Simple PHP test script to check PHP is installed correctly

When you install PHP for the first time one of the best ways of knowing it is configured correctly is to use a simple PHP script. If your browser can read the file and carry out the stated action then you know you are ready to continue with more interesting things.

So without further ado here are a couple of simple PHP scripts that will get you started.

<html>
<head>
<title> Supporting Tech PHP Test Script </title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
phpinfo( );?></body>
</html>

This script will display some of the hosts php specifications. Alternatively, if you want to 'keep it real' then you can always use the classic 'Hello World' script.

<html>
<head>
<title> Supporting Tech PHP Test Script</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
Echo "Hello world";
?></body>
</html>

UPLOADING AND TESTING

1. Type the above and save the file as 'index.php'.
2. Add this to your web server root directory.
3. Open up your web browser and type in the address to view that page .e.g 'localhost' if you're using IIS.

How to send a file via email using the Philips SpeechExec Pro Dictate5.0 software

Needless to say there is more to life than configuration alone, so i'm  now going to demonstrate how to use the Philips SpeechExec Pro interface to send an actual dictation.

SENDING A DICTATION VIA EMAIL

1 Create your dictation on the Philips recorder

2 Place the recorder in the docking station or attach it directly to the PC via the USB cable.

3 You will see the following message and the dictation will appear in the Finished folder within the SpeechExec Pro Dictate software.

4 Highlight the job and press the ‘Submit for Email’  button.

5 You will be presented with an email window. All you will need to do now is enter the email address of the person you want to receive your dictation and click 'Send'.

Philips SpeechExec Pro Dictate 5.0 configuration for sendingdictatations via email

Well, it's that time again when Philips bring out a new version of SpeechExec Pro and a request lands on my desk to work out how to configure it for solicitors to send dictations. The software allows you to automatically (and manually) send dictations via email and FTP.

In this post i'm going to illustrate how to configure the software to manually send dictations via email, using the SpeechExec Pro Dictate interface.

CONFIGURATION FOR SENDING DICTATIONS VIA EMAIL

1 Install Philips SpeechExec Pro following the instructions included with the installation CD.

2 Once installed, run the application by going to Start > All Programs >SpeechExec Pro Dictate> Speech Exec Pro Dictate icon.

3 Go to Settings > General Settings and complete the screens as follows.

4 Once the ‘Email’ option is selected, click the ‘Configure’ button and check that ‘QuickSend’ is showing as the Active Profile.

Click 'OK'

5 Go to ‘Send/Receive’ and complete as follows.

6 The Philps SpeechExec Pro software is now ready to send to the typist for transcription.

For instructions on how to send a file once a dictation has been completed, click here.

Display information from a table and change the column names

In my database table I have two columns : ProdID and Prod. When I query the database to display the IDs and the product names, I would like to make the result a bit more 'User friendly' by changing the column names to 'Product ID and 'Product'. I do this in the following way :


Open query analyser.
Select the required database.

Select ProdID as 'Product ID', Prod as Products from Inventory

Display information in Upper and Lower case from SQL database

In my database table (products) I have a column called items that lists a number of products in sentence case. In order to display them in upper and lower case I do the following :

Open query analyser.
Select the required database.

Upper case

Select upper (item) from products

Lower case

Select lower (item) from products

Backup a database using a SQL command

In this example, we are backing up the database called 'Customers' to a location on the c: drive.

Backup database Customers to disk = 'c:\customer_backup.bak'

Get current date and time in SQL

There may be times where you will need to insert the current date and time into a database i.e. to record when a transaction has taken place. The command to display this timestamp is as follows :

select getdate() 'Current Date'

If you type this into query analyser you will get the current date and time in a column entitled 'Current Date'.