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Andrew has been coding PHP applications since 2006, and has plenty of experience with PHP, MySQL, and Apache. He prefers Ubuntu Linux on his desktop and has plenty of experience at managing CentOS web servers. He is the owner of Wells IT Solutions LLC, and develops PHP applications full time for anyone that needs it as well as does desktop computer support locally in the local area. He spends most of his free time exploring new programming concepts and posting on The Webmaster Forums.

  • Send Print Jobs Directly from PHP

    I recently learned that you can send print jobs directly from a PHP server. How cool is that? This article will cover sending print jobs from a PHP server to a printer on the same LAN. This does not mean that someone viewing a page over the Internet can have something print on their local […]

    Published: May 19th, 2010 by:
  • Making Google Static Maps a Little More Dynamic with PHP

    If you have messed with the Google Maps API, you know that the JavaScript and API keys can be a real headache. Yes, there are very complex implementations that you can use, but what if you want…just a map? If you want just a map with no dynamic interface, Google Static Maps is just for […]

    Published: March 17th, 2010 by:
  • Parse ZFP (Zone Forecast Product) Data in PHP – Option 1

    In a previous article, I covered 5 Sources of Free Weather Data for your Site, but did not provide any actual code to use the data. Since then, I covered sources #1 and #2. None of these sources had any English-formed forecasts. For that, we have to go to the Zone Forecast Product, but we […]

    Published: March 3rd, 2010 by:
  • Merge Image Layers in PHP

    In a previous article, I showed how to Locate the Nearest Radar Station and Display Radar Images. A commenter, mike, pointed out the idea of merging the image layers using PHP instead of layering all the images separately using CSS. Here is how to do it.

    Published: July 17th, 2009 by:
  • Loading INI Files in PHP

    PHP parses the php.ini file for the global PHP settings, but you can create an INI file that is specific to your own PHP application. You can also load those settings into as associate array with a native PHP function. How cool is that?

    Published: April 14th, 2009 by:
  • Separating the Application & Presentation and Alternative Syntax

    One of the biggest pet peeves I have when looking at (and unfortunately – working with) other people’s PHP code is the way they integrate their code into the HTML. Many people don’t take the time to organize, and they end up with a PHP & HTML mess. I believe that it is critical to […]

    Published: March 18th, 2009 by:
  • More Examples with Parsing NDFD Data in PHP

    I covered how to Parse Weather Forecast Data (from the NDFD) in PHP in a previous article, but due to the amount of questions I received, I decided to show some more usage techniques and examples. In this article, I will cover the time-series option as well as some methods on how to make some […]

    Published: March 3rd, 2009 by:
  • Parse Current Weather Conditions Data from the NWS in PHP

    In a previous article, I covered 5 Sources of Free Weather Data for your Site, but did not provide any actual code to use the data. Last week, I covered source #1 and showed how to Parse Weather Forecast Data (from the NDFD) in PHP. For this article, I will show how to parse source […]

    Published: February 26th, 2009 by:
  • Parse Weather Forecast Data (from the NDFD) in PHP

    In a previous article, I covered 5 Sources of Free Weather Data for your Site, but did not provide any actual code to use the data. Starting with this article, I will post instructions on how to handle this data as well as sample code. For this article, we will start with the National Digital […]

    Published: February 19th, 2009 by:
  • Create Dynamic Banner Ads for Blogs & News Sites

    When you visit a site, their usual advertisers might catch your eye once or twice, but after that, you forget it’s there. Designing a banner ad that automatically updates with information such as current sales or latest blog posts is a great way to get repeat clicks and return visitors. In this article, I’m going […]

    Published: February 12th, 2009 by: