Members' Site

[MerryVIP]

Well, I moved the thread here.

So, here is how I see it atm:

Honeybee
Co-ordinator
MerryVIP
Site design (and maybe updating)
da_silvy
Code and contents organising

Also notable:
csammis - Free, adless webspace


So, is there any more people coming in to the project? And what you want to do?

Questions related to my bit of work:
- Color theme? I suggest we atleast have a white background.
- Fonts...I think Arial, Tahoma or Verdana would be nice. Any suggestions for fonts in title pictures?
- What kind of title/logo?
- Peaceful look (in which I'm good at) or something different?
- Use frames? I think we should. Easier to update if adding new areas

Questions generally for everyone who joins in:
- Name of the site
- Contents
- Team postlist? Who makes it? We need it?
- What other services we use? Get statistics? (I know one very great service)


In case we have problems getting space from csammis, I suggest www.spaceports.com. It's a reliable server, though must have a banner in each page (or atleast one on the screen).


Contents
- Code optimizations (how to make code as fast as possible)
- Common help for each VB control and common controls (such as RichTextBox and WinSock)
- API
- HowTo (quite much a FAQ styled, step-by-step help for very beginners)
- Source and downloads


Okay, this became quite a long post, hope we manage to make up something from this! I atleast ask everyone who are already joined in to the project to post his ideas and suggestions here.

[HeSaidJoe]

http://www.brinkster.com/

up to 30 M with no banners..ASP available.
Only downside is that you have to use their file manager to upload so it is slower than an ftp hosting...but if you have a few people and it seems you do, you just share the passwords and upload from different directions.

Good luck with your site.

[MerryVIP]

Better be FTP. I hate browser uploads. Especially with many files...I remember the time I had CrossWinds account and I couldn't somewhy use FTP...File by file...And I had hundreds of files...I stopped using CrossWinds because it is real slow from Finland. Even with FTP.

[honeybee]

I do not wish to favour brinkster or other services like domaindlx, my friends doing ASP say these sites are prone to hacking. The ASP support might just turn into a bane.

Also many of these sites ban even Zip, RAR etc. files. I went mad reading the terms of agreement at one of these services.

I shall initiate a dialogue with csammis about the webhosting part.

The only thing I want to say about the contents you have suggested, MerryVIP is that we should keep the FAQ part for the forums themselves. They need it bad and it will also be a gesture of goodwill towards the forums.

I think Winsock is a good control to start exploring first. We can cover it in depth and move on to other controls later. Of course while we do the Winsock control, we can keep gathering material about the other controls.

.

[MerryVIP]

Yeah, I started to think that too after I posted the thread (the FAQ thing). Mostly we could have stuff not found anywhere else plus things that are asked usually in these forums. RichTextBox and WinSock are these kind of controls. I have a little thought here for site hierarchy...


Listing of all pages by category
Code optimizating
- Move command
- ...etc.
Common API
- GetWindowsPath
- ...other APIs
Controls
- Command button
- Label
- ListBox
- TextBox
- ...etc
Custom Controls (OCX)
- WinSock
connecting (how to make WinSock control to try a connection)
connected (getting reply from the server, connection is made)
data receiving (receiving data from a server)
data sending (sending data to a server)
disconnecting (sending disconnection information and disconnection)
errors (possible errors, can cause disconnection for example)
Downloads
- GNU projects
- Ready programs (with sourcecode)
- Sample code
- Sample programs


Okay, that didn't appear as well as I wanted but I think it tells the idea :rolleyes:

Then, of course, there are links, frontpage and we tell about VB Forums and VB World. The download side needs maybe more discussion...Ideas?

Btw, as an idea, I can write somekind of article about developing a program with Windows look standards. I have seen many programs which just look ugly, are quite unlogical and use things in a "wrong way". Say what you think.

As in code side, I think we can mainly stick in VB 6 compatible, though I can provide VB 4 compatible code.

[honeybee]

I have sent an email to csammis an hour or so back. Let's see what he has to say.

The site design is good for starters, we can always improve upon it later. The only thing is the ready code and downloads. Our site must have these parts unique, too. We can't put the usual Winsock examples found on other sites on our site, too. Maybe code which will help a particular functionality of the control.

At present let's restrict the downloads to sourcecode and compiled programs of the ideas we shall discuss.

.

[da_silvy]

hypermart.net isn't too bad either...

I may not be able to do much work, for a while, (about 3-4 weeks) as i have exams soon :( but after that I am as free as could be... :)

[MerryVIP]

We could have classes in downloads too...Joacim made a cool common dialog class. You can see the thread here:
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77191

I can start creating a site design in Thursday, I have a day off then. I'm writing a fantasy story to a competition and I must get it ready today or tomorrow. Hope I win, first price is nice and second isn't bad either :rolleyes:

[da_silvy]

what site design honeybee?

"the site design is good for starters"??

[MerryVIP]

Oh yeah, about the time...I'm not much online after week or a two. I want to save in phonebill, I have been way too much online last few months (at home too). Maybe I try to get in this place where I'm now to summer work... :D

[da_silvy]

okay

we can all look out for useful code on vb-world forums, then give some credit to the submitters

[MerryVIP]

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77208

Thread dedicated for design. You two have been there already :)
Blue...

[MerryVIP]

Oh yeah, what will be name of the site? Just "VB-Forums Members' Site"?

[honeybee]

Why not just call it Our Site ?

Take another poll for the name of the site, too. Or I shall do it this time.

And though you say that you will not be online much, stay in touch either through the forums or by emails.

By the way, we don't have a complete list of members interested with email addresses and homepages.

Here:

honeybee (email: honeybee_vb@gmx.net homepage: http://honeybee.freehosting.net)

Add yours so I can make a list of all.

.

[MerryVIP]

Merry (e-mail: merry@mbnet.fi homepage: http://merrysoft.cjb.net)

Heh, guess I add this thread to bookmarks :D

[honeybee]

Another section we can add is Members' Homepages.

Here we can list out the best of the members' homepages in terms of the quality of the VB content in them.

da_silvy, I was referring to the proposed site design by MerryVIP.

.

[honeybee]

MerryVIP, I have heard from csammis, and I have cc:ed my last reply to his email to you, too.

Since the forums are going to be unstable in the coming few days, it may be better to keep in touch by email.

.

[csammis]

csammis (email: csammis@iastate.edu homepage: Mulunkey! Software (http://www.mulunkey.com))

[honeybee]

Thanks for the reply, Christopher.

Even without ASP support, there won't be much missed, since most of our site will be static, not like the VB Forums. PERL Scripts checking is OK, as you have to ensure the safety of your system first.

We shall decide now as to who has to do the uploading.

.

[honeybee]

VB Depot ??

Looks a little idiotic, but fit for our purpose.

There have not been many helpful suggestions from the other thread, http://forums.vb-world.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77221, and this is the best I could find from the responses.

Or plain VB-World Members Site, but that would be confusing.

.

[csammis]

Okay, I'm getting things set up either tomorrow or the next day.

For now, it'll be vb.mulunkey.com. It doesn't point to anything yet, though.

[scoutt]

I'd like to help if I could. help MerryVIP with site design or uploading or anything, just put me to work boss.

[MerryVIP]

Okay, I think you can mail FTP connection info to me...Cursed webmail doesn't work properly atm. So send info to merry@mbnet.fi and I send a test version up on Thursday. I try to make the updating of pages as easy as possible, though I must ask to write the pages straight in HTML.

I did a Google search for VB Depot, nearest matches were a small forum with the same name and a site named VB5 Depot. So I think we can use the name without any problems.


More about the design:

1. Fonts:
- normal text and smaller headers: verdana
- big header <H1>: tofu
- site title font: tofu


2. Colors:
- white and lightgrey bg
- blue links
- darkblue headers and bold text
- big header is black though
- small text blue/darkblue (or somewhere in the middle
- black text


3. Techniques:
- HTML 4 compatible code
- CSS (using some IE 5 and NS 6 tricks, not causing problems with older browsers)
- JavaScript (in case I make menu as images, NS 3>, IE 4> and Opera 5 compatible)

- maybe CGI additions? Someone else can take charge with these things
- PHP...not sure. I haven't done internet programming. I know PHP has something to do with databases. Someone else can help me with this if we will use it


I hope I make up my best design this far :D

[honeybee]

Scoutt, welcome on board. Although there is no one called a Work Boss, since I am supposed to co-ordinate everything, let me greet you and welcome you.

What are your skills which can help us in this endeavour ?

MerryVIP, you can take charge of uploading pages to the webserver. Also we shall finalize VBDepot or vbdepot as our site name, till someone else comes up with a better-looking name. In any case, the new name should be really good and catchy, else we shall end up changing our site name too many times. Also, now we can afford to play around a bit, but once we make the site available to others, we cannot change its name.

csammis, will there be any domain registration? I guess not, as we shall have a subdomain under www.mulunkey.com which must have been registered by you. You can go ahead with www.vbdepot.mulunkey.com as our sub-domain and email the ftp access permissions to MerryVIP.

.

[csammis]

There won't be any domain registration. For anyone familiar with web server configuration, www.vbdepot.mulunkey.com will be a "virtual host", which means that if our IP changes it'll be a while before your site becomes available again (for that matter, it'll be a while before www.mulunkey.com becomes available again).

Anyway, I'll have it set up by the end of the day, and MerryVIP, I'll email you FTP user/pass. IMPORTANT: When you upload pages, if it's a PHP file, use the ".php" extension, not ".php4" or whatever, and as a preference for HTML, use ".htm" instead of ".html". You can use either/both, though.

[csammis]

Until I get the server configured, www.vbdepot.mulunkey.com points to "sevarg.net", which is the old homepage of my web engineer

[scoutt]

well I have done a couple of webpages.

first one - http://www.geocities.com/scoutt_42

second one - http://www.motorcycleridersassoc.org

I have played around with php, cgi, javascript. granted I am not fluent in those languages but can manipulate it to do what I want. I basically can do anything if I set my mind to it and play with it long enough. I am not that good at vb (yet) I am in the process of learning it. I do have full ver. of photoshop and paintshop plus a couple other graphics programs. Although my talent is not graphics, I can help in that dept. if needed be. you think of anything else I can probably give it my best shot.

[honeybee]

Scoutt, you can hone your skills in PHP to make some database management system, as we shall need to store the code snippets in the database. Also there will be mailing lists and other stuff to take care of, especially since the mail server at our site will not be much dependable.

.

[scoutt]

cool I will look into that. on the mailing list, do you want a page where the user can select an email by radio button and have a textbox to write something then send it to that persons email or you have something else in mind.

my email scoutt@webspaz.net

[MerryVIP]

As I haven't yet received the e-mail with FTP information, I uploaded the current site design to http://koti.mbnet.fi/merry/vbdepot/

I think I did quite a good job :rolleyes:

[honeybee]

About the site name:

vbdepot, or vbden ?

I prefer the later.


Scoutt, the mailing list I have in mind is similar to the ones maintained at most other sites, where you receive periodical updates etc. But our list should be able to record the area of interest of the user along with the email address, and any update on our site in that area should be intimated to this user.

Something like this:

User1 Email Address User1@mail.com Interested In: ActiveX Controls

Next time we update any articles or code in the ActiveX controls section, the User1 should receive an email about this update.

In short, it should really be useful, instead of spamming or free offers.

One most important aspect, the database to be used. Should we decide on it now, or later when we have decided on the technology to be used?

At present, we have the choice of HTML with Client side scripting using Java or HTML with Server-side scripting using PHP. The advantage in using PHP is it's almost free, and has built-in database support, especially for MySQL, which in turn is free, too. So we can use PHP with MySQL to provide a good database-driven website.

The code snippets have to be stored in the database, either in Memo fields, or if they are files, their locations need to be tracked.

Also we have to keep a record of people who visit our site, the mailing lists, and people who contribute to the site by submitting code and/or articles.

Any ideas on this part? I am good at database design, so if we can gather the details that need to be recorded, I can work towards this aspect.

Also I am starting excursions into the PHP through websites, so if we go for PHP, we shall have some people at least knowing how to code HTML pages in PHP.

And I shall email a copy of my Code Database program to all members sometime in a couple of days, so you can start piling up a code library of sorts. It was meant to be given to Honeybee's Club members, but what the heck! This is another club by itself!

.

[scoutt]

very nice job MerryVIP. I am impressed, better than wha tI could have done. I am looking into the email manager and I found this which might suit our needs.

http://www.technobreeze.net/php/emaillist/

as far as the database goes I think if we go with PHP we need the MySQL. very easy to configure and setup and play around with. it could also hold up to 2 gig of information, give or take a few.

Honeybee, thanks for the database. I am also making my own so I can learn vb.

let me know if this will do as far as the mailing list. sorry it took me so long to get it but I had unexpected duties to perform.

take a look at the mailing list and see if it woll work.

[honeybee]

Scoutt, that looks like the stuff for us. Can you download it and start testing it? You can enter our email address in it for a start.

MerryVIP, the site design looks good, and the most important thing is it should have a guestbook/feedback page. At present I think the link is not working.

Most imp: Change Code Optimalisation to Code Optimization.

When the site is full of content, the right-side pain may obstruct a complete view of the content. Can we reduce the font by a point there?

The colour scheme is nice, and you can even add some background colour to the right-side pane. At present, only if there is some content, there is some colour. I think you have taken cues from the Forums there. But a generic background colour would be nice.

Another suggestion is to combine our email and homepage links under a separate section on 'Contact' or 'Founder Members' or something like that. You can keep the 'Thanks to csammis' visible, but hide our own email addresses and links under a separate heading. (At present, let it be there, so the left-side doesn't look empty.)

And since you are using a smaller font on the left, why not reduce the width of the left-hand pane/frame?

Overall, it looks superb.

.

[scoutt]

Merry I don't know if it is just my computer or what but when I load the site in IE, on the right all I see is 'site design:' and not your name, I see everythihng else it's just that your name is cut off. But it loads in NS just fine.

Feedback page: if you want to wip up a html form page I have a php script that will send any form to whomever, there are some variables you would have to put in.
Variables:
the email the form is sent to, the name has to be: 'to'
if you want required fields, eg. name, email. put * in front of the Name.

all the name fields have to be lower case.
eg.
<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME="*name" size=30 >

then have a hidden field

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="Form" VALUE="Feedback">

that way the person receiving the mail knows what it is. those are the neccesary fields. you can have all you want and it will find them.

Ok I need the php line for the server. something to this nature

#!/usr/local/php4/bin/php.

this needs to be in the scripts that require them. I do have a working model, I am trying to get the colors to match the main page. I might have to insert the path to the css if I can't. And then change the code to work with that.


it has an administration part too, I have not worked in the colors for that, that would be up to whomever, but once the adminstrator gets scripts up then they have to send an email to who has subscribed. well it is pretty easy once it is setup. all the signup is for you to put your name in the database and then once registered you can pick what catagories you want updated info on, pretty slick.

I would also need the DB name, user name, password, host. and if you want me to upload it I need the ftp stuff too or I can just send it to Merry, no biggie.

whew, that all

[scoutt]

The email List Manager is ready to go when ever you are, and I get the parameters for the php tha tI need.
Looking into the storing code now.

[honeybee]

Scoutt, I shall email csammis about the PHP and the list to be uploaded on the server. You can send the material to MerryVIP at present, so he can upload it on the site www.mulunkey.com

If you can do the feedback form in PHP, that's great, because then we can have something like our forums, a customized Email form which will email the contents to everyone of us.

Can you try something like that? When any visitor posts a feedback, it is emailed to all of us ?

MerryVIP, have you received the FTP info yet? If so, try to upload the pages onto our site.

.

[csammis]

Okay, it's up!

scoutt, you may have the wrong idea about PHP...it's nothing at all like CGI scripts, there is no shebang line. It's code embedded in an HTML file that gets parsed by the server.

The address HAS NOT RESOLVED; I'm emailing the FTP info to MerryVIP. The address will resolve once the server restarts (it's on a system that restarts when the traffic is zero, so it'll probably be okay late tomorrow morning)

Have fun!

[scoutt]

csammis The reason I was asking is because the php scripts I use on my webpage have to have it, in the files that are not being required or included, in order for it to work or I get a 500 internal server error. But, if you don't need to have it on your server that is great.

I do need the DB name, host, user, password, so I can send it to MerryVIP and then all he has to do is load it and configure it to make the tables and categories. That is if MerryVIP can't do it. If so, I will send it

Honeybee the email form I think is only one email address at a time (I think) I will check it out, but that is a good idea.

I think I might have a script that will work for the code, but it is giving me troubles running atm. I think I am just missing something simple, :)

[MerryVIP]

I think I get a CGI feedback form, found out that I had downloaded one months ago and then forgotten it. I think I know now how to set it up, I test it with my other site.

scoutt, I think I can edit PHP files. Will see it then. I'm quite good in understanding code, whatever the language is. I see if the CSS file can be included.

I have done the changes to the look now. I inserted a small bgpic, you can rate it when you see it (it is 2x2 pixels in side :rolleyes: ). Menubar is now 160 pixels in width. And last, I changed the titlepics to have VB-Den in them. So, atm the site name is that.

If we store most things into a database, I think we need structure of somekind. So, here is somekind of idea:

Main areas:
api
code
common
custom
homepage
nonvb

Then you can use a ready subarea or make a new one, and everyone can control (=move, edit and delete) entries in the subareas. Each area are quite much the same except for homepage, because it is just an alphabetical list of members' homepages.

Subareas could have:
title
idname

And last, what each "thread" can have: (except for homepage)
title
text
code
usage
help (automatically includes "The following is copyright by Microsoft Corporation" before the text)


Also, there should be a separate News update page.


NOTE: the program honeybee sent to me isn't working with me, so I'm not sure if he already planned all this.


I hope I made this clear...Other pages can be updated manually and by me. As a tip for scoutt, you can look into the pages source to see how I have contructed them.

I think I leave the guestbook away afterall, we could make a one of our own.

[MerryVIP]

Download the CSS file: http://koti.mbnet.fi/merry/vbdepot/index.css

[honeybee]

MerryVIP, I shall re-send the source code as well as the setup package to you today night, that's about 10 hrs from now. I am in the office at present, and don't have it here.

Also the code database is supposed to store code snippets at a single place. If you surf sites such as www.vbcode.com, you find many small pieces of code which are useful. The code database was designed to provide a means of storing these pieces all in one location where you could search a code snippet and use it in your code.

The application is in its infant stage and doesn't do much than storing the snippets and displaying them in a Tree View structure for easy reference.

As for the database part, I do not know the architecture of the MySQL database system, but we can design an Access database which will later be transported to MySQL. Either through code or through some tool if present.

The documentation at the PHP site says it provides for a way to store your site details in a database from where they are retrieved every time. This way if you have to change some vital aspects of the site tomorrow, you don't end up modifying hundreds of pages. For e.g. the background colour used for the left-hand menu pane, or the font used to show the plain text. If we store such details in the database, every time the PHP scripts will pick them up from the database and use them. So, tomorrow if we need to change the font for the regular text, all we need to do is change a single field in the database.

Scoutt, PHP essentially is a freeware version of ASP, although uses a different technology. It has its own server extensions, I think you must already be aware of it. The point is just like ASP pages require an extension of .ASP so the web server can execute them, the PHP pages require the extension .PHP or .PHP4 etc depending upon the PHP configuration at the server. There may not be any other requirements for running PHP. And csammis has already informed that the PHP pages need to have the extension .PHP

You can try uploading a couple of test pages on the site tomorrow when it's up, and see the results.

It looks like the FTP is going to be difficult with two people trying to develop the site together from two different places. What I mean is Scoutt will write the PHP scripts and MerryVIP will write the HTML pages, and the two have to work together. If Scoutt sends the PHP pages to MerryVIP, there is no way to test them until they are uploaded to the server.

Scoutt, do you think you can test your pages on your machine? Can you download the same version of Apache Webserver and MySQL that csammis's machine is running ? This way you can test the scripts before sending them to MerryVIP for uploading. This will save us a lot of trouble since there are problems in direct access to the server.

About the emailing, Scoutt, if you cannot configure the email list to have multiple destinations at present, there won't be a big problem. In that case, we need to centralize the email retrieval process at one location, i.e. assign a person to read all the emails received from the visitors and then take the necessary action accordingly, like forwarding technical matters to the respective members etc.

MerryVIP, can you take the responsibility of setting up the Guestbook and the Hit Counter? As soon as the site goes online tomorrow morning, you can upload these two parts there. About the Guestbook, we can have two approaches. Implement an ordinary guestbook or directly go for the feedback form we have talked about. If you think the feedback form is complicated, let's have the guestbook as in most other sites. The only thing is the site password required to read the guestbook entries. Either we have to let all see the guestbook entries or distribute the password amongst us so we can read the guestbook at our leisure.

Once the guestbook is implemented, we can ask members to directly post their comments there, and any time we make modifications, we can ask them to re-visit the site. Also we can ourselves start posting feedbacks right there.

.

[MerryVIP]

Okay, I get the guestbook and counter/statistics when I get back from lunch break.

I agree, it is a bit hard to do teamwork, especially as I have to work at home with the site and I can't be much online. I do the tests etc. today, to all what I can get via e-mail (and not).

[honeybee]

Yup, there are problems, but that's part of life.

Even I can't do much from office, as our net access is not freely allowed and appreciated, and I shall have to do any extensive online work from home. And I spend a good part of about 5 hours in travelling, so don't have any energy left at the end of the day.

Hey, let's just forget the problems and work together. Look on the brighter side, we have got a place to host our site without ads, got a team together to do the initial work and all this without any cost other than our commitment and time.

.

[MerryVIP]

Okay, I have now uploaded the files to mulunkey.com

First, I suggest the URL will be http://www.vbden.mulunkey.com as I have used it in the configuration of statistics and guestbook. Then, I have set up a guestbook and statistics.

I set up a feedback form, but I weren't able to test if it works as the URL isn't working. And: I weren't able to chmod 755 two files I uploaded into the cgi-bin folder. Reason to this?

You can mail to me if you want to know how to admin guestbook or statistics. This is getting good...

[ricmitch_uk]

Well. It looks like you've done a lot. I've just been talking with HB over the PM sys. I can to any HTML, Style sheets, Flash, etc. you need.
I can also do cool graphics for you guys.
:D

[scoutt]

Honeybee, That is just what I've been doing. I have tested the scripts to get them in working before I send them. I know they need the .php extension, it's just that on my server it needs the line for the path in the script.


remember that the colors aren't done, just got it working for the code. I only uploaded a couple of codes jsut for example. check it out and see if it will work. there is one bug in it, but I can't find it. still looking. I did the mailing list for updates also and it is all working, ready to send to MerryVIP for uploading. But like I said I need the line for the php path in mine, so if Chris doesn't need it on his server I can take it out. Aslo the feedback for I have is that is lists all out emial and the user can pick where to send it, But I can look into the mass email too.

MerryVIP, most of the scripts will accept with the .css, actually it uses one but I'm sure you can configure it to our colors and text. It is very easy to impliment.

[MerryVIP]

Ok, I have tested the feedback form in my other site, didn't get to work. There may be something I haven't seen/yet understood. I'm looking for more info about it.

I won't be online on Saturday. Tuesday is my last day at work, which means I lose tons of online time. So I would like to hurry a bit to have the thing working before Wednesday...But then again, better not to hurry, let the things come when they come :rolleyes:

[honeybee]

Scoutt, I visited the link and registered myself under the name honeybee. It worked. I have yet to test the remaining part as my connection dropped and now I have to rush to office. I shall test it further from office or late tonight.

Just a small Q: What's with the ads? After login the screen says you can configure your username, password and ads. And there are no API Controls, just to be exact.

I have emailed csammis about the path matters, and what we can do is upload these two PHP pages as they are to the webserver and test them. If the path info is required, we can find it out and put it in, else if it's not giving any trouble, we can leave it there, so it will also work on your machine.

More from the office.

.

[scoutt]

he he oops, :rolleyes: little typo's. should be fixed. it was basically a classifieds ads script that I made into a script to post code instead. I couldn't find one just for that so I am making my own so to speak. that is why you will notice I left in the link back to the site I got it from to give acknowledgement. And the guy that wrote it in the first place. I will email the mailing list so MerryVIP can set it up and get it working, when I get home, at work now :D

[scoutt]

I have sent the mailing list and the script for the code DB to MerryVIP.

I will look at the feedback form to see if I can mass email.

[ricmitch_uk]

I reckon a section with graphics (smilies & avatars) would be good.

[honeybee]

Good work, Scoutt.

ricmitch_uk, can you design a cool logo for our site?

The next assignment could be to compile our photographs into a single page which can give details about the people working behind the site, but that's a low priority at present.

Also you can supervise the image processing for our site. This means you have to advise on the image sizes and formats, and most importantly ensure that any screenshots posted come out right.

That's a starter, not much to do with VB I guess, but I think you will like it.

.

[ricmitch_uk]

The tracking on your site doesn't work. I checked it just now.

[MerryVIP]

The tracking doesn't work because it isn't in the correct URL.

[scoutt]

:cool:

So I take it the script for displaying the code will work for us?

I was also thinking that if we have a section for projects that people did with source code, I don't think that can be uploaded in the MySql DB but I could be wrong. We might hav eot have a seperate page for it. just a thought.

[honeybee]

Scoutt, although the entire project could not be stored in a database, we can get zip files and store their locations in the database.

Also you will find that many other sites contain the source code zip files. Our database can contain the URLs of such files.

.

[scoutt]

that is a good idea. take a look at this page and tell me if something like this would work for our site?



something like this were the user has a choice of whom to send it to. that way they could send an email to the specific person about the problem, if there was any. MerryVIP could just had the radio options to the existing form we have already and then I can send the script that would work with that form. just a thought.

[scoutt]

forget that last post. I made a script to email everybody. I will need da_silvy and rics email if they want to be in it. I have not tested it yet so I will get back to you. I will be gone for most of the day, so I will do it tonight.

[ricmitch_uk]

My email is below.
|
|
|
\/

[MerryVIP]

Okay, I'm reading PHP documentation to learn it. I also make another site as a test and make my own database there. Must get experience more before I start confusing with the files too much :rolleyes:

As for writing the site name, I think VB-Den looks better than vbden, VBden or VBDen. I used in the graphics too as you know.

Site paths:

www.vbden.mulunkey.com - The main site
www.vbden.mulunkey.com/php/ - The PHP dir atm
www.vbden.mulunkey.com/phpmail/ - The emaillist


And now I'm off to learn :rolleyes:

[honeybee]

Scoutt, except the look of the page, the functionality looks neat. Now here is what we need to do. The names of the persons can be picked up from a database and shown with the radio buttons. This way, if we need to add/remove a person to the mailing list, we don't have to modify the HTML or PHP pages. Simply add/remove the record in the database and the fresh data will be picked up in the page.

All in all, we seem to be making good progress, except the database design and the site content.

I shall start working on the design today. And since this is a tough part, we may have to go over it again and again, just to make sure we don't land up in trouble afterwards.

Another idea is instead of displaying the names of people whom to email, the user might just send the mail to an address like support@vbden.com or something, and based on the subject of the email, it would be sent to an appropriate person. For this to work, we shall have to fix the subjects to be displayed, again maybe in a table, and ask the user to select the subject from a drop-down list. It could be something like this:

About the Site
About any Code in the Site
...
...


.

[MerryVIP]

For learning PHP and source codes, I found this site: http://www.phpbuilder.com

It seems to be real good, I've downloaded a bunch of stuff to test...There seem to be hitcounters, messageboards, etc.


I know now what PHP is about, I hope. Seems a lot like C without memory handling. I do some testing when I get home...Shame I can't be online enough to test properly.

[scoutt]

Ya that is a good site. I used it once or twice. I made the email script to send everyone an email from the feedback page. I have tested it and it works pretty good. Now it all depends on if we go that way or not. The script is in Perl (easier to make). I like the idea of making it look at the DB to get the name/email address. something else I will have to look into.

MerryVIP, a very good script to work with DB (MySql) is called PHPMyAdmin. it lets you configure the DB and add/remove tables. very easy to understand. I use it alot to see if things are going into the DB/table when I run a script.

[MerryVIP]

Ok thanks. Is there any other tools I should have? And can I run PHP files without installing them to a server, to test them?

[ricmitch_uk]

You'll need to install some software. PWS (Personal Web Server) should probably handle it. It might be on your Windows CD, otherwise you'll have to download it. If that doesn't work then there shoudl be some pointers at the PHP site you found.

[scoutt]

ya that might work or any other server software. here is an article to read about installing it on win9x systems.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/install-windows.php

but you will need MySql also. read it here

http://www.mysql.com/doc/W/i/Windows_installation.html

let me know how it turns out.

[honeybee]

Originally posted by ricmitch_uk
You'll need to install some software. PWS (Personal Web Server) should probably handle it. It might be on your Windows CD, otherwise you'll have to download it. If that doesn't work then there shoudl be some pointers at the PHP site you found.

I doubt that. PHP needs server extensions just like Frontpage, or ASP for non-MS webservers.

Also I think MySQL for Windows is NOT free. Both PHP and MySQL are free for the Apache webserver.

.

[scoutt]

form the php manual
The Windows PHP installer available from the downloads page at http://www.php.net/, this installs the CGI version of PHP and, for IIS, PWS, and Xitami, configures the web server as well.
I do believe it needs a server

I also downloaded MySql, The MySQL server is distributed under the GPL license. this is for the windows version I just downloaded.
and your right Honeybee, it does need the extensions but comes with default extensions also. But can add more

MerryVIP, how are things coming with the scripts?

[MerryVIP]

With scripts I'm atm a bit confused, or more likely because I yet don't know enough..I probably do rewriting when I start understanding the code too. I have downloaded a lot of code and examples so it may take time until I do anything new to the scripts.

[honeybee]

Do we need to rush things? MerryVIP, how long will you be away? Any others who plan any vacations so that they will be away from the site work?

We have to put some content now, so if you are away, we can at least get some feedback on the content. I shall start with a tutorial on the Microsoft Windows Common Controls, which includes the ListView, TreeView and such things.

.

[billfaceuk]

Howdy people thought I would step in and offer a helping hand. If you want I could make you a nice intro screen in Flash...

[scoutt]

I don't plan on going anywhere.

MerryVIP, it is not so much as db.yourname.com it is just a DB in the name of for example vbdendb or vbdb, I am not sure if he (csammis) has to make it or you can, my server host had to make mine, and once that is done you can make/delete tables in it. so if he can just make the DB we can get things rolling. Because I think that is the only thing wrong with scripts from what I saw. they do work (execute) but just can't connect to the DB.

[MerryVIP]

Yeah, that was my point. If you can mail csammis, do it, I can't mail atm somewhy.

There's a plenty of time to my vacation, over a month. That's why I said I think this thing will be ready before that :D

I will be having hard time for now on, I'm having my last day in work, and tomorrow is my last school day. I can't be at forums enough. I have missed some posts already, but I'm too lazy to re-read them.

I can take care of RichTextBox and most of the normal controls. I haven't used Data and OLE, so someone else can do them. I can't remember if there is other controls which I haven't used enough to write about.

[ricmitch_uk]

Here's a logo. Let me know what you think. I didn't think you wanted anything too graphical. I've optimized as much as I dare, without losing too much quality.
http://www.vbforums.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=371597
If you want to buy a domain use www.uk2.net
they start at 16p a month for a .co.uk
:D

[honeybee]

The logo looks good. Can you change the bottom line so that it is more easily readable ?

.

[ricmitch_uk]

Yeah sure.
I'll upload it in a mo...

[ricmitch_uk]

Do you want versions in different sizes? Or a higher resolution version you can maipulate yourself? Or one with a transparent background?

[scoutt]

Honeybee, have we decidied on what way we are going to do the feedback script. I have a perl script that will email everyone, I have also been looking into php to email everyone and I think I can do one of those too. or do we want it to lok at the DB for the emails and have the user pick one?

I have also emailed csammis to make the DB and give the information to me or MerryVIP or if we can do it ourself.

nice logo Ric

[ricmitch_uk]

Thanks.
Heres the new one, it's a bit different, but you can actually read the text on this one.
http://www.vbforums.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=372301

[csammis]

Okay, here's the deal:

The computer that the web server is on doesn't have any database capabilities, since we don't do any database work (we're old-fashioned...text files with damn fast search routines for us!).

I really don't have the time to put a database on and administer it. Right now we're up to our necks trying to complete a few applications in time for summer. I'll add this to the list of things to do, and I'll honestly try to get to it ASAP, but I can't promise anything spectacular.

I haven't been keeping track of this thread recently...what specifically do you need to use DBs for? Is there any way you can work around that requirement? (similar to www.vb-world.net, and how they just use subdirectories to organize their data)

[MerryVIP]

I don't like the logo all that much, but if most like it, we can use it. I can send Tofu, the font I used in the logo I made up fast (the one in the topbar and top of every page).

I think both fonts you used are a bit confusing, I weren't able to read them well. Oh well, I'm always in the other side with graphics :D


As for databases...It is possible not to use databases and use normal text files instead. But it's much harder to do...I guess. I have to look more PHP. I have done a simple news script that uses just text scripts, it isn't protected though (anyone can send).

Databases are needed for storing codesnippets and stuff. You can see more about it in the second page of this thread. Though, of course, they could be done as text based...But again, easier to handle from databases.

Actually, I didn't first think we really need databases, we could do all with just plain HTML. Updating is harder though.

[scoutt]

Ya that sucks not be able to use a DB. Having one is a lot more easier then a text file. I can look into a php script that saves/loads to a text file.

or you can just edit all the html pages. a lot harder though.

[MerryVIP]

As an idea, we could make an editor that makes text files online and which we can use, and which keeps up a simple text file with the filenames. Then one script can be called to show the wanted pages and one to list the pages...Somekind of idea...Oh well. This thing really needs more thinking.

[honeybee]

DB may not be a burning issue as such at present, when we are still beginning. But later on it may pose problems.

The PHP-MySQL documents advocate the use of databases for managing the websites, as updations and changes are real easy then.

If the database support cannot be obtained right now, we have to wait and try to work with plain files.

.

[ricmitch_uk]

Originally posted by MerryVIP
I don't like the logo all that much, but if most like it, we can use it. I can send Tofu, the font I used in the logo I made up fast (the one in the topbar and top of every page).

I think both fonts you used are a bit confusing, I weren't able to read them well. Oh well, I'm always in the other side with graphics :D

To be honest, I don't think it's my best work either;). I think the first font is good. Maybe it would look better without the phrase at the bottom? Gimme your comments people:)...

[ricmitch_uk]

Right here are all the logos. I'm going to start a new thread in this forum so that you guys can vote for which one you want.
Here they are:
1.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo1.gif
2.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo2.gif
3.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo3.gif
4.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo4.gif
5.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo5.gif
6.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo6.gif
7.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo7.gif
8.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo8.gif
9.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo9.gif
10.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo10.gif
11.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo11.gif
12.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo12.gif
13.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo13.gif
14.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo14.gif
15.http://www.hhcr.freeserve.co.uk/logo15.gif
There you go. Go and vote now!:D

[ricmitch_uk]

Euston, we have a problem...
Someone has a site with the same name as us...
It's here:
http://vbden.tripod.com/
That person's VBforums user name is:
sastraxi

:(:(

[Sastraxi]

Ah forget about it...

I don't care anyways, if I can help a bit... you can use my Tripod address.

[Sastraxi]

And plus all it has are a few tutorials, a d/l page, all unlinked, so I don't really care, I can motor over to my http://sastraxi.tripod.com/ account, so you can use the name.

[ricmitch_uk]

Thanks on behalf of the crew:), who strangley aren't here...:confused:

[scoutt]

thanks Sastraxi, I was the one that suggested the name but didn't check to see if anybody had it to begin with. again thanks

[scoutt]

ha ha I finally go it. I got a script for our codes that does not use a database, well no MySql anyway. it uses a flat file DB. I just have to get some pictures and colors squared away and then it should be done. have a look here


remember that is is not all the way done. but the functionality is there.

[Sastraxi]

Whenever you want the site just call me and I'll move on out...

BTW Scoutt, that is SWEET!
Although it takes it's sweet time loading up... took about 1 minute on my computer...

Good job nonetheless.

[scoutt]

thanks, it is a little slow because it is a cgi script. but it works without a DB. it will have to do until they setup the DB on the mulunkey.com site. I really don't know what is going on with the site, if we keep it or move to yours, just have to wait to see what the other guys think.

[honeybee]

Many many thanks, Sastraxi. We would surely have tried to change the name vbden had we noticed your homepage earlier. That was nice of you to offer that name to our site. And if you think you can contribute in any way, feel free to ask. Since it's still in an early stage, we may not have work for all those who want to help, but as the site grows, I am sure we shall need all the help we can.

Meanwhile, vbden members, I am going outstation for three days, and the reason I could not visit the thread earlier was that the servers were being replaced, I guess, and then I was down with cold.

Anyway, I have started compiling material on the Common Controls and shall try to email the first part to MerryVIP.

.

[da_silvy]

Originally posted by ricmitch_uk
Thanks on behalf of the crew:), who strangley aren't here...:confused:

are u a part of the crew now too ricmitch_uk?

[da_silvy]

a logo

[ricmitch_uk]

Yeah. I'm doing the logo:p as you can see from the above posts. Only 4 ppl have voted so far. We need more votes to make it fair. Go HERE (http://161.58.186.97/showthread.php?s=&postid=376562#post376562) to vote.:)

[Sastraxi]

Well, for the record I like #9, but I could also go for #4, similar to Behemoth's post...

[MerryVIP]

I'm evil and I put in my own logo suggestion :rolleyes:
It's just that I don't like the "mechanical" feel of Rich's logos. See my one below.


Sorry that I have been off a couple of days, I have been busy sleeping as my school ended. Of last 48 hours I have slept half. And then again, I have been coding a program for my sister, a better text editor (replaces Notepad [and soon my HTML editor too, begins to look like that]).

As for the CGI scoutt have put up, it's great, if it's safe and easy to keep up. Only thing is that it needs to be made to use the site design. But that's a quite easy job to do, though may take time.

I try to organize my doings for next weeks, so I know what all I have in progress. Being too creative...And I have to sleep too, I haven't slept this well for a long time.

I'm off to bed now

[Sastraxi]

Hey guys, I've just got an itty bitty problem:
Look at my email address:

vb.den@gmx.co.uk

[da_silvy]

what's so bad about that?

[Sastraxi]

...people may get the idea that i work for your site...
Wait a second, I do..!

If you guys let me...
So what openings do you have for me...

(but i wont be able to spend ALL of my time on the site, Times of War don't you know...)

[scoutt]

I don't think it will make a difference since it is backwards.

hence vb.den@ instead of name@vbden. besides the mail server is not very good (so I here) so we might not even have email.

as far as doing something, you would have to talk to the coordinator (HoneyBee).

[ricmitch_uk]

Originally posted by MerryVIP
I'm evil and I put in my own logo suggestion :rolleyes:
It's just that I don't like the "mechanical" feel of Rich's logos. See my one below.

That logo has a bit of mechanical thing about it. I thought that the mechanical feel would be best seeing as we are dealing with computers which are an advanced machine. Also it's a minimalist thing... stylish:rolleyes:.

[da_silvy]

Originally posted by scoutt
I don't think it will make a difference since it is backwards.

hence vb.den@ instead of name@vbden. besides the mail server is not very good (so I here) so we might not even have email.

as far as doing something, you would have to talk to the coordinator (HoneyBee).

or you could talk to the Content Manager (*me*) ;)

[MerryVIP]

Heh, this becaming design threat now...Oh well. My targets in the current design were simple and nice looking site, one that isn't against anyone, a peaceful one (and that's the way I know best). That is also why the colors are light grey, blue and black, look kinda cool. Have to think what kind of "standard" could be used in the graphics side...Hmm...

All titleimages should be on a light background. This to make those titles come out well. I see that as a one problem in ricmitch's images, dark on dark. I think sharp pictures are better than soft. Oh well...I think I have a thread for this but I'm too lazy to search for it now :rolleyes:

As for updating VB-Den, I make an update next week. No PHP or CGI, just plain HTML format. I have kept up a site in this way, and I got up from 30 pages to 150 without massive problems. I think I could handle even 1000 pages, but when it comes to changing looks or adding new features, I guess that would be a problem. Atleast it would take time to update many pages (though I guess I would edit my HTML editor to do things faster :D )

[da_silvy]

What should i do when i get new code/content then?

[scoutt]

so does that mean that you don't want the script for the code then?

I am adjusting the colors right now, well trying to.

[da_silvy]

what script?

[scoutt]

the script that I have for people to insert there code to the site so everybody can see it. I had to set the colors so take a peak here


let me know what you think. It should be done unless MerryVIP finds somehting wrong, shouldn't though. ;)

[da_silvy]

i think the code should not be directly added, but sent off to me, so that i can see what it is, or if we have anything similar,

otherwise our site will become overridden with useless code,

such as "How to use a MsgBox"

[scoutt]

it has an administration area so you can delete any code you want or ban any user or edit. Honeybee suggested to me that I could get a script that stores the code to a DB so I did, then found out that the site doesn't have a DB on it so I got this script. but if you want people to email you everytime they submit a code, then that is cool, no problem. it just means more work for you, :)

[MerryVIP]

Heh, ok, at the moment da_silvy can post all the accepted code to me so I can update the site's current version. We can do like this until scoutt gets the script match the site overall look :)

Nothing to fear scoutt, only temporary :rolleyes:

[honeybee]

Hey guys, just to let you know I am back from my outings to the sea.

Will check out this thread in detail and our site morrow from the office.

.

[scoutt]

whew, I thought all my hard works was for nothing, :D

if you check the link a couple of post back you will see it should be done. check it out and let me know if that is pretty close to the sites design. it is using your index.css script.

[da_silvy]

can you make it so only people of power,

i.e. me, honeybee, yourself, merryvip etc can post code

and let us have passwords ?

[da_silvy]

this may be asking a bit much csammis, but could we possibly do something about the 404 error?


http://ads.sevarg.net/404.htm

[scoutt]

I think that could be arranged, if you want to go that route. we can hide the link to it and I can take it off so other people can't use it. But if I took the links out of the Header and Footer it would make them bare. Would have to put something else in there to fill the holes, any ideas? or special links you want in there?

[MerryVIP]

Okay, it's looking better, but here are the suggestions on what you could do:

1. Start a page like this:

<BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000ff" ALINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0000ff" BACKGROUND="../images/bg.gif">
<DIV ID=Layer STYLE="width:600; z-index:1">
<TABLE WIDTH=600 BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=0><TR><TD>
<P ALIGN=right><IMG SRC="../images/pagetop.jpg" ALT="VB-Den" TITLE="The VB-Den">
<B>The <A HREF="http://www.vbforums.com" TARGET="_blank">VB Forums</A> Members' Site</B><BR><BR></P>
<H2>Title Here</H2>


2. And end:

</TD></TR></TABLE><BR>
</DIV></BODY></HTML>


3. Rules for the tables inside the main table:

<TABLE WIDTH=100% BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=3><TR><TD>
<!--things in here-->
</TD></TR></TABLE>


4. Don't place <Hx> tags inside a table...I guess. Not sure :rolleyes:

5. Remove <FONT FACE...> tags. If you want to use smaller text, use <FONT CLASS=small> or <FONT CLASS=menu> (the later one is very small). The CSS script takes care of almost everything.


One more thing, it gave me this error:
An Error Has Occured
The following error has occured in your script.

syntax error at library/email.pl line 87, near "21\"
syntax error at library/email.pl line 89, near "]\"

Additional Information
CGI PATH - code.cgi
CGI URL - /cgi-bin/suite/code.cgi
HTTP_REFERER - http://161.58.186.97/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77163&pagenumber=3
REMOTE_USER -

Came in the main page, no errors in other pages.


Hope those fixes aren't too much work :D

Otherwise it's very nice. I think some things could be taken away though. Like table:

Home | API
Num Subcategory Name
3.......... Common API calls


Could just be:
<H2>API</H2>
(table start in this place)
Common API calls (3)
(table end)

and search, not in any other table than the main:
<H6>Search</H6>
(table start)
Enter keywords: Where listing contains:
any of my keywordsall of my keywordsmy exact phrase Advanced Search

(table end)


and the links in the end of the page:

<H6>Admin</H2>
Go back to main (or if under a sub sub, Go back to subareaname)
My code
Post code
Register



Well, a lot of suggestions, hope it isn't too much work, I would do it all myself but I can't. Hope I'm not pushing too much :rolleyes:
And of course these are my suggestions, mainly on the design side (as I'm taking care of that :D )


Good luck scoutt!

[scoutt]

holy fire truck, man you ask a lot :D :D :D

just kidding, I will play around with it and see what I can come up with. On that error, I forgot a quote, hate when that happens, :D

I will work on it and get back to ya.

[MerryVIP]

Ok, good, if we all do more than we are able, we make a hell great site :rolleyes:

[scoutt]

ok take a another look and see if this will work. I didn't understand what you meant by this

<H6>Admin</H2>
Go back to main (or if under a sub sub, Go back to subareaname)
My code
Post code
Register

do you want me to take out the Home and put Admin instead? which leads to where?

[da_silvy]

...not working

i just want admins to be able to put code on the website, but all users can submit so that it will be checked by an admin. can you do that?

[scoutt]

Well, I can have it so they can view all the code, then if they want to post code, send them to a form where it is emailed to someone and then that person can go into admin to insert the code.

Also if we let them post there own code and it turns out to be bad or not even code at all, the admin has the capabilities to ban that user and delete all there code, but if you want to go the other way, I can do that too.


give me a day or two.

[honeybee]

Got my proxy settings configured so I can access the web from office now. I think at present since only the superpowers, i.e. us the admins, will be submitting code, we can leave the task of uploading the codes to MerryVIP. In future we need to implement some quality control for the codes submitted by users, so that the site does not get populated with junk or common code.

MerryVIP, I had sent an email to you last week with a zip file. The zip file contained the first part of a tutorial on the TreeView control that I am writing. Did you receive the email? I just checked our site and the material is nowhere to be seen. If you have not received the email, I shall re-send it.

Also, Paul Warren has agreed to try and write an article on database design. Good news, isn't it?

.

[da_silvy]

who's paul warren

[da_silvy]

Originally posted by scoutt
Well, I can have it so they can view all the code, then if they want to post code, send them to a form where it is emailed to someone and then that person can go into admin to insert the code.

Also if we let them post there own code and it turns out to be bad or not even code at all, the admin has the capabilities to ban that user and delete all there code, but if you want to go the other way, I can do that too.


give me a day or two.
is it cgi or php?

[honeybee]

Originally posted by da_silvy
who's paul warren

Paul Warren is a member of the VB-World forums, and from my impression, he is good at database matters.

.

[MerryVIP]

Ok, I get into work...And yes, I received the mail. I'm still doing the update. Though I'm mainly doing other things, I'm making my messageboard and another site too. I have many of these things :)
Sometimes getting online is a real chaos, as I should do a lot in a little amount of time. Usually it happens so that I'm twise longer I wanted to.

[csammis]

In two or three weeks, the server will be upgraded to a twin Xeon system. At that point, it will have a SQL database. There will be a fair amount of outage at that point, but we'll keep it to a minimum and I'll post about it before it happens.

About the 404 page: That's my web developer's thing, and as long as the server is his, it's not going to change. Just don't make broken links :D

MerryVIP can share the FTP user/pass if other people want to upload, but I'm not going to issue any more. It's still primarily for Mulunkey! Software, and security has been an issue ever since we launched the FTP server.

We're still quite busy and undergoing some major changes (as you may imagine from the new server thing) but I'll be around here to answer questions/help where I can.

[scoutt]

da_silvy, it is as of right know a cgi program, but if the server gets sql we can use the php one since its more proficient. but that is up to you guys. I have installed apache, perl, php, and mysql on my computer so I can work on the programs without going online, a lot easier for me. I can take all the links for the user to upload code out and just give MerryVIP the link to go directly to the upload page, if he wants to do it like that.

[spetnik]

I am working as a web developer and would love to help in my free time. I have also got a great hosting co (http://www.readyhosting.com) they are $100 annually, less than $9 a month. Unlimited POP email addresses, aliases, unlimited bandwidth, 500 MB space, it's really unbelievable. SQL Server DB is additional $25 a year ($2 per month), but we could always use Access. I'd love to be a member, and help with whatever I can.

[da_silvy]

It would be good if we could get database access, then I can (try to) write a program to manipulate the site, on your screen, then just update the database...

[csammis]

From Spetnik--
we could always use Access

That's a good point...I know next to nothing regarding DBs, but why can't you use Access instead of MySQL or any other DB?

[honeybee]

spetnik, as the co-ordinator of the team, let me welcome you onboard.

To be very frank, this idea was conceived out of emotion more than a conscious effort. We have all come together to develop this site out of a dream, but as far as money is concerned, I think it's still early to decide about that. In addition to that, if we rented space now, csammis would feel bad. After all he has offered his company's space to us for free. We can't dis-honour his contribution.

csammis and all other members, now that SQL support may be available in a few weeks' time, I suggest we keep on compiling stuff to put up on our site. Once we have some decent size content and the database support, we can decide how we can go about it.

csammis, I personally would have preferred the PHP-MySQL combination because of its integration. I don't have much experience with any of these tools, but the way they are being advertised, I think they have the potential to overcome the ASP-SQL combination.

About using Access databases, one thing is we shall have to see if Access database connectivity is available with PHP and then the other aspect will be security.

When we finalize on the use of database, we can start using Access for starters, and then migrate to MySQL or SQL server as appropriate.

My home computer has crashed, probably the motherboard has conked off, so I am a bit tied up for this week. First I have to fix the PC, only then can I resume my work on the Common Controls.

MerryVIP, can you devise a common page which will be used in case a link is bad? And wherever we have to insert links you can insert a link to this page. Thus all those links which start the Realplayer on my PC will instead display this page which will say something like 'The work is still on. Check back after a couple of days ...'

.

[spetnik]

Thank you!
Originally posted by honeybee

csammis, I personally would have preferred the PHP-MySQL combination because of its integration. I don't have much experience with any of these tools, but the way they are being advertised, I think they have the potential to overcome the ASP-SQL combination.

About using Access databases, one thing is we shall have to see if Access database connectivity is available with PHP and then the other aspect will be security.

When we finalize on the use of database, we can start using Access for starters, and then migrate to MySQL or SQL server as appropriate.



Well, I use ASP both at home and at work. It is extremely powerful, even with MS-Access. At this point, I believe Access would be the best way to go. This is because A, it won't slow us down as we are not going to have massive amounts of data, and B, if we decide to switch hosts, it is alot easier to transfer. The only disadvantage at this point would be that Access has no stored procedures, but thats really no biggie.

I would love to be involved with physical development of the site, especially if we will be using ASP. I am very experienced with it, and it can do just about anything.

[scoutt]

originally posted by csammis
5) About .ASP...we don't have an ASP module for Apache, and as far as I know they aren't free, so we don't have ASP support.
I don't thnk we will go with asp. And I an not sure if php connects to access, I will have to check on that.

[spetnik]

Why shouldn't it? Does it support ADO? And you could always make a DSN for the Access DB.

[spetnik]

See http://www.phphelp.com/tutorial/myodbc-basics.html

[scoutt]

I see, but we don't even have MySql as of yet. and my version of php (4.05) says that odbc is not yet implimented, but after reading the manual for php it will connect with it. It does seem like a little more work, but we could manage I guess.

[spetnik]

ok. but... just keep readyhosting in mind. it's alot less of a headache. :)

[csammis]

From honeybee:

In addition to that, if we rented space now, csammis would feel bad. After all he has offered his company's space to us for free. We can't dis-honour his contribution.

I wouldn't feel bad...if you guys want to rent space to better suit your needs, that's fine :) I do enjoy contributing any way I can, and since I've got loads of webspace that isn't doing much anyway, that is the best way I can contribute. When the new server comes online, it sounds like most of the problems will be solved, since it'll not only have the same software as right now but also a lot more DB support.

Also, regarding the 404 page...I can't remember off the top of my head, but it may be possible to configure a different error page for each virtual host. If it is, then here's what we can do: Someone can design an error page that looks good with the site and doesn't launch MP3 players (I'm going to ask him about that), and MerryVIP can upload it as "/404.php". I'll look at the configuration files, and if it is possible, it'll happen. If not, the suggestion that all links created that don't have a target right away should point to a default page is a good one.

Also: I don't remember which one it was, or even if it was your site (I lose track of things quickly around here), but I *think* one of your off-site links is launching itself within the right-hand frame. Just a heads-up :)

[honeybee]

csammis, not only that, but also at this point I don't think it's worthwhile to make any monetary investments. Many of us, you and me certainly, are full-time employees and can't easily take time out to build a good site. Once the site is up and running and we receive favourable feedback from the visitors that the site is really worth the efforts we have put in, we can pool in more resources. But not at this moment. And your contribution is great because we couldn't have afforded an ad-free domain elsewhere.

About the DB, it's really going to be ASP v/s PHP. Since mulunkey does not (I guess) support ASP, we shall have to stick with PHP.

.

[scoutt]

I have an error program that can email you when a link has been broken or a file that is gone. this can be implemented in the .htaccess file that we can have in the vbden folder. it also has a page to let the user know if/when the link is bad.

ok I think I got the script to work how we want it. it has a link to where people can submit code to the person and that person can put it in the database or flat file. go here



tell me what needs fixed and I will get on it. I just assume take out the admin link and give MerryVIP the link to upload code. that way we don't have anybody going to that page. The submit page can be changed to what ever we like. it does work but I get the mail as of right now, (testing purposes) I can change that to go to MerryVIP.

[csammis]

I *may* be wrong, but I think we disabled .htaccess files in favor of doing it all in the config files. If the .htaccess file works, great, let me know :)

Just writing to say "sorry" for the server outage...we're not sure what happened, we were using it for some routine network tests and it dropped the network like a brick, which really pisses me off because it was the router for the office :eek: I can't say when it'll be back up, but rest assured it's a priority...we make it a policy to check out the Dilbert site while we work (don't wanna be boring!), and we want it back ASAP :)

[da_silvy]

would you like me to do something in return for the free space?

fix up your web site? anything else?

(i have a fair bit of time on my hands)

[MerryVIP]

<table width=600 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1 border=0>
<P ALIGN=right><IMG SRC="../../suite/images/pagetop.jpg" ALT="VB-Den" TITLE="The VB-Den">


scoutt, add <TR><TD> ;)


I make the 404 page. Though wouldn't it work just as plain HTML? Except if you want to add it into a middle of a file, of course...

I think I do a little update tomorrow (if the server is up). At the moment I'm having my first migraine, which is why I haven't been able to do much. I try to get "back on my feet" soon.

[scoutt]

well, where did they go?? it is all fixed now.

If we can use the .htaccess file then ya all you need is html files. or you can use my script which is one page for all errors.

If you notice I inserted a get notified link on the code pages. it goes to another form page where the user can pick which category he wants and send it in for the mailing list. the mailing list I have works like a charm up until you send mail. Can't for the life of me figure out why. It says it sent sucessfully but I don't receive any mail. I then found out that a lot of people are having the same problem. So I will look into it deeper I guess.

[csammis]

da_silvy, thanks for the offer...but I'm not asking for anything in return for the space :)

scoutt, for the email sending part, how are you trying to send the mail? I'd go and look, but gosh, the server's not up :(

[scoutt]

csammis, Are you talking about the mailing list program? I think it is using sendmail. the script is not on your server, it is on my isp's server. I have not had any problems with sending mail on mine. it is funny you can subscribe/unsubscribe and opt-in/opt-out with no problems. it's just that you can't send out the mailing list to everybody. I can't see anything wrong with the script. I might just hold off on it and wait until you get mysql installed and use another script I know that works.

[honeybee]

Guys, I must apologize for a long absence from the Forums and from the content work I had started. My motherboard (actually the motherboard of my Home PC) conked off a couple of days ago, and I am trying to get a replacement. Since it's a Pentium 200 MMX, it's pretty hard to locate a motherboard that old.

Although I can access the site from my office, it's irregular (the access, I mean) and I cannot write any content.

Hopefully I shall be back in full swing in a week. Till then, the co-ordinator has to co-ordinate certain things. ;)

.

[csammis]

scoutt, it could be that it isn't working because it's won't run scripts from across domains...I know, for example, Java won't run content from across domains, it'd be a pretty big security hole if it did. Other than that, I've got no idea

[scoutt]

across domains?? it is all on the same server (mine), maybe I don't understand what you are trying to say.

[da_silvy]

Originally posted by spetnik
ok. but... just keep readyhosting in mind. it's alot less of a headache. :)

also a lot more $$

when and what do you want me to put on the website? (code etc?)

[csammis]

scoutt, all I'm saying is that if you write a PHP script that runs on my computer, and if that script tries to access something (anything, even an image) on a computer that isn't mine (e.g., across domains), it probably won't work. This may or may not be the case in your mailing list, but if it is the case, that's probalby why the script isn't working.

[scoutt]

csammis, the script is not accessing anything from another server. it just won't send the mail through sendmail or just plain mail(), i have not had the time to look at it in more detail, but that is what is happen.

[csammis]

Okay, thank you for clearing that up

[scoutt]

csammis, I see the site is back up, good job. now when is Mysql going to be done?

I can't see loading the cgi script if we turn around and put the php script up. that would mean inputting all the data to the mysql DB since the cgi is a text file DB. I have the php ready, I think check to see if it looks good.


if not it won't take too long to fix it.

waiting to here from you guys, and hope Honeybee gets his computer up and running again. ;)

[csammis]

Barring any more unforeseen outages or workloads, the new server will be ready within a week

[csammis]

My web engineer Russ is sitting right here...straight from the horse's mouth, here it is:

"The Xeon server is almost ready - I've got the mainboard, the chips, the power supply, and the RAM - All I need is a ATX case and a hard drive."

There you go. We're hitting a big budget crunch, so honestly it'll be ready when it's ready, not before that.

[gaffa]

If your interested, I could write some articles/samples for a bit of content. I'm not a brilliant web guy (I haven't generally got the time to sit and learn it properly), but I write up articles every so often, and I've been meaning to write a few more recently/ Plus I've got a lot a original sample code and apps which could be posted...

cheers

- gaffa

[MerryVIP]

As for me, it's fine. Welcome to the crew, I suppose :)

I have been working a lot with my other sites lately. Not the Merrysoft one though. I think I don't have enough time to write docs, atleast in the while of next month (mainly because of the vacation trip).

Anyways, I hope I find time to write something up.

[honeybee]

What are the topics you can write on best, Gaffa? Can you write something on the MAPI or SAPI parts?

And MerryVIP, what happened to my doc (part 1) on the Common Controls? Or should we go for something less known?

I shall be getting my PC up tonight, hopefully, with a borrowed motherboard. Mine is still under repairs, but if the replacement works, I shall be able to start working from tonight or morrow.

.

[gaffa]

I guess my focus is more on control creation and COM implementation. I've got a plug-in development article in the pipeline, and a couple of others that are more focussed on n-tier architecture.

- gaffa

[honeybee]

Maybe an article on creating various controls at runtime? What all things you require if you want to create a control dynamically, like the GUID of the control class etc.?

To make it exhaustive, you can include topics like how you can dynamically create controls in VB5 using an API, how you can add controls dynamically to forms, tabstrip, tabbed dialog and frame containers etc., the pros and cons of having or not having a control array and the uses of the WithEvents statement.

What do you say?

.

[scoutt]

Well,

It has been awhile since we all talked,
csammis how are things coming? good I hope.

HoneyBee, got your computer fixed yet? I hate when that happens, :)

I also have been thinking about the code script. I know you wanted the user to send the code to whomever to check it out, but what if you had them submit the code, save it in the Temporary Table in the DB and then send an email to MerryVIP or whomever to check it out? in the email it would have a link to go and see if the code looks ok and then on that page it will have a link to Approve or DisApprove. once approved it will then be sent to the DB so everyone can see it.

Just an Idea.

Plus nobody said if the script will work like it sits now or do I have to make changes?

By the way Welcome aboard Gaffa

[honeybee]

Sorry for this, but my computer is still down. With some luck and money, I shall dream that it's back up at the end of this week.

To get a PIII will cost me a lot more than getting my old MB repaired, so the proposal was vettoed by our family. The MB repair is gonna take couple more weeks. So I tried a replacement. When the replacement motherboard was fitted on my machine, we found that both the HDDs had crashed, too. So that's some more bucks down the drain.

Fortunately one of the HDDs is under warranty and I shall get it replaced in a couple of days. I hope to get a new PI motherboard around the same time and finally get that piece of junk worth something.

Hate to lose touch with the site. I am also planning to get cable, but that's in a near-to-distant future.

.

[csammis]

The server is not going well. We may be stuck with the current one well into July. The mainboard is disagreeing with my engineers as to whether it wants to boot. It will be done eventually.

[MerryVIP]

Ok...Looks like I and others have a lot of spare time from this thing then. Better see what we can make in August. At the moment it's summer...and I think it is the worst time for projects, as it is the time of enjoying of the free time.

Anyways, I will be soon going (I thought I would leave earlier, but here we see again, not everything goes as planned).

As an idea, we could have a chat session somewhere. Of course choosing a good time is hard...We're living all over the world. But in the session we really could get things rolling better (as well as ideas). But this after the holidays.

Have a good summer!

[scoutt]

a chat session sounds good. what is the time difference from the U.S. to you guys that live over in the middle east somewhere.

name the time and I can be on icq or something. I don't have msn or aim or Ymessanger, don't plan it so don't ask.

I have plenty of time so if you guys are taking a vacation I can do some uploading and when MerryVIP come back he can fix all my goof ups :) well, he can change what ever he doesn't approve of.

At least I could get the script going. I didn't want to send the cgi script because if we get the use of MySql and php then we would have to upload all the code again and that would be time consuming. So I wanted to wait until csammis got the new server up.

both scripts have been done for about a couple of weeks, so when ever you guys are ready to do something give me a jingle on icq or here.

[csammis]

Time makes absolutely no difference to me, I'm in college :D

Midwest USA, which is where I am, is -6 GMT

[honeybee]

I am +5 GMT, but I don't have ICQ. I only use YM and then, too from the office, so I can't chat for too long.

Once my home PC is up and running, I shall see if I can afford a cable connection. Then once or twice a week I can join you guys.

.

[csammis]

As far as a chatting program, we could just use IRC. It's a classic, easy to use...and scoutt, you won't have to stoop yourself to using a different "popular" chat :rolleyes:

For the record, my AIM handle is FhornHackr

[csammis]

Oh, and scoutt? What's your ICQ handle?

[MerryVIP]

If someone really wants, my ICQ# is 69392422. I hardly use that program. IRC would be fine. I think I'm at home until next Thursday.

Oh yeah, and I'm +2 GMT. I can be awake long if needed and come online late (like 5 AM :D )

[scoutt]

ICQ# 6065308

no offense, it's just that I don't care for the other ones. I know everybody uses them and that is why I don't like it.

IRC is fine with me though.

[csammis]

I understand the attraction of doing something because most people don't...I program in Brain***** :) But why oh why do you people have to use numbers that no one can possibly remember?

[scoutt]

are you talking about the ICQ #? we don't get to choose those numbers. that is assigned to you when you sign up.

[csammis]

I know they are. What I mean is, why doesn't ICQ use meaningful handles instead of long strings of numbers? (It's rhetorical)

[scoutt]

they do that too. you can also find me on the name beavis.

[MerryVIP]

Well, it's been quiet for a while...Guess we all soon have the time to go on with this project?

[scoutt]

I have time. if I didn't lose the code :p

[csammis]

The DSL has arrived, but it won't be active until 18 Aug....thought you all should like to know!

Side notes for VBDen: The 404 page issue has been corrected, so no more weird MP3 downloads will happen!

Side notes for Mulunkey! Software: We just hired a Macintosh specialist, and she's helping us port to Mac and create new programs, so who knows what'll turn out from us? ;)

Side notes for all involved:
-- We decided not to upgrade the server. The Xeon board was defective, and we don't have the time or resources to wait before we leave for college again. Besides, the current server has been reliable for some time!
-- There may be some errors related to IP changes in the next few days, sorry about that

[honeybee]

Frankly, I have not visited vbDen in quite a few days. My computer is still dead, and will be so for at least a week more. Also net access from the office is restricted, and we are working to release our Beta product in a couple of weeks.

Are we all just as eager as we started to build this site?

Have there been any additions to the content of the site since a month or so?

.

[csammis]

Our websites our down due to a snafu on the part of our ISP. They'll be back later this week I believe.

[MerryVIP]

Yeah, nothing's done in a month. Or over. I've been on my vacation and nobody else haven't been able to update, I think.

Anyways, I believe I have spare time atleast at school to write docs and so on. At home I still do so much else that I'm not sure if I have time for any docs. Hope I have a lot of computer subjects...Ought to be, last year at school and I'm on computer based class.

[csammis]

Does it strike anyone else as odd that all of us seem to have more time while school is in session than during vacation? ;)

[MerryVIP]

No, it's not odd...There's so much free time at school (and that darn fast inet connection ;) )

[honeybee]

Originally posted by csammis
Does it strike anyone else as odd that all of us seem to have more time while school is in session than during vacation? ;)

That's not true for me!! Actually I don't go to school, that's why.

LOL

.

[csammis]

Is anybody still paying attention to this?

[csammis]

Okay, Mulunkey! Software just rereleased a week ago. We've gotten some contracts and offers, so we're busy. Here's the deal.

The Xeon server never worked. There was a flaw in the mainboard, and we simply do not have the time/money/patience to deal with it. We still have the old server without MySQL, and it is not going to be installed anytime in the foreseeable future. We've added some servers (http://ahna.mulunkey.com, for instance), but they'd be useless to you for development. That doesn't seem to be a problem because...

...it's been months since anyone did anything with this project. I tend to agree with honeybee, we've all lost interest in the site. Is anyone going to be working on it, or would it be just as easy to close the door on this one?

[honeybee]

It's sad to see the enthusiasm slowly going out of the project.

Meanwhile I have uploaded a tutorial on rtf-help in VB on my site, the link is in my sig.

Any time the members' site is functional and requires any assistance, I shall be there.

.

[Sastraxi]

Don't give up! You have a good thing going! I certainly would like to see a members' site!

[MerryVIP]

Ok, I think we need to remake the thing...and plans.

I think the biggest slowdown in the project is that most of us wanted the database. I think we can survive without. I'm a fast updater when it comes to HTML, so I think we could handle it in plain HTML. Just my opinion...because if we want mySql things, it probably takes ages to make.

Different idea: www.**********.com
This forum is highly customizable. I think I could be able to make a site on it. It is fast (the pages are sent compressed) and I think it would work perfectly. Then we would only need a server for images and other files and probably a redirection page (easy to do).

At the moment I'm coding a game with my friend. And I'm rather lazy to do content, to be honest...but I still could take care of the updates and make a preview thing for you all.

[MerryVIP]

I want to clear this forum thing a bit more...I tell how it would work.

The forum is fast, as I said, and it has a database of course. It could be made so that it looks like a normal site, but there would be a subaddress in which "staff" could login, write new articles and new ones could register. Of course everyone are able to register, but it can be made so that they can't post anything.

For outsider, it would look like a normal site. For us...it looks like a forum...or more likely a site that can be updated via the internet. The articles can be edited afterwards.

Tell me what you think...and ask questions if you have them.

[honeybee]

I think it's just great!

The only thing is we need to make sure it doesn't go the dotcoms way. It says it's totally free, without even the add banners. If that's really the case and there are no hitches, I think we should go ahead.

However, we mustn't turn it into a discussion forum, the forum tools must be used only to post articles, not to ask questions and answer them.

.

[MerryVIP]

Ok, I do a sample when I have time...don't know when exactly, but I'll do something :)

And making it also a discussion forum seems to be a bit impossible...maybe can be done, I'm not superspecialist of the forum thing yet, though I think I have made a lot changes compared to most of the other forums.

[honeybee]

The problem in converting it into a discussion forum is that it will be in direct competition with VB Forums, which is against the basic idea of a Members' Site. We should restrict the forum idea only for posting articles, and only by approved members.

.

[honeybee]

If we convert it into a Discussion Forum, it will be in direct competition with VB World, which is against the basic idea behind a Members' Site. The forum facility should only be available for posting articles and to approved members.

.

[MerryVIP]

Yep, not against that opinion. Looks like I'm a bit busy atleast this week...looks like it'll be a weekend work.

[MerryVIP]

http://2071.**********.com - It's not a fully working version, but I'm able to add users manually, edit the areas etc. plus it is possible to read/post/edit/delete the articles. There are minor bugs though. But it's working, as far as I know :D

Anyways...say if the design is odd or something. You could also tell what areas we have for articles. Because of the design, we're limited to six. I hope it's enough.

[MerryVIP]

Ok, it's very ready now. Just need to know the areas...I think we can use the same that are used here?

General VB
API
Games and graphics

and maybe some others. Say what you think.

The following aren't done yet:

- Downloads
- Guestbook
- Site information
- Statistics


For downloads and site info I need help, to know what to put in...As an extra idea, should I get a redirection from CJB.net? Like vb-den.cjb.net (if it's free)

I'm tired now, I can't think of anything else right now. Anyways, say if there's anything that needs fixing!

[MerryVIP]

honeybee? Still flying around or did someone slap too hard?

[honeybee]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Huh?

Oh, ok, proceed. You are doing well.

zzzzzzzzzz



He he, still around, don't worry. Shall check out the features in that URL. I don't think you need to put a redirector at cjb.net, I guess nobody ever went there ;)

Instead of having categories right now, can we just have a General VB category and a Tips section? We won't have enough material to start with all those categories.

.

[MerryVIP]

Ok, I do the changes :)

Btw, you could sign up...goto login page. I activate your account then...

[honeybee]

I tried to sign up with user name honeybee and password honeybee. It failed.

If you creat my account, just email me the password and if you set some other username than honeybee, email me that too.

.

[da_silvy]

I didn't know that this was still going on...

So it's going to be like an Article database?

I think we should also have a code bank - I run one on my web server, using PHP and mySQL :P

[deane034]

ok guys just to recap on this.........what on earth are you doin?......and is there any way i can help.....and what have you done so far.......can u give me a recap:D

[csammis]

Ehh...I think it's gone

[deane034]

what do u mean?

[csammis]

I mean that "u" arrived too late. Look at the beginning date of this thread, then look at the date of the last post before you...my opinion is that people have lost interest. I myself am moving from VB to VC++, so I'm not allocating a lot of time to VB anymore except to study how it wraps up the native Windows functions (which is interesting). Point is, VB Den doesn't have anything driving it anymore

[honeybee]

Sad but true. In the beginning we all were quite charged up. Not anymore, not at least me.

:(

.

[deane034]

well.........we could start over again...not all people have lost intrest in vb........u guys are fanatics.......we are not...i'm sure i will someday crossover to VC.......but at the moment i'm a vber...and i think it would be great for all the newbies out there.....and even guys like me, to have a site with, tips and tricks...and some extracts from the forums......which are extremly useful.......

and csammis when u are making this mogration to VC, can u please give me any links u found useful........for especiay for guys like u who move from VB

thanx

[csammis]

Deane, to be honest, there are no links. I learned all I learned from working with the API in VB (www.vbapi.com), being mostly self-taught in C++, and reading my MSDN subscription. I had gotten to the point where I could create windows from bare scratch in VB (using only API calls) and at that point I figured it was useless to have the VB DLL overhead for my programs :) From there, it was intuitive for me. I still use VB for the rapid stuff that I have to do, but I convert it to VC++ as soon as time permits.

As for having this idea as a public resource, I agree that it would be good but it isn't going to come from this source. If you want to take the task upon yourself and gather others, I suggest that you read over this entire thread and learn what you can learn from what we did, possibly you could message the others and ask what they were working on and how they were involved. I regret to say that since my company is getting blows dealt to it on a daily basis, I can't offer hosting space any longer. www.vbden.mulunkey.com doesn't resolve anymore -- probably because we switched DNS providers -- although the files still exist (I think). If you decide to work on this, I'll see what I can do about getting you the files although I know that MerryVIP was in charge of uploads and such.

[da_silvy]

yep, this project is all off sadly :rolleyes:

[deane034]

that's sad

[da_silvy]

oh well, perhaps i will start it up again :/

:rolleyes:

[deane034]

way to go!, i'll certinaly help, we can gather all the useful info from the forums, and post them there, and we can also let members to give them their own tutorials.

[MerryVIP]

Hmm...the best way you maybe could make it is to ask everyone to help. Even a small snippet would help to gather a somekind of database of usefull and usually needed code. Problem is to gather people who are really willing to do things and make the thing going on. I can't join the project anymore, I have far too much to things to do and too small amount of time to do it all.

[da_silvy]

i have written a php script for my own personal use, to keep track of my code; i am sure i could put that to some eventual use ;)

[deane034]

great!........so what5 do we do now?......i have no idea

[MerryVIP]

Guess you need to first organize the whole thing, so that everyone know exactly what to do. You probably need someone to make the site design + graphics, someone to lead the whole thing, and ones who collect code and look for most common problems at VB-Forums. Maybe even a just roughly made site with some info is good for a beginning.

After this begins advertising and telling about it. It'll take long but eventually, if the thing is good enough, it becomes popular. Part of this "advertising" is to place the site into search engines, like Google.

Then the final and most important thing: updating. There must be regular updates, atleast once a week, so it's worth to come back - there just might be something new and interesting. Yet, mostly the site is (originally) thought to be a place for VB Forums helperguys, a place where they can find code fast for often asked questions.

Ugh, hope this is a proper text to give you some idea :) You maybe need to collect some members too who are willing to help.