nirajkvinit's blog

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Custom breadcrumb list in wordpress

While developing a custom plugin for a website I needed to post a custom breadcrumb trail. Articles on this website are based on a custom post type and some of them were very deep in hierarchical order. (Example : Knowledgebase > Indian Mining Regulations > DGMS > Mining Legislation > Safety Conferences on Safety in Mines > X - Safety Conference) I wanted to put a series of links for visitor to follow the progression of contents. So, I thought about giving them breadcrumb trails to follow it back to wherever they want to go in the series. After some google search and some modifications: here is what I created. Hope, it may help you. This is for a custom post type of hierarchical in nature, but it can also be used for pages or other post types having hierarchies. function fn_nova_breadcrumb_trail($post) { $separator = ' > '; $trail_posts = array($post); $parent = $post; $current_post_id=$post->ID; while($parent->post_parent) {

Discovering Zen Coding and some peace of mind.

I am not a designer, just a newbie programmer. Though I have been wearing many hats to chug along the path of web-development. Coding, debugging, re factoring, integrating, testing is all fun, but when it comes down to designing UI, I've never liked it. I've rarely used Dreamweaver. I prefer to code HTML in bare-bone text-editors and it is laborious to code so much html to design a good-looking/functional UI. I have been using Aptana for over three years now and it has saved me a lot of time over the year. Still, coding html was pain. And then I discovered Zen-coding. I saw it on a youtube video sometime ago and felt jealous of the coder having such a utility to quickly write so much with so little effort. With a little search I found that Aptana has a plugin for Zen Coding. I installed it and have been using since then. Now even html coding is fun. Didn't want to write about it, but it helped me save so much time that I couldn't help not writing about it. Ref. ht

Web Development Dilemma - Part 2

Recently, I got a Job to build an ERP Application (More like Accounting Package with CRM). I started planning for the Application. I had some experience with Tally.ERP 9 and knew a bit about Accounting too. Once again I chose Wordpress Platform for the application development, as I was more comfortable with it. Application was to have multiple advanced features along with some of smart automated data sensing and processing, and selective data push (Semi-Automated) to Tally for Accounting Purpose. The application was to run in a LAN Environment and was connected with the Customer's Website to retrieve Customer Order submitted on the website (Customized Shopping Cart) for further processing. I could develop fast in Wordpress, I was familiar with the system and environment. But due to multiple distractions, and tedious job (I hadn't anticipated lengthy coding and timing involved), the project had to be scrapped by the customer. The customer was gracious enough to forgive me

Web Development Dilemma - Part 1

It's been a long time since I moved away from Desktop Applications Development. By then, my favourite Tool of Trade was VS.Net 2005, and Language was C#. Had to spent quite a lots of sleepless nights just to learn these. Developed few Applications too. About 2 years ago I got a job to develop a Community's Membership Management and Loan Management System. The requirement was that members could apply for loans from the comfort of their home or workplace, without having to come to the community office to fill-up the form. Further, loans applications were to go through selected community members who were part of the loans approval/review committee. Earlier, they used to hold a meeting together on the weekend to study and process loans. While reviewing an application, they used to pull up old files of the loan applicants. Earlier work model was very tedious and data collection was time-consuming. So, the application had to be web-based with optimized work processes to save on ti

Datatables and Wordpress Integration problem solved.

Note: Download a working demo plugin from this project's github repository . Like other wordpress developers, I had also faced the problem of integrating datatable (server side processing) with wordpress. I tried every tips, tricks and multiple ways to solve the problem, but couldn't do it. My ajaxified functions of the wordpress simple dint work. I din't have much time and had to finish a small project on time. So, I decided to skip it and go through the developer's way : the plugin developer had suggested and implemented. I dropped the required php file with some related modifications and called the url of the php file in the datatable options in my project. It worked after few small hiccups. I wasn't satisfied though, as i wanted the wordpress centric solution, instead of using some drop-in file to complement the functionality. I had vowed to look after this problem whenever I could get some time. (You may visit the url http://www.bearinghouse.net/orde

Your Superb Online Presence is the Success Mantra for your Business (Online).

It is very important for your business 2 have a stronger web presence. And when you have a website, it should look more professional to win the trust and confidence of your website's visitors. Your website's visitors are your potential customer. They visit many websites regularly, or from time to time. So, they have a general idea and have built a subtle subconscious sense of a website from where they might be interested in buying products or services. So, how would you determine whether your website generates that confidence in your website's visitors/potential customer? Well, if you have competitors(You are gifted if you dont' have one) then visit your successful competitor's websites. Then visit your own site. When you are at your own site, think differently... think out of the box... and unbiasedly ask yourself - Does your website generate much interest/confidence in you( as a stranger visiting the website for the first time) to buy products or services f