Archive for the ‘Web Development’ Category

A core feature of RandomClipart.com is the ability for customers to instantly download clipart files after checkout. My previous web development projects have taught me PHP, XHTML, CSS and MySQL and I’ve also had cause to integrate shopping carts with PayPal for tangible goods and services but I had no idea how to go about writing my own instant download script. A key requirement of any instant download script is security: original files must never be made accessible without a valid transaction. With so much at stake I didn’t want to risk writing my own script and making a costly mistake so I began to look for and review third-party digital download scripts and services.

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With the main clipart gallery now functional I took some time to add an RSS feed of my latest clipart uploads. Although I have plenty of previous experience with PHP and MySQL I’d never really given much thought to the structure or creation of an RSS feed. After playing around with a few examples and following a few tutorials I had something that nearly worked. The problem was the examples and tutorials I found all had bits that worked and bits that didn’t. After figuring out precisely how to make an RSS feed with PHP and MySQL I thought it worth noting down. (more…)