Error Handling

It can now handle internal issues with network communication to the data source and incorrect JSON formatting of retrieved data. Bitcoin Helper 0.11 also checks to ensure the requested ISO 4217 currency code, for conversion to Bitcoin, is supported.

Certain functions in Bitcoin Helper now return a negative integer in the case that an error occurs. Details regarding these error codes can be found in the source code comments of bitcoin_helper.php. The relevant section of commenting is quoted below for convenience.

/* Information about error codes

Certain functions within Bitcoin Helper (0.11 onwards) will return
numeric error codes in the case of unexpected error or failure.

You should make sure to check the returned value for error codes
(intergers less than zero) in your code. The following reference
shows the error numbers and an explanation.

* -1 = Network error retrieving data from bitcoincharts.com
* -2 = Error decoding JSON data retrieved from bitcoincharts.com
* -3 = Currency code not supported
* -4 = Could not write to cache file – check permissions!
*/

File-based Caching

Bitcoin Helper 0.1 would cache the JSON containing currency exchange rates to a file if possible. This caching is now a requirement as of Bitcoin Helper 0.11.

Bitcoin Helper will attempt to write a file named ‘bitcoin_weighted_prices.json’. If this file is not writeable, you will receive error code -4.

If you receive this error, you will need to alter the permissions of the directory to allow this file to be created. Once created, you can revert the directory permissions if you desire and make only the individual ‘bitcoin_weighted_prices.json’ file writeable.

Download Bitcoin Helper 0.11

To download Bitcoin Helper 0.11 with improved error handling, please go to the Bitcoin Helper project page.

Bitcoin is a new currency which has no physical form, but can be considered Internet cash. If you want more information on Bitcoin in general, take a look at the We Use Coins website, which has a great introductory video and articles/links to other useful Bitcoin resources.

Bitcoin Helper 0.1 Released

As part of my interest in Bitcoin, I’ve decided to start a mini-project in the form of Bitcoin Helper, a PHP class which will contain multiple methods to aid web site/application developers in integrating Bitcoin related functionality into their systems. The first function, which comes in Bitcoin Helper 0.1, is a really easy to use converter that can convert non Bitcoin currencies into the equivalent Bitcoin value and return the result.

To see how simple it is to use, see the following code snippet.

include "bitcoin_helper.php";
$bh = new bitcoin_helper;
echo $bh->convert_to_btc("GBP", 10);

This will convert £10 (Great British Pounds) into Bitcoin and echo out the result. The following works for USD and Euros as well.

echo $bh->convert_to_btc("USD", 10);
echo $bh->convert_to_btc("EUR", 10);

The trade data for several other currencies is provided from the external source (see the Bitcoin Charts website). If your currency is listed there, entering its ISO 4217 currency code as the first parameter of the convert_to_btc function should allow you to convert any value of that currency into Bitcoin.

Please note that this is the first release of Bitcoin Helper, so I can not guarantee it is bug free. More checks, validation, improvements and new features will be added in the future versions. Feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions.

I hope this very basic Bitcoin Helper release can assist web developers with some simple Bitcoin conversion in their sites.

Download Bitcoin Helper 0.1

To download this first version of Bitcoin Helper (0.1), please visit the Bitcoin Helper project page.

So, what is Contacular?

Contacular is an open source contact form generator and processor written in PHP. It is designed to be used as either a complete PHP contact form solution, with full validation and e-mailing, or as an initial code base for web development to build upon. I’ve designed Contacular to be really simple to get up and running with and yet still be very expandable. The entire system is object-orientated and open source licensed.

A quick overview of the features of Contacular:

1. Fully integrated contact form solution
2. Simple generation of contact forms
3. Many built-in Contacular contact form types
4. Integrated reCAPTCHA human check / spam protection support
5. Adoption of existing website styling (CSS) wherever possible
6. Form field validation in all forms
7. Automatic validation error reporting
8. Advanced validation – e.g. checking submitted e-mail addresses are from real domains
9. E-mailing form results to one or more recipients
10. GPL licensed, open source, object orientated code base
11. Tested in multiple browsers on multiple platforms
12. Seamless upgrading to new versions – just download and replace the files
13. Easily expandable
14. More on the way…

Take a look at the how to use Contacular guide, and if you’re interested, go ahead and download Contacular. The latest version is always at the top, with that download page also containing the Contacular change log.