Before switching to WSL2 and the Linux console, I wrote VBS scripts from time to time. It looks like VBA but for the DOS console.

A VBS script for DOS is a text file written in the Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) programming language that can be executed directly from the DOS command prompt. It allows you to automate tasks and perform repetitive operations on your computer.

It's just like Linux Bash scripts but for the DOS.

Do you think it would be possible to offer an auto-update function in such scripts? The answer is yes.

Using SSH instead of HTTPS to connect to Github is more secure. Indeed, SSH relies on public-key cryptography. This makes unauthorized access much harder compared to a password, which can be stolen through phishing or brute-force attacks. Also, HTTPS transmits your username and password (encrypted) over the network, which can be intercepted in a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack. SSH doesn't transmit passwords after the initial setup.

Let's see how to add a SSH key and, from now, being able to work with Github like using the git@ protocol with git clone.

Several years ago, I had to intervene on an MS Access database that had been created by a person of good will but with little affinity for computers and optimization.

The result: a cumbersome and exasperatingly slow database.

In this article, resurrected from my personal archive, I'm going to present the different stages I went through.

Years ago, I've created a .vbs script that will scan a MS Access database, loop for each table and, for each of them, will get the list of fields.

For each fields, a lot of information will be retrieved like, not exhaustive, his name, size, type, ... and also the shortest and longest value size (for text and memo fields). For instance, if a text field is found, the script will retrieve his size (f.i. 255 chars max) and will examine all records in the table for retrieving, for that field, the smallest size (f.i. 10) and the greatest one (f.i. 50). So, if the max size is 50 and the size has been set to 255, perhaps the MS Access developer can safely modify the max size from 255 to 50.

Very recently I discovered usernamehw.errorlens and it's a shame I hadn't seen it before.

Error Lens is an addon for VSCode which will show errors, notices, warnings, etc. in the editor, which are generally only accessible in the Problems area of VSCode.

Did you know where is that area? In the status bar of the main VSCode window. Did you see it? Hardly anyone sees it, and yet it should be!

We can see here I've 54 problems, ouch.

Tabnine is a MUST HAVE extension. He will predict your next keystroke and sometimes it's just WOW; HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?.

Imagine you've a private string $firstName property in PHP. By starting to type private function set, Tabnine will understand you're probably creating a setter and will then suggest setFirstName(string $firstname).

<?php

class Customer
{
    private string $firstName;

    private function set // <=== Tabnine will predict and propose setFirstName(string $firstname)
}

A recent post on the Joomla French forum was asking for being able to delete tables present in the Joomla database; the ones using a given prefix like old_ or something like that.

Indeed, from time to time, it can be useful to take a look on the list of tables in your database and perhaps, you'll find tables prefixed with f.i. old_ or an old tool you've used years ago (using the correct prefix but with a component you've removed since like joomla_oldcomp).

Years ago, I've written such PHP utility, let's see how to use it.

Currently, end of February 2024, there aren't many free refactoring extensions for PHP under VSCode. We'll take a look to PHP Refactor Tool and PHP Refactoring.

We'll learn how to rename a symbol, a class and, even better, how to extract a portion of a long method into a new one.

This article is the very short and straightforward version of PHP development in a devcontainer with preinstalled code quality tools. If you just want to follow a very few steps and get your PHP environment, this article is for you.

By following steps describe in this article, you'll obtain:

• A Docker PHP environment so you can code using vscode,
• The PHP composer package manager installed,
• A few static analysis tool like php-cs-fixer, phpcs, phpcbf, sonarlint and Rector installed
• A devcontainer ready-to-use environment.

Just follow the guide...

Imagine you had to make a call to a SOAP web service in Excel? For example, to validate the VAT number you have been given before carrying out some processing.

You will call the URL that corresponds to the web service you want, but you will also need to pass a number of parameters in XML format so that the service knows what you want to do.

We'll learn, in this blog post, how to validate a European VAT number using the VIES VAT number validation SOAP web service.

The VBA code we will see in this article can be used as a skeleton for your future development.