chiphpug-discuss — Discussions of PHP-related topics among members of the Chicago PHP User's Group.

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] making a spam-resistant e-card function

[Trevor O. <tr...@gm...>]

I suggest recaptcha. It's easy to embed in your site, it generates the
images for you, and you do a service by helping people OCR scan books.

2008/9/8 Janine Starykowicz <jr...@ba...>

> Arlo Leach wrote:
> > ...but then add a CAPTCHA as a second step if we're still getting spam.
>
> How do you add a CAPTCHA?
>
> Janine
>
>
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[David W. <dav...@ce...>]

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Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] making a spam-resistant e-card function

[Janine S. <jr...@ba...>]

Arlo Leach wrote:
> ...but then add a CAPTCHA as a second step if we're still getting spam.

How do you add a CAPTCHA?

Janine

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] making a spam-resistant e-card function

[Arlo L. <ar...@ar...>]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the advice, Neil and Kieran! I think I will try this first,
because it will be more streamlined for users...

> One method I've used that seems to work rather well is to add one or two
> text fields to the form and use css to make them invisible. In your code, if
> there is anything entered in those fields you can ignore it because it was
> probably filled in by a bot.

...but then add a CAPTCHA as a second step if we're still getting spam.

Cheers,
-Arlo 

_______________________________

Arlo Leach
773.769.6106
http://arlomedia.com

Make friends with your computer
http://compyschool.com

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] making a spam-resistant e-card function

[Kieran H. <kha...@gm...>]

One method I've used that seems to work rather well is to add one or two
text fields to the form and use css to make them invisible. In your code, if
there is anything entered in those fields you can ignore it because it was
probably filled in by a bot.
might not work as well as captcha, but at least there's no more to fill in
from the user.
found the idea here:
http://www.modernblue.com/web-design-blog/fighting-spam-with-css/

-Kieran

On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 2:43 PM, Neil Young <ny...@as...> wrote:

> I used to work for the Field Museum and our e-card sites would get
> slaughtered from what appeared to be automated spam generators -
> programs that would find the form and just start dumping email addresses
> and the spam text in.  At the time a simple captcha was always enough to
> stop it, as the whole process seemed to be automated - there never
> seemed to be any human involved as far as I could tell or perhaps our
> home-brew captcha wasn't valuable enough for them to waste their time on.
>
> Neil
>
>
> Arlo Leach wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > I'm setting up an e-card sending function on a client's website, but I'm
> > concerned that it will be abused by spammers looking for a free way to
> send
> > mail. Do you have suggestions for how to prevent this?
> >
> > I can limit the number of outgoing recipients and sanitize the input to
> > enforce that (I've seen people try to add a CC header to the recipient
> > address and then add hundreds of additional recipients to the CC) but I
> > imagine some spammers would still fool around with it. Maybe that's okay
> as
> > long as they're not able to send more than one message at a time.
> >
> > I can also add a CAPTCHA to the form, but I don't have a sense of how
> much
> > of this activity is automated vs. an actual person with a lot of time on
> his
> > hands. I've seen spammers registering for forums who are apparently
> sitting
> > there and going through the manual registration process.
> >
> > My client can't imagine anyone would bother with his e-card form, but
> I've
> > seen so much garbage coming through my own sites that nothing would
> surprise
> > me!
> >
> > Thanks,
> > -Arlo
> >
> > _______________________________
> >
> > Arlo Leach
> > 773.769.6106
> > http://arlomedia.com
> >
> > Make friends with your computer
> > http://compyschool.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
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Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] making a spam-resistant e-card function

[Neil Y. <ny...@as...>]

I used to work for the Field Museum and our e-card sites would get 
slaughtered from what appeared to be automated spam generators - 
programs that would find the form and just start dumping email addresses 
and the spam text in.  At the time a simple captcha was always enough to 
stop it, as the whole process seemed to be automated - there never 
seemed to be any human involved as far as I could tell or perhaps our 
home-brew captcha wasn't valuable enough for them to waste their time on.

Neil


Arlo Leach wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm setting up an e-card sending function on a client's website, but I'm
> concerned that it will be abused by spammers looking for a free way to send
> mail. Do you have suggestions for how to prevent this?
>
> I can limit the number of outgoing recipients and sanitize the input to
> enforce that (I've seen people try to add a CC header to the recipient
> address and then add hundreds of additional recipients to the CC) but I
> imagine some spammers would still fool around with it. Maybe that's okay as
> long as they're not able to send more than one message at a time.
>
> I can also add a CAPTCHA to the form, but I don't have a sense of how much
> of this activity is automated vs. an actual person with a lot of time on his
> hands. I've seen spammers registering for forums who are apparently sitting
> there and going through the manual registration process.
>
> My client can't imagine anyone would bother with his e-card form, but I've
> seen so much garbage coming through my own sites that nothing would surprise
> me!
>
> Thanks,
> -Arlo
>
> _______________________________
>
> Arlo Leach
> 773.769.6106
> http://arlomedia.com
>
> Make friends with your computer
> http://compyschool.com
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> _______________________________________________
> chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
> chi...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss
>   

[chiPHPug-discuss] making a spam-resistant e-card function

[Arlo L. <ar...@ar...>]

Hi folks,

I'm setting up an e-card sending function on a client's website, but I'm
concerned that it will be abused by spammers looking for a free way to send
mail. Do you have suggestions for how to prevent this?

I can limit the number of outgoing recipients and sanitize the input to
enforce that (I've seen people try to add a CC header to the recipient
address and then add hundreds of additional recipients to the CC) but I
imagine some spammers would still fool around with it. Maybe that's okay as
long as they're not able to send more than one message at a time.

I can also add a CAPTCHA to the form, but I don't have a sense of how much
of this activity is automated vs. an actual person with a lot of time on his
hands. I've seen spammers registering for forums who are apparently sitting
there and going through the manual registration process.

My client can't imagine anyone would bother with his e-card form, but I've
seen so much garbage coming through my own sites that nothing would surprise
me!

Thanks,
-Arlo

_______________________________

Arlo Leach
773.769.6106
http://arlomedia.com

Make friends with your computer
http://compyschool.com

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] chiPHPug-discuss Digest, Vol 28, Issue 4

[Sean M. <nh...@gm...>]

One thing that you all seem to be forgetting is that max_execution_time only
measures time spent in PHP. Calls to outside libraries, exec(), etc... are
not included. I'm not entirely sure if cURL is qualified as an outside
library or not, but I think that's something that warrants testing before
you start cranking up the max_execution_time. It's entirely possible that
cURL is excluded from that timeout and the change would have no effect.


Sean

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 2:07 PM, <
chi...@li...> wrote:

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>   1. Re: cURL problem (Wilfried Schobeiri)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:45:42 -0500
> From: Wilfried Schobeiri <ws...@de...>
> Subject: Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem
> To: "Discussions of PHP-related topics among members of the Chicago
>        PHP User's      Group." <chi...@li...>
> Message-ID: <B4B...@de...>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> I'm sure if the script is still in dev, he's going to want to see the
> results/debug output of it.. be it browser or CLI (though I do agree..
> getting it out of the browser would serve you much better, Neil)
>
> On Aug 26, 2008, at 08:53 , Jason Rexilius wrote:
>
> > You really should fork-exec that long running process and then poll a
> > results page or something, rather than upping max_execution_time.
> >
> > If there is a good reason for this process to run longer than a couple
> > seconds, then I would get it out of the way of browser interaction.
> >
> >
> >
> > Neil Rest wrote:
> >> Yes.
> >>
> >> But this is my own script running on my own machine, while I watch
> >> it.  Or at least watch it until I'm sure it's running right.
> >> I'm scraping some directories, so there's nested lookups &c., and
> >> some of them really are taking 5 or 10 minutes or more on my cheesy
> >> little machine and cheesy little "fast" internet connection.
> >>
> >> Nervous Nellie that I am, my script now starts
> >>
> >> echo 'original max_execution_time = ' .
> >> ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n";
> >> ini_set('max_execution_time', 1200);
> >> echo 'reset max_execution_time = ' .
> >> ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n<br />\n";
> >>
> >>
> >> At 07:43 PM 8/25/2008, "Jough Dempsey" <jou...@gm...>
> >> wrote:
> >>> Not that the previous answers won't work, but I'm wondering if just
> >>> taking off the safeties that are in place to stop things like
> >>> scripts
> >>> that take a minute or two is really the Right Answer.
> >>>
> >>> A minute in PHP execution is a LONG time.  Is what the script is
> >>> doing
> >>> really that intensive, or are you just executing the same operations
> >>> many times (e.g. if you were writing a spider that would request
> >>> thousands of web pages)?  Even then, you should be careful that your
> >>> script isn't doing Bad Things or capitalizing things
> >>> Inappropriately.
> >>>
> >>> Regardless, I'd suggest setting max_execution_time to a higher
> >>> value,
> >>> but not "0" which means your script just runs and runs and runs.
> >>>
> >>
> >> Neil
> >> --
> >> Nei...@rc...
> >>
> >> Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never
> >> roll what you can leave.
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >> challenge
> >> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win
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> >> the world
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> >> _______________________________________________
> >> chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
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>
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> End of chiPHPug-discuss Digest, Vol 28, Issue 4
> ***********************************************
>



-- 
" I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. -T. Edison
"
"Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for
those who kept their swords." - Ben Franklin

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Wilfried S. <ws...@de...>]

I'm sure if the script is still in dev, he's going to want to see the  
results/debug output of it.. be it browser or CLI (though I do agree..  
getting it out of the browser would serve you much better, Neil)

On Aug 26, 2008, at 08:53 , Jason Rexilius wrote:

> You really should fork-exec that long running process and then poll a
> results page or something, rather than upping max_execution_time.
>
> If there is a good reason for this process to run longer than a couple
> seconds, then I would get it out of the way of browser interaction.
>
>
>
> Neil Rest wrote:
>> Yes.
>>
>> But this is my own script running on my own machine, while I watch  
>> it.  Or at least watch it until I'm sure it's running right.
>> I'm scraping some directories, so there's nested lookups &c., and  
>> some of them really are taking 5 or 10 minutes or more on my cheesy  
>> little machine and cheesy little "fast" internet connection.
>>
>> Nervous Nellie that I am, my script now starts
>>
>> echo 'original max_execution_time = ' .  
>> ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n";
>> ini_set('max_execution_time', 1200);
>> echo 'reset max_execution_time = ' .  
>> ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n<br />\n";
>>
>>
>> At 07:43 PM 8/25/2008, "Jough Dempsey" <jou...@gm...>  
>> wrote:
>>> Not that the previous answers won't work, but I'm wondering if just
>>> taking off the safeties that are in place to stop things like  
>>> scripts
>>> that take a minute or two is really the Right Answer.
>>>
>>> A minute in PHP execution is a LONG time.  Is what the script is  
>>> doing
>>> really that intensive, or are you just executing the same operations
>>> many times (e.g. if you were writing a spider that would request
>>> thousands of web pages)?  Even then, you should be careful that your
>>> script isn't doing Bad Things or capitalizing things  
>>> Inappropriately.
>>>
>>> Regardless, I'd suggest setting max_execution_time to a higher  
>>> value,
>>> but not "0" which means your script just runs and runs and runs.
>>>
>>
>> Neil
>> --
>> Nei...@rc...
>>
>> Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never  
>> roll what you can leave.
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's  
>> challenge
>> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win  
>> great prizes
>> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in  
>> the world
>> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
>> _______________________________________________
>> chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
>> chi...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win  
> great prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in  
> the world
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Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Jason R. <ja...@ho...>]

You really should fork-exec that long running process and then poll a 
results page or something, rather than upping max_execution_time.

If there is a good reason for this process to run longer than a couple 
seconds, then I would get it out of the way of browser interaction.



Neil Rest wrote:
> Yes.
> 
> But this is my own script running on my own machine, while I watch it.  Or at least watch it until I'm sure it's running right.
> I'm scraping some directories, so there's nested lookups &c., and some of them really are taking 5 or 10 minutes or more on my cheesy little machine and cheesy little "fast" internet connection.
> 
> Nervous Nellie that I am, my script now starts
> 
> echo 'original max_execution_time = ' . ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n";
> ini_set('max_execution_time', 1200);
> echo 'reset max_execution_time = ' . ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n<br />\n";
> 
> 
> At 07:43 PM 8/25/2008, "Jough Dempsey" <jou...@gm...> wrote:
>> Not that the previous answers won't work, but I'm wondering if just
>> taking off the safeties that are in place to stop things like scripts
>> that take a minute or two is really the Right Answer.
>>
>> A minute in PHP execution is a LONG time.  Is what the script is doing
>> really that intensive, or are you just executing the same operations
>> many times (e.g. if you were writing a spider that would request
>> thousands of web pages)?  Even then, you should be careful that your
>> script isn't doing Bad Things or capitalizing things Inappropriately.
>>
>> Regardless, I'd suggest setting max_execution_time to a higher value,
>> but not "0" which means your script just runs and runs and runs.
>>
> 
> Neil
> --
> Nei...@rc...
> 
> Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never roll what you can leave.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> _______________________________________________
> chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
> chi...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Neil R. <Nei...@rc...>]

Yes.

But this is my own script running on my own machine, while I watch it.  Or at least watch it until I'm sure it's running right.
I'm scraping some directories, so there's nested lookups &c., and some of them really are taking 5 or 10 minutes or more on my cheesy little machine and cheesy little "fast" internet connection.

Nervous Nellie that I am, my script now starts

echo 'original max_execution_time = ' . ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n";
ini_set('max_execution_time', 1200);
echo 'reset max_execution_time = ' . ini_get('max_execution_time') . "<br />\n<br />\n";


At 07:43 PM 8/25/2008, "Jough Dempsey" <jou...@gm...> wrote:
>Not that the previous answers won't work, but I'm wondering if just
>taking off the safeties that are in place to stop things like scripts
>that take a minute or two is really the Right Answer.
>
>A minute in PHP execution is a LONG time.  Is what the script is doing
>really that intensive, or are you just executing the same operations
>many times (e.g. if you were writing a spider that would request
>thousands of web pages)?  Even then, you should be careful that your
>script isn't doing Bad Things or capitalizing things Inappropriately.
>
>Regardless, I'd suggest setting max_execution_time to a higher value,
>but not "0" which means your script just runs and runs and runs.
>

Neil
--
Nei...@rc...

Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never roll what you can leave.

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Adam L. <apl...@gm...>]

I had these same thoughts.  If you are simply scraping one page, 60
seconds is extremely long.  Like Jough says, some spider activity
might take that long, but processing one scrape seems kind of crazy
for that long of execution time.  Maybe describe what you're up to and
see if someone can help you optimize the process.  I'm imagining a
bunch of nested FOR loops in my head, or something else that could be
done more efficiently.

My $.04 (Jough, you have to adjust for inflation and weak currency.
Don't sell yourself short.)

Adam P. Larsen
apl...@gm...



On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 7:43 PM, Jough Dempsey <jou...@gm...> wrote:
> Not that the previous answers won't work, but I'm wondering if just
> taking off the safeties that are in place to stop things like scripts
> that take a minute or two is really the Right Answer.
>
> A minute in PHP execution is a LONG time.  Is what the script is doing
> really that intensive, or are you just executing the same operations
> many times (e.g. if you were writing a spider that would request
> thousands of web pages)?  Even then, you should be careful that your
> script isn't doing Bad Things or capitalizing things Inappropriately.
>
> Regardless, I'd suggest setting max_execution_time to a higher value,
> but not "0" which means your script just runs and runs and runs.
>
> Also, setting the php.ini directive means that all PHP scripts will
> run up until that max execution time, which also may not be what the
> doctor ordered.
>
> You can use the set_time_limit(int) function instead:
>
> http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.set-time-limit.php
>
> And you get the added benefit of having it reset every time it's
> called, which is really helpful if you use it in a loop where it
> resets the counter per iteration, but doesn't stop the script from
> timing out when it is doing something Bad.
>
> My $.02 (USD, now worth much less than it used to be).
>
> -- Jough
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 6:39 PM, Neil Rest <Nei...@rc...> wrote:
>> Bingo!
>>
>> max_execution_time did it.
>>
>> Thank you Pete, thank you Wilfried.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Jough D. <jou...@gm...>]

Not that the previous answers won't work, but I'm wondering if just
taking off the safeties that are in place to stop things like scripts
that take a minute or two is really the Right Answer.

A minute in PHP execution is a LONG time.  Is what the script is doing
really that intensive, or are you just executing the same operations
many times (e.g. if you were writing a spider that would request
thousands of web pages)?  Even then, you should be careful that your
script isn't doing Bad Things or capitalizing things Inappropriately.

Regardless, I'd suggest setting max_execution_time to a higher value,
but not "0" which means your script just runs and runs and runs.

Also, setting the php.ini directive means that all PHP scripts will
run up until that max execution time, which also may not be what the
doctor ordered.

You can use the set_time_limit(int) function instead:

http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.set-time-limit.php

And you get the added benefit of having it reset every time it's
called, which is really helpful if you use it in a loop where it
resets the counter per iteration, but doesn't stop the script from
timing out when it is doing something Bad.

My $.02 (USD, now worth much less than it used to be).

-- Jough


On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 6:39 PM, Neil Rest <Nei...@rc...> wrote:
> Bingo!
>
> max_execution_time did it.
>
> Thank you Pete, thank you Wilfried.

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Neil R. <Nei...@rc...>]

Bingo!

max_execution_time did it.

Thank you Pete, thank you Wilfried.


At 05:32 PM 8/25/2008, Peter Snyder <sn...@gm...>  wrote:
>Have you tried setting max_execution_time to a larger value value with ini_set?
>
>Just a first guess.
>


At 05:34 PM 8/25/2008, Wilfried Schobeiri <ws...@de...> wrote:
>the time limit is in php.ini, and set_time_limit() (per request) can 
>be found at http://us2.php.net/set_time_limit
>memory_limit is found in php.ini
>curl timeouts are set with curl_setopt and can be found at 
>http://us2.php.net/curl_setopt
>

Neil
--
Nei...@rc...

Liberals have always loved conspiracy theories because raising the specter of foul play and dirty tricks is an easy and convenient justification for ignoring their own political and policy failures.
 -- Oliver North

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Wilfried S. <ws...@de...>]

Have you checked your error log or messages logs (assumed you're on  
*nix)? one of a few things could be happening: you've hit the max  
memory limit, you've hit the max time limit, or there's a bad curl  
request that's segfaulting your webserver.

the time limit is in php.ini, and set_time_limit() (per request) can  
be found at http://us2.php.net/set_time_limit
memory_limit is found in php.ini
curl timeouts are set with curl_setopt and can be found at http://us2.php.net/curl_setopt

Cheers

On Aug 25, 2008, at 17:29 , Neil Rest wrote:

> I've been tinkering with cURL, trying some screen scraping.
> Everything is working fine, except my php script simply stops  
> executing after a minute or two.
> Any ideas why?
>
>
> Neil
> --
> Nei...@rc...
>
> Plato had defined the human being as an animal, biped and  
> featherless, and was applauded. Diogenes plucked a fowl and brought  
> it into the lecture-room with the words, 'Here is Plato's human  
> being.' In consequence of which there was added to the definition,  
> 'having broad nails'.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's  
> challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win  
> great prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in  
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> _______________________________________________
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> chi...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Peter S. <sn...@gm...>]

Hey Neil,

Have you tried setting max_execution_time to a larger value value with  
ini_set?

Just a first guess.

Hope that might help.

Pete

On Aug 25, 2008, at 5:29 PM, Neil Rest wrote:

> I've been tinkering with cURL, trying some screen scraping.
> Everything is working fine, except my php script simply stops  
> executing after a minute or two.
> Any ideas why?
>
>
> Neil
> --
> Nei...@rc...
>
> Plato had defined the human being as an animal, biped and  
> featherless, and was applauded. Diogenes plucked a fowl and brought  
> it into the lecture-room with the words, 'Here is Plato's human  
> being.' In consequence of which there was added to the definition,  
> 'having broad nails'.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's  
> challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win  
> great prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in  
> the world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> _______________________________________________
> chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
> chi...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss

[chiPHPug-discuss] cURL problem

[Neil R. <Nei...@rc...>]

I've been tinkering with cURL, trying some screen scraping.
Everything is working fine, except my php script simply stops executing after a minute or two.
Any ideas why?


Neil
--
Nei...@rc...

Plato had defined the human being as an animal, biped and featherless, and was applauded. Diogenes plucked a fowl and brought it into the lecture-room with the words, 'Here is Plato's human being.' In consequence of which there was added to the definition, 'having broad nails'.

[chiPHPug-discuss] One More Day To BARcamp

[Jason R. <ja...@ho...>]

Hey Everyone!

   We are starting set-up this evening and BARcamp officially starts 
11:00 Saturday morning!  Some photos of the venue have been uploaded, 
kegs are on the way, food is being ordered.  Crazy, but its all coming 
together.

   Saturday 10:00am August 16th at 1240 W Harrison, Chicago IL.
   http://barcampchicago.com/

   The Erlang Workshop starts at noon and kicks off a weekend long 
Erlang code competition.

   There are, as always, some great talks planned and even more great 
talks that aren't planned ;-)

   Thanks to the organizers and sponsors for making this happen!

   Look forward to seeing you all this weekend.

-jason

[chiPHPug-discuss] BARcamp Chicago Aug 15th!

[Jason R. <ja...@ho...>]

Hey Everyone,

   BARcamp Chicago 2008 is coming up in a week and a half!  The weekend 
of Aug 15th at 1240 W. Harrison St (UIC area).  Wow, time flies.

   Its being held at the Innovation Center at UIC which is this cool new 
space for tech commercialization projects.  I posted a couple of 
snapshots on the wiki:

http://barcampchicago.com/WherePage

   Sean Johnson is working on the Food and I know its going to be 
impossible, but we'd like to try and estimate the amount.  Can people 
either reply to me or add their name to the wiki?

http://barcampchicago.com/AttendeeList
-or-
bar...@co...

   One of the really cool events happening at BARcamp this year is an 
Erlang workshop being given by Martin Logan and Erlang User group team. 
  If you dont know about Erlang, its a very cool Functional language 
thats good for distributed computing.  Martin and others at Orbitz are 
putting some Erlang code into production and they have an open source 
project that they are putting out I believe.

   As with every year, we have lots of cool talks lined up and I expect 
a lot more to develop over the weekend. The Chicago LUG is donating a 
keg, like the previous years and the organizers have been working like 
crazy.  Its coming together despite my being a disorganized slacker ;-)

   CALL FOR HELP:

1) RSVP in some form or fashion, (call me, email, join the list, add to 
wiki).  Need to size catering.

2) Get your company to participate, sposnor, bring schwag, give a talk 
about technology you are using or building.

3) Give a talk.

4) Spread the word.


Also note:

Social Dev Camp is coming up this weekend, at IIT.  Check it out: 
http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/SocialDevCampChicago


Thats it for now.  Looking forward to seeing you all next weekend!

-jason
ja...@ho...
847.208.1000

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

[Steven <coo...@ya...>]

I was just looking for a way to sign my name at the bottom of some forms without having to print. (My ink is out.)

I'd already filled them out because the ones that needed input were either MS Word documents or an editable form PDF.

For the purposes I was looking for, converting them to a .tif worked just fine, as I just drew my sig on in paint anyway, then 'printed' it back to a pdf.

 ---------------
~Amaroq Wolf



----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Lynch <ce...@l-...>
To: Discussions of PHP-related topics among members of the Chicago PHP User's  Group. <chi...@li...>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 8:42:44 PM
Subject: Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

Realize that Adobe is in the business of making money from Acrobat,
the thing that lets you build PDFs and FDFs, and that it's proprietary
technology...

You're not going to find something FREE to do something with their
technology when that's one of their business models.

That said, there ARE free php extensions, for non-commercial use, to:
  Create PDF on the fly, from scratch.
  Create FDF on the fly, from scratch.

For commercial use, or if you need to suck in existing PDF and append
them, you'd need a commercial license for pdfLib.

I think there is a Microsoft free printer that will convert to an
image by "printing" the PDF to a file.  But that's hardly "editable"
as it's just a bitmap.

If you're looking for a cross between a <FORM> and a PDF, you want the
free FDFToolkit and the related php extension:
http://php.net/fdf
I wrote a how-to article about it in php|architect back in the day.
I have it online here:
http://phpbootcamp.com/articles/fdf.htm

That's a bit dated, but should still work, I think...

But anything that sucks in a generic PDF and then edits what is in the
PDF...

Especially because a PDF page could easily be an encrypted compress
image for the whole page, with no vector graphics at all.

Or the PDF itself could be locked, password-protected, or all kinds of
DRM-like stuff that Adobe and their customers apparently find useful.

Well, there *is* an online PDF editor thingie on adobe.com, which
might let you suck in an existing PDF and hack at it...

You could even use cURL to pound at it, I suppose...

But I doubt that would scale up well, and I'm sure it's against the
TOU to do that.

If you post more detail about what your big picture goal is, you may
get even more useful input.

On Tue, July 29, 2008 12:02 pm, Steven wrote:
> The simple act of converting a pdf file to something editable (like
> tif) seems to be quite the lucrative business. Thus far, I have been
> unable to find a free, no strings attached converter. They all happily
> neglect to mention that they aren't free, waiting until you've
> downloaded and installed the converter to smack you with watermarks on
> anything you try to output with them.
>
> Anyone know of a free converter? All I need to do is sign some forms.
> (No ink or paper at the moment, so I'm hand-drawing my sig in paint.)
>
>  ---------------
> ~Amaroq Wolf
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's
> challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great
> prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the
> world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> _______________________________________________
> chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
> chi...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss
>


-- 
Some people ask for gifts here.
I just want you to buy an Indie CD for yourself:
http://cdbaby.com/search/from/lynch



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes
Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world
http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
_______________________________________________
chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
chi...@li...
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss



      

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

[Richard L. <ce...@l-...>]

Realize that Adobe is in the business of making money from Acrobat,
the thing that lets you build PDFs and FDFs, and that it's proprietary
technology...

You're not going to find something FREE to do something with their
technology when that's one of their business models.

That said, there ARE free php extensions, for non-commercial use, to:
  Create PDF on the fly, from scratch.
  Create FDF on the fly, from scratch.

For commercial use, or if you need to suck in existing PDF and append
them, you'd need a commercial license for pdfLib.

I think there is a Microsoft free printer that will convert to an
image by "printing" the PDF to a file.  But that's hardly "editable"
as it's just a bitmap.

If you're looking for a cross between a <FORM> and a PDF, you want the
free FDFToolkit and the related php extension:
http://php.net/fdf
I wrote a how-to article about it in php|architect back in the day.
I have it online here:
http://phpbootcamp.com/articles/fdf.htm

That's a bit dated, but should still work, I think...

But anything that sucks in a generic PDF and then edits what is in the
PDF...

Especially because a PDF page could easily be an encrypted compress
image for the whole page, with no vector graphics at all.

Or the PDF itself could be locked, password-protected, or all kinds of
DRM-like stuff that Adobe and their customers apparently find useful.

Well, there *is* an online PDF editor thingie on adobe.com, which
might let you suck in an existing PDF and hack at it...

You could even use cURL to pound at it, I suppose...

But I doubt that would scale up well, and I'm sure it's against the
TOU to do that.

If you post more detail about what your big picture goal is, you may
get even more useful input.

On Tue, July 29, 2008 12:02 pm, Steven wrote:
> The simple act of converting a pdf file to something editable (like
> tif) seems to be quite the lucrative business. Thus far, I have been
> unable to find a free, no strings attached converter. They all happily
> neglect to mention that they aren't free, waiting until you've
> downloaded and installed the converter to smack you with watermarks on
> anything you try to output with them.
>
> Anyone know of a free converter? All I need to do is sign some forms.
> (No ink or paper at the moment, so I'm hand-drawing my sig in paint.)
>
>  ---------------
> ~Amaroq Wolf
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's
> challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great
> prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the
> world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> _______________________________________________
> chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
> chi...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss
>


-- 
Some people ask for gifts here.
I just want you to buy an Indie CD for yourself:
http://cdbaby.com/search/from/lynch

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

[Steven <coo...@ya...>]

Thank you for your replies, guys. The stamps didn't work out (the pdfs didn't allow edits or comments and I only have adobe reader), but Ghostscript worked out great once I figured out how to use it.

 ---------------
~Amaroq Wolf


      

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

[Peter H. <ph...@ma...>]

On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 10:02:45AM -0700, Steven wrote:
> The simple act of converting a pdf file to something editable (like
> tif) seems to be quite the lucrative business. Thus far, I have been
> unable to find a free, no strings attached converter.

Ghostscript (a Unix utility also available for Windows) will do it:

gs -sDEVICE=tiffgray -sOutputFile=page%04d.tiff -r600 -dTextAlphaBits=4 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dSAFER -f example.pdf -c quit

You'll probably want to change the -r (resolution) to something lower,
whatever your needs are.

--
Peter Harkins  -  http://push.cx  -  http://NearbyGamers.com

Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

[LYNX T. D. <ph...@ly...>]

If all you need to is add a signature to a form that is in PDF format,
trying creating and using a stamp.  I have used this method for the past
several years and it works great for me.

Here is a guide to creating and installing stamps for Adobe PDF

http://www.planetpdf.com/enterprise/article.asp?ContentID=creating_dynamic_s
tamps_in_acr&gid=6098

Best,

Paul

___________________________
LYNX Technology Development
www.lynxtdc.com
513.373.4200 

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compliance with your contract terms to ensure the prompt completion of your
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For complete terms visit http://www.lynxtdc.com/invoiceterms/

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given nor endorsed by it. 

-----Original Message-----
From: chi...@li...
[mailto:chi...@li...] On Behalf Of Steven
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 1:03 PM
To: chi...@li...
Subject: [chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

The simple act of converting a pdf file to something editable (like tif)
seems to be quite the lucrative business. Thus far, I have been unable to
find a free, no strings attached converter. They all happily neglect to
mention that they aren't free, waiting until you've downloaded and installed
the converter to smack you with watermarks on anything you try to output
with them.

Anyone know of a free converter? All I need to do is sign some forms. (No
ink or paper at the moment, so I'm hand-drawing my sig in paint.)

 ---------------
~Amaroq Wolf



      
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great
prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the
world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
_______________________________________________
chiPHPug-discuss mailing list
chi...@li...
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/chiphpug-discuss

[chiPHPug-discuss] PDF Converter

[Steven <coo...@ya...>]

The simple act of converting a pdf file to something editable (like tif) seems to be quite the lucrative business. Thus far, I have been unable to find a free, no strings attached converter. They all happily neglect to mention that they aren't free, waiting until you've downloaded and installed the converter to smack you with watermarks on anything you try to output with them.

Anyone know of a free converter? All I need to do is sign some forms. (No ink or paper at the moment, so I'm hand-drawing my sig in paint.)

 ---------------
~Amaroq Wolf