight, but powerful piece of software that you can install on your server to monitor its integrity. On the official website, OSSEC is defined as: […] an Open Source Host-based Intrusion Detection System that performs log analysis, file integrity checking, policy monitoring, rootkit detection, real-time alerting and active

Ocean of 0s and 1s with missing digits in the shape of a camera icon.

Insights Featured

Send and receive binary files using PHP and cURL

I was working on a project where I had to send and receive binary files to and from a REST API, so I decided to document some of the code I wrote. Keep in mind that I’m extracting all of these code snippets from a custom PHP class I

Orange telephone with a circular number pad.

Bluetooth Headset: Plantronics Discovery 975

The first Bluetooth headset I’ve owned was the Motorola H550. The reason I picked it was primarily because of the ear hook. It just made sense that this would be the best way to mount it securely on your ear — or so thought. The headset was actually a gift

Compass pointing north sitting on a piece of white fabric.

Navigation System: Garmin Nuvi 3490LMT

My first navigation system was a HP iPAQ rx1950 with Destinator PN installed and a USGlobalSat BT-821 GPS receiver. I still have that bundle and it’s fully functional, but the maps are now obsolete. Up until just a few months ago, I got around town using the Telenav Navigator

Blank note card on top of an envelope.

Passing in a “from” header to wp_mail() does not work

I ran into an issue today where I was setting the “from” header in wp_mail(), but it didn’t show up when I received the email. The code looks like this: $headers = 'From: Company <[email protected]>' . "\r\n"; wp_mail($email, $subject,

Little short stacks of coins.

WordPress taxonomy terms don’t insert when cron job executes wp_insert_post()

I have a PHP script that connects to a third-party application, retrieves data, and then inserts it into WordPress using wp_insert_post(). The data also has a custom taxonomy associated with it, which is being passed into the wp_insert_post() function via the $args array. Lastly, the script

Two identical cars, but one in terrible condition, and the other in great condition.

WordPress get_post_type() doesn’t work when restoring a trashed post via undo

I have a custom post type that uses the following hook: add_action( 'untrash_post', array($this, 'custom_restore_function') ); And the custom function looks as follows: function custom_restore_function() { if(get_post_type() == 'custom_post_type') { $this->set_custom_post_type_

Various types of fishing hooks.

WordPress hooks for saving, trashing, restoring, and deleting custom fields in a custom post type

This took me quite a while to figure out, but I finally determined what the proper hooks for managing custom fields in a custom post type in WordPress are. In my scenario, I have a custom post type that uses the add_meta_box() function to add a few custom

Change Firefox's update release channel from esr to release

I noticed today that my Secunia PSI was reporting that Firefox 11.0 was outdated. I went to Firefox > About to check on that, but it was reporting that it was up to date. That’s when I noticed I was on the “esr” update channel, which is odd,

Close-up of a CPU cooling fan.

Taking a laptop apart to check out the CPU

Large number of AA batteries standing upright.

Create a simple caching feature in your PHP script to cache your HTML output

Every major site caches content in one way or another, whether it’d be entire pages, a subset of content, or only database queries. Having a caching system in place allows you to not only serve content to the user faster, but also reduces the strain on your server. The

Digital boxes floating over a night sky.

Top 3 Firefox add-ons for security enthusiasts in 2012

Security is time consuming and often just plain inconvenient, but there are a handful of plugins that make being secure much easier. I give you the top 3 security add-ons for Firefox that I personally use. (PS: In terms of ratings, 1/5 refers to the least and 5/5

Man sitting at table with laptop, getting ready to do a search online.

5 best Firefox add-ons for web developers in 2012

The only things I ever recommend are things that I use myself and that have proven themselves over time. I’ve used the following add-ons at least weekly, if not daily, throughout 2011, which is how they’ve landed on my list of top 5 Firefox add-ons for 2012. ColorZilla

Rollercoaster with LED sign that reads TURBO.

Firefox 9 uses significantly less memory

I received an update for Firefox 9 today and I’m very pleased with its improved memory (RAM) management. Firefox used an average of 600,000 K for about ten open tabs, however, since the new release of version 9, we’re now down to an average of 200,000

Queen's Guard protecting the entrance of a building.

Validating user input with PHP: methods, data, and its applications

If you’ve ever read any kind of article that talks about sanitizing, filtering, cleaning, escaping, or validating user input, I’m sure you’ve come across this line: don’t trust it — ever! Before you can protect yourself from unwanted data, injections, script crashes, and the like, you’d

Android figures with references to candy.

Android email application bug: unable to delete email messages

Today I noticed something interesting on my Samsung Galaxy S2 aka. Epic 4G Touch: I’m unable to delete email messages using Android’s stock email application. I did a bit of research and it’s definitely a bug. There are at least four bug reports I could find on

Person signing papers.

Hybrid form validation: security of server-side (PHP) with efficiency of client-side (jQuery)

I’ve built a lot of forms in my day, and to be honest, it’s not one of my favorite things to do. The designing and building aspect is fun, but the validation and error reporting, ehh. We all know that server-side validation is a must, and technically speaking,

Graph on a computer screen.

Google Analytics: accounts, web properties, and profiles

For new users, the difference between accounts, web properties, and profiles might be confusing, so I decided to break them down. Please note that I’ll be describing the steps and behavior of the newly released version of Google Analytics. Check toward the very top when logged in to make

Brown box with a dog peeking out.

Dropbox: Great tool for developers

Dropbox — yes, that’s a referral link, providing you and me with extra storage space — is a service that let’s you share your files between different devices of yours. You also have the ability to share individual files with friends via a link. Dropbox basically adds a new folder

Display sign with big, bold letters that says COUPONS.

Letting users print coupons the easy way

The goal is to present numerous coupons to the user, who can then freely select which ones they’re interested in and easily print them. Requirements * Simple and intuitive user interface * Print-out will only contain selected coupons Solution We decided to stack all of the coupons, so they could be

Castle on a mountain surrounded by trees.

A business must defend all points of entry

A point of entry is any method a customer can interact with a business. Most businesses have about three or four points of entry: * a physical location, * a website (possibly a live chat), * a phone system, and * a mobile application. Imagine that your business is a castle that has three