Ruby or PHP? PHP or Ruby? Which is the best?

I think using Ruby on Rails is no better than using PHP with an MVC framework.
Nevermind it’s features or how it works, developers love Ruby because... it’s new! Sometimes they consider PHP an old language... Wrong!! Is Unix an old OS? NO! It's a mature OS.
PHP is a mature language and it has a robust set of APIs.
I use PHP since 1999 and I think I will use it for a few years.
Thomas

[today I suggest: http://www.bestwebframeworks.com/ ]

Hi, I want to share solutions I've found with common problems in MagentoCommerce
(Thomas: thomas.baggio[at]ideogroup.it)

Upgrading to 1.4
Upgrading magento to version 1.4: keeping it simple
Common problems

Category Url from Global to Store View: 1.4 upgrade, RESOLVED!!!
When you upgrade from 1.3.x to 1.4.x to change category url from global to store

Essential extensions
30 free extension
Fooman extension
AheadWorkExtension
Mageworx

Delete completely an order
Extension to delete completely an order

Ebay extensions
Ebay API
Extension that allows quick and simple creating new eBay auctions, using products from Magento and eBay API

Cash on delivery
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/29045/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/12019/P15/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/670/advanced-cash-on-delivery

Custom shipping module
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/how-to/create-shipping-method-module

Order export module
http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/980/magento-order-export-module

Tax calculation problem on admin created orders
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/39243/

Simple configurable products
http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/596/simple-configurable-products

Coupon howto
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/33392/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/32425/

Group discount
Magento: How to Setup Simple Customer Specific Discount Pricing
Group switcher
How to let customer choose customer group at registration?

Prototype & Jquery
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/21501/
http://css-tricks.com/using-jquery-in-magneto/

Editor
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/wysiwyg/a_how-to
http://www.westwideweb.com/wp/2009/03/18/problems-with-magento-cms-and-wysiwyg-editor/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/420/P135/
http://www.sharpdotinc.com/mdost/2009/02/19/magento-adding-file-uploads-to-tinymce/

Advanced search
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/35739/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/how-to/how_to_add_search_by_category_to_advanced_search
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/how-to/how_to_add_search_by_category_to_advanced_search?rev=1232911730&do=diff1232911730
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/37073/
http://inchoo.net/ecommerce/magento/advanced-search-in-magento-and-how-to-use-it-in-your-own-way/

Import product images
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/5464/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/5464/P15/#t124047
http://chasesagum.com/how-to-import-products-into-magento

Custom registration form
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/custom_account/registration_fields
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/30316/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/9620/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/9620/P90/

Price rules
http://www.magentocommerce.com/knowledge-base/entry/what-are-catalog-price-rules-and-how-do-i-use-them
http://www.magentocommerce.com/knowledge-base/entry/what-are-shopping-cart-price-rules-and-how-do-i-use-them

Problems with price rules
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/28338/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/51142/P45/

Problem in Magento 1.4 with orders from admin (email already exists message!!!)
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/84315/

Paypal problems in admin
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/47584/P60/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/47584/P45/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/bug-tracking/issue?issue=6993
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/50865/
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/49865/

Problem printing pdf invoice in admin
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/errors.php/viewthread/43904/P15/#t152898

Editing an invoice
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/how-to/editing_an_invoice_pdf#dokuwiki__top
http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/8560/
http://www.codestash.com/2009/05/edit-pdf-invoice-printout/
http://www.xpcdesign.com/2008/12/edit-the-magento-invoice-pdf-templates/
Modules:
http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/957/fooman-invoice-order-number
http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/2009/flex-invoice
http://www.vianetz.com/shop/en/advancedinvoicelayout.html
http://store.fooman.co.nz/extensions/magento-extension-pdf-customiser.html

How to create and edit Transactional e-mails in Magento Commerce
Transactional emails in magento

Terms and conditions
Enable Terms and Conditions in Configuration -> System -> Checkout ->Checkout Options
Then add each of your conditions in Sales -> Terms and conditions
See this thread here.

Xls import
Action list:
1 - Use magento to have a format of a data file.
From the admin panel, "System" / "Import/export" / "Profiles" / "Export products".
This will give you a csv file with columns titles in the first line.

2 - Open this csv file in Excel, open your own product file in excel.
Make a copy of your product file under another name. Change columns so that they match those of the Magento-generated one: the point here is not to have columns in the same order, but to have exactly these columns.
Once you file is ready, save it as xls AND as a csv.

3 - You can now import into Magento
From the admin panel, "System" / "Import/export" / "Profiles" / "Import products".
Give your filename. And go!
IMPORTANT: you will be asked how many products to import at the same time. For your initial test with few records, this does not matter really.... but for real life applications select to import records with a bucket of 100 or 200.
WHY: a value of 1 will take a long time to import; a value of 1000 would need lots of memory and will probably crash your system; a value of 100 to 200 is a good initial bet.
[If you are doing just a one-shot, this is probably the best bet. If you plan to do it on a regular basis, you will need some tuning to get the best performance]

4 - The initial import of products may not provide the expected categories. Anticipate to spend some time on mass assignation to categories ( "Catalog" / "Manage Categories" then select your existing category; then "category products" tab, select "all" value in the leftmost column, place some name value in the "name column", "Search",
then select all the products you want to include in this category).
5 - The forums and wiki of Magento will give you more detailed ideas when you will want to improve this import. (or here: http://chasesagum.com/how-to-import-products-into-magento)

What is Windows Azure SDK for PHP Developers?

As part of Microsoft’s commitment to Interoperability, this open source project is an effort bridge PHP developers to Windows Azure. PHPAzure is an open source project to provide software development kit for Windows Azure and Windows Azure Storage – Blobs, Tables & Queues

* Overview
o Enables PHP developers to take advantage of the Microsoft Cloud Services Platform – Windows Azure.
o Provides consistent programming model for Windows Azure Storage (Blobs, Tables & Queues)
* Features
o PHP classes for Windows Azure Blobs, Tables & Queues (for CRUD operations)
o Helper Classes for HTTP transport, AuthN/AuthZ, REST & Error Management
o Manageability, Instrumentation & Logging support
o Support for storing PHP sessions in Azure Table Storage

Integrating PHP and Flex

PHP - MySQL - Flex 3 Client-Server Application

Creating a Flex project to connect to AMFPHP

We need your videos!!!

Some guy wrote simple 3D rendering PHP script. It is based on well known game called Wolfenstein 3D “raycaster” algorythm and is pretty simple. Funny is that you can combine that with AJAX to get some unseen results (let’s not think about server load and traffic yet).

Here a very cool example

Other links:

3d library
Image 3D live browser rendering
Dynamic canvas demo
Creating 3D with PHP