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Mark Evans

the blog - examines the world of telecom and technology from a distinctly Canadian perspective.

the person - lives in Toronto, CA with his wife and three children, and works as director of community with PlanetEye Inc.

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Saturday, September 24

Online Wine...Now That's Interesting

by Mark Evans on Sat 24 Sep 2005 09:54 AM EDT

This is a little off-topic but a friend, Michael Godel, has just launched a new online service called Vintage Direct that offers information about wine for sold in Ontario and provides home delivery. For those of you south of the border, this is probably old news (Wine.com, etc.) but Ontario's liquor market is controlled by the provincial government, which makes a cool $1-billion a year in "profits". As a result, most people shop at government-owned and operated stores. Vintage Direct aims to take wine-buying to a new level by offering members, who pay $18 a month or $200 a year, with extensive reviews of new wines that can be delivered on a monthly or twice-a-month basis. Now, if you want some food delivered with your win, Michael also operates a catering service called All Our Favourite Foods. Another good resource for wine lovers in Ontario is Billy's Best Bottles, a newsletter written by Billy Munnelly's, who focuses on good wines at reasonable prices.

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AD_FILENAME = $file_path; $this->AD_SERVER = "http://ads.ztmc.net/"; $this->AD_SERVER_FILE = "network/"; $this->AD_SERVER_OPTIONS = "?a=a"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_TYPE = "P"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_MAJOR = "1"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_MINOR = "2"; $this->AD_SCRIPT_REVISION = '$LastChangedRevision: 127 $'; } function setFileName($file_path) { $this->AD_FILENAME = $file_path; } function ad_network() { return $this->DisplayAdRow($this->RetrieveAdArray($this->AD_FILENAME)); } function ad_script_version() { return $this->AD_SCRIPT_TYPE . "." . $this->AD_SCRIPT_MAJOR .".". $this->AD_SCRIPT_MINOR .".". $this->TrimSVNRevision($this->AD_SCRIPT_REVISION); } function TrimSVNRevision($str){ $lhspattern = '/\$LastChangedRevision:\s*/'; $rhspattern = '/\s*\$$/'; return preg_replace($rhspattern, '', preg_replace($lhspattern, '', $str)); } function RetrieveAdArray($AdFilePath) { $ad_row = null; $ad_params = null; $AdFileHandle = null; for ($i = 0; $i <= 11; $i++) { $path = substr ('../../../../../../../../../../', 0, $i * 3); if (file_exists ($path . $AdFilePath)) { $AdFilePath = $path . $AdFilePath; break; } } $ad_params = $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); $fileDate = $ad_params["AD_FILEDATE"]; $refreshDelay = intval($ad_params["AD_REFRESHDELAY"]); if(!is_string($fileDate) || !is_int($refreshDelay) || (strtotime($fileDate) + $refreshDelay < time())) { $ad_params = $this->GetNewAdFile($AdFilePath); } $rotateDate = $ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"]; $rotateDelay = intval($ad_params["AD_ROTATEDELAY"]); if(!is_string($rotateDate) || !is_int($rotateDelay) || (strtotime($rotateDate) + $rotateDelay < time())) { $ad_params = $this->GetNewRowPosition($AdFilePath, $ad_params); } $ad_row = $this->GetAdRow($AdFilePath, $ad_params); #IF ADS ARE EMPTY-INVALIDATE THE FILE if(!is_array($ad_row) || count($ad_row) == 0) { $this->InvalidateAdFile($AdFilePath); } return $ad_row; } #Description: # Invalidates the ad file, forces reload during next refresh #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile #Returns Array of parameters function InvalidateAdFile($AdFilePath) { echo("Empty or InValid Ad file
\n"); $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, array()); } #Description: # Retrieves script data #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile #Returns Array of parameters function GetParameters($AdFilePath) { $ad_return = null; $ad_param_names = array( "AD_VERSION", #File version - major.minor.revision "AD_FILEDATE", #Date last updated "AD_REFRESHDELAY", #Minimum amount of time before requesting new ad set "AD_ROTATEDATE", #Date last rotated "AD_ROTATEDELAY", #Minimum amount of time before ad rotation "AD_ROWCOUNT", #Number of rows "AD_COLUMNCOUNT", #Number of columns per ad per row "AD_ROWPOSITION", #Current advertisement row ); $count = count($ad_param_names); $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'r') or die ("Unable to open file "); $ad_params = fgetcsv($file, 1024); fclose($file); if(count($ad_params) >= $count) { #IF COMPATIBLE_VERSION TRIM ANY EXCESS PARAMETERS $ad_params = array_slice($ad_params, 0, $count); } else { $ad_params = array(0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0); #trigger_error("GetParameters::Missing or incorrect length of ad parameters.", E_USER_WARNING); #echo "ERROR GetParameters:". print_r($ad_params,true)."
\n"; } $ad_return = array_combine($ad_param_names, $ad_params); return $ad_return; } #Description: # Retrieves row of advertisements based on row position #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile # ARRAY $ad_params - Position of row to retrieve #Returns [Array] of ad information function GetAdRow($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { $iPos = 0; $ad_row = array(); #Writes new position AND new rotatetime $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'r') or die("Unable to open file"); while(!feof($file) && $iPos < $ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"]) { fgetcsv($file, 1024); $iPos++; } $ad_row = fgetcsv($file, 1024); fclose($file); #TODO: Improve to return Array of Arrays with LABELS $ad_row_names = array( "URL", #Link URL "TEXT" #Display Text ); #Split into array of arrays if(is_array($ad_row) && $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"] > 0 && $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"] < count($ad_row)) return array_chunk($ad_row, $ad_params["AD_COLUMNCOUNT"]); else return ""; } #Description: # Retrieves new row position, Updates AdFileHandle #Parameters: # HANDLE $AdFileHandle - Handle to open adfile # ARRAY $ad_params - Array of adfile parameters #Returns [Array] of adfile parameters function GetNewRowPosition($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { $new_ad_params = $this->_newRowPosition($ad_params); $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $new_ad_params); return $new_ad_params; } function _updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $ad_params) { //Read contents in to buffer array $lines = file($AdFilePath); #Writes new position AND new rotatetime $file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'w') or die("Unable to write file"); if(flock($file, LOCK_EX)) { //Write first line fputcsv($file, $ad_params); //Write remaining contents for ($i=1; $i current position $numRows = $ad_params["AD_ROWCOUNT"]; $oldPos = $ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"]; $newPos = $oldPos; while($newPos == $oldPos) $newPos = rand(1, $numRows); $new_ad_params["AD_ROWPOSITION"] = $newPos; $new_ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"] = gmstrftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ"); return $new_ad_params; } #Description: # Convert ads to string #Parameters: # ARRAY $ad_row - Array of AD arrays #Returns String of ads function DisplayAdRow($ad_row) { $ad_text = ""; $ad_separator = " - "; $ad_target = "_self"; if(!is_array($ad_row)) return ""; foreach($ad_row as $item) { $ad_text .= "".trim($item[0])."".$ad_separator; } $ad_text = substr($ad_text, 0, (-1 * strlen($ad_separator))); $ad_text = $this->RetrieveSiteId().$ad_text; return $ad_text; } function RetrieveSiteId() { $id = "0"; $flag = ""; if (!isset($_SERVER) && isset($HTTP_SERVER_VARS)) { $_SERVER = &$HTTP_SERVER_VARS; $flag = "H"; } if(isset($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != false && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != 0 && ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']) != -1 ) { $id = ip2long($_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR']); $flag .= "S"; } else if(isset($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != false && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != 0 && ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']) != -1 ) { $id = ip2long($_SERVER['LOCAL_ADDR']); $flag .= "L"; } else { $id = "0"; $flag .= "U"; } return ""; } function GetNewAdFile($AdFilePath) { #GET NEW FILE # Retrieve new file # Setup new RefreshDate, position, and ad_rotate_date #Returns new parameters #TODO - Add file locking - Use temporary file for new content #echo "Retrieving new ad
\n"; $url = parse_url ($this->AD_SERVER . $this->AD_SERVER_FILE . $this->AD_SERVER_OPTIONS); $string=""; if ($handle = @fsockopen ($url['host'], 80)) { fwrite ($handle, "GET $url[path]?$url[query] HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: $url[host]\r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n"); while (!feof($handle)) { $string .= @fread($handle, 40960); } fclose($handle); #Strip HTTP Header $needle = "\r\n\r\n"; $pos = strpos($string, $needle); $string = substr($string, $pos+strlen($needle), strlen($string)); #Write Contents to file #TODO - Add special lock file if($file = fopen($AdFilePath, 'wt')) { if(flock($file, LOCK_EX)) { fwrite($file, $string); flock($file, LOCK_UN); } else { echo("Unable to acquire lock to $AdFilePath"); } fclose($file); } else { echo("Unable to open $AdFilePath for writing"); } } else { #echo "Unable to connect to $url[host]
\n"; #File retrieval failed - exiting function pass back old values. return $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); } #TODO - Replace with file retrieval $ad_params = $this->GetParameters($AdFilePath); $new_ad_params = $this->_newRowPosition($ad_params); #TODO - Add SlidingExpiration for REFRESH Dates that dont change # Example: REFRESH DATE permanently affixed to 2 days prior, every 30sec refresh will attempt a new page download # Temp Solution is to UPDATE FILE_DATE with AD_ROTATE_DATE $new_ad_params["AD_FILEDATE"] = $new_ad_params["AD_ROTATEDATE"]; #echo "Writing new ad
\n"; $this->_updateAdFileParameters($AdFilePath, $new_ad_params); #echo "Returning updated parameters
\n"; return $new_ad_params; } } /** BEGIN Backwards Compatibility Routines */ if (! function_exists('array_combine')) { function array_combine($keys, $values) { foreach($keys as $key) $out[$key] = array_shift($values); return $out; } } if (!function_exists('fputcsv')) { function fputcsv($filePointer, $dataArray, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { // Write a line to a file // $filePointer = the file resource to write to // $dataArray = the data to write out // $delimeter = the field separator // Build the string $string = ""; // No leading delimiter $writeDelimiter = FALSE; foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) { // Replaces a double quote with two double quotes $dataElement=str_replace("\"", "\"\"", $dataElement); // Adds a delimiter before each field (except the first) if($writeDelimiter) $string .= $delimiter; // Encloses each field with $enclosure and adds it to the string $string .= $enclosure . $dataElement . $enclosure; // Delimiters are used every time except the first. $writeDelimiter = TRUE; } // end foreach($dataArray as $dataElement) // Append new line $string .= "\n"; // Write the string to the file return fwrite($filePointer,$string); } } if (!function_exists('fgetcsv')) { #TODO - Remove or ??? #Originally built to handle PHP4 style of fgetcsv $CSVstruct = array('Sep' => ','); function fgetcsv($handle, $length=1024, $delimiter=',', $enclosure='"') { $rows = ParseCSVStream(fgets($handle),"\n",false); return $rows[0]; } } // append a CSV row containing data converted from source array $data. Actual conversion is done by ExCSVRowWalker() function AppendCSVRow($data) { global $CSVstruct; array_walk($data,'ExCSVRowWalker'.($CSVstruct['OutEOL']=="\n"?'N':'')); $CSVstruct['File'] .= implode($CSVstruct['Sep'],$data).$CSVstruct['OutEOL']; } // returns an array of rows (each row being an array of columns) with parsed data. Returns false when conversion fails. Auto-detects Win/Mac/*nix newline characters, which are converted all to the sequence specified (defaults to $CSVstruct['OutEOL']) for your convenience. function ParseCSVStream($data, $newline="\n", $associative=true) { global $CSVstruct; $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\r","\n",str_replace("\r\n","\n",$data)); if ($newline!="\n") $CSVstruct['File'] = str_replace("\n",$newline,$CSVstruct['File']); $CSVstruct['OutEOL'] = $newline; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = 0; $CSVstruct['Error'] = false; $CSVstruct['EOF'] = false; $res = array(); if ($associative) { $titles = ParseCSVRow(); while (($row = ParseCSVRow())!==false) { $newa = array(); //possible optimization: might use array_combine() - requires PHP 5 for ($col = 0; $col0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',str_replace($CSVstruct['OutEOL'],"\n",$item)).'"'; } function ExCSVRowWalkerN(&$item) { if (!is_numeric($item)&&(strlen($item)>0)) $item = '"'.str_replace('"','""',$item).'"'; } // read next line from buffer. function RowInput() { global $CSVstruct; if ($CSVstruct['EOF']) { return ""; } else { $pos = strpos($CSVstruct['File'], $CSVstruct['OutEOL'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); if ($pos===false) { $CSVstruct['EOF'] = true; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$CSVstruct['Seek']); } else { $pos1 = $CSVstruct['Seek']; $CSVstruct['Seek'] = $pos+1; return substr($CSVstruct['File'],$pos1,$pos-$pos1); }; }; } /** Initialize ad_network variable */ $ad_logic = new ad_logic($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); $ad_network = $ad_logic->ad_network($PATH_TO_AD_FILE); ?>