Auto version your JavaScript or Stylesheet files using .htaccess

Question 1

Three3’s Question:

I am trying to turn my blog URLs into a more SEO friendly format using mod_rewrite. All of my articles are stored in a simple MySQL database. Each blog article url looks like this:

http://www.test.com/blog?id=20&category=online%20php%20tutorials&pagename=how%20to%20customize%20functions

I have managed to to make them look like this using mod_rewrite:

http://www.test.com/blog/online-php-tutorials/how-to-customize-functions/20

Here is my code that I paced in my .htaccess file:

RewriteRule ^blog/([a-z0-9-]+)/([a-z0-9-]+)/([a-z0-9-]+)/?$ /blog?id=$3&category=$1&pagename=$2 [L]

So what happens is this: When I click on the URL http://www.test.com/blog/online-php-tutorials/how-to-customize-functions/20, all of my CSS and images are not loading because it is trying to load them from a directory that does not actually exists. How would I load the files without having to create multiple directories that contain my sites CSS files and images?

Answer

Starx

Use root identifier / in your path. This will point the DocumentRoot of your server. Let me explain How this works

For an image like this:

<img src='test.jpg' />

Browser/Server will find it as http://www.test.com/blog/online-php-tutorials/how-to-customize-functions/20/test.jpg' but if you use / before the path

<img src='/test.jpg' />

It will look for it in http://www.test.com/test.jpg

Another Technique

Use full path in your files like:

<img src='http://test.com/test.jpg' />

Question 2

Mr Me’s Question:

Mr Me

I’ve already checked the issue disable access to included files , but I am wondering if that’s the best solution.

Context: I’m building a bootstrap class for my PHP Framework, and realized that there are multiple solutions to this security issue.

After researching and reading posts like the one I mentioned at first and others related to htaccess, I think that there are basically three types of solutions:

1 – Checking a constant (like in the post I linked)

if(!defined('THIS_IS_NOT_A_DIRECT_ACCESS')) {
    header('HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found');
    include('./../error/404.php');
    die;
}

Or

require('../error/include_file.php');
//
if(!defined('THIS_IS_NOT_A_DIRECT_ACCESS'))
{
    header('HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found');
    include('404.php');  
    die; 
}

2 – Redirecting all calls to the Bootstrap and making a clever filtering.

//Something like
// if $urlRequested it's a file
    // Go to Error
// else if $urlRequested it's not a controller
    // Go to Error
// else 
    // Execute Controller Logic.

3 – Setting htaccess.

# Redirecting calls for non-directories, files or links
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ index.php?url=$1 [QSA]

# Redirecting the rest of the calls to the error page.
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ index.php?url=error/404 [QSA]

Personally I think the solution 3 is the most interesting, but I am pretty new in the Htaccess control so I wonder if this is a safe solution.

For the purists and minimalists, the Question in here would be:
Are these (the three examples) nice direct access control systems for Apache-PHP applications? Else, which would be the safest approach? And the simplest?

Answer

Starx

This is a debatable topic but .htaccess rules applies to all the document on that particular directory. While applying 1 or 2 you may have to include that portion on every file.

Question 3

User2495173’s Question:

user2495173

I changed the httpd.conf as follows:

Replaced

DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files (x86)/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs"

with

DocumentRoot "C:/Temp/WebServerCore/Binaries/html"

Replaced

<Directory "C:/Program Files (x86)/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs">

with

<Directory "C:/Temp/WebServerCore/Binaries/html">

However Apache does not recognize the php code in my .html file. What other changes do I need to make for Apache to execute PHP?

Answer

Starx

It is by design. Apache will not parse PHP code inside a HTML file by default. You can include HTML codes in a PHP file as you would code them in a HTML document.

Renames your files and add extension .php at the end they will parsed as you want.

Or you can configure your apache configuration (httpd.conf) to parse PHP code inside HTML too.

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .html .htm

Or you can match extension and set their handlers like

<FilesMatch ".(htm|html|php)$">
     SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
</FilesMatch>

Question 4

User1032531’s Question:

user1032531

As far as I can tell, apache_request_headers() provides the same information as $_SERVER, but with slightly different keys. Why should someone ever use apache_request_headers() and not just get this information from $_SERVER? I am operating PHP 5.3.18 with Apache on Centos. Thank you

EDIT. identical data from $_SERVER and apache_request_headers()

Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_HOST: www.badobe.com
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Host: www.badobe.com
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_USER_AGENT: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:21.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/21.0
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:21.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/21.0
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_ACCEPT: */*
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Accept: */*
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE: en-US,en;q=0.5
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING: gzip, deflate
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_REFERER: http://www.badobe.com/demo/administrator/index.php?cid=3
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Referer: http://www.badobe.com/demo/administrator/index.php?cid=3
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_COOKIE: PHPSESSID=feg3ecd4rsefvd03mgg6qear21
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Cookie: PHPSESSID=feg3ecd4rsefvd03mgg6qear21
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_CONNECTION: keep-alive
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Connection: keep-alive
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_IF_MODIFIED_SINCE: Sun, 02 Jun 2013 15:48:42 GMT
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: If-Modified-Since: Sun, 02 Jun 2013 15:48:42 GMT
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL: max-age=0
Jun  2 08:50:53 localhost httpd: Cache-Control: max-age=0

Answer

Starx

Because apache_request_headers() returns an associative array of all the HTTP headers in the current request, where as $_SERVER gives more than that

header details
path details
script locations

Question 5

Question by Mikey

Mikey

I’m trying to upload my ZF Project to shared hosting

On my XAMPP, ZF’s index page is located (and I access my page) at http://localhost/ZFprojectname/public

On the shared hosting in the root directory I have installed Joomla.

I want to access my ZF in the manner of http://mywebsite.com/booking/

so in this case, when going to http://mywebsite.com/booking/ I should be accessing ZF’s public folder (as far as I understand).

And, I’d like to put my ZFproject in public_html/somefolderName/

How would you do it?

Answer

Answer by Starx

Starx

Shared hosting do not support defining Document Root path so you can use .htaccess to forward the request to public folder instead.

Create a .htaccess file inside the booking directory with the following rule.

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^.htaccess$ - [F]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} =""
RewriteRule ^.*$ /public/index.php [NC,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/public/.*$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /public/$1

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]

RewriteRule ^public/.*$ /public/index.php [NC,L]

Question 6

Question by Nich

Nich

I’m facing problem to load the php_oauth.dll extension for my xampp. I downloaded the php_oauth.dll and added extension=php_oauth.dll in php.ini , but when i restart my apache, it cannot start the server anymore.

I’m using window 7 ,64bits.
Initially, I download the file from
http://downloads.php.net/pierre/

but i found that it was 32bits file , so I’m searching fo 64bit and found out
http://www.mediafire.com/php-win64-extensions

unfortunately,I still cannot load the oauth. Any solution to solve it? I look through many article, but it seems like dont have it, anyone can provide ,so that, others that using win 64bit can follow

Thank you!

Answer

Answer by Starx

Starx

This looks to be like a path problem. Make sure the extension is store in the correct extension directory.

The settings of this can be found inside php.ini as something like

extension_dir = C:phpextensions

By default this is ext folder inside PHP installation.

Or, follow the instruction from PHP manual while installing extensions, if you are not sure what you are doing.

Question 7

Question by Nyxynyx

Nyxynyx

I have this JPEG that has been giving problems to the function imagesx($this->image) from the Resizer library that I am using. I am able to view the image using the browser, and when attempting to resize, I get the error:

imagesx() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given

It is OK for me to not handle this file if it is going to throw an error. How can I use PHP to check whether this image can be handled properly by PHP’s image functions?

Code that calls the Library

// Download the photo
$img_content = file_get_contents($url);
if($img_content !== FALSE) {
    file_put_contents($img_documentroot . $img_subpath . $img_filename . '_tmp.jpg',
     $img_content);
}

echo $url . '<br>';
echo $img_documentroot . $img_subpath . $img_filename . '_tmp.jpg<br>';
ob_flush();
flush();

// Resize photo
Resizer::open( $img_documentroot . $img_subpath . $img_filename . '_tmp.jpg' )
->resize(300, 300, 'landscape' )
->save($img_documentroot . $img_subpath . $img_filename . '.jpg' , 90 );

// Thumbnail photo
Resizer::open( $img_documentroot . $img_subpath . $img_filename . '_tmp.jpg' )
->resize(100, 100, 'crop' )
->save($img_documentroot . $img_subpath . $img_filename . '.jpg' , 90 );

Output

I also echoed out the full path of the image being resized.

http://www.ApartmentsInAllstonMA.com/Images/Apts/132847_kn1.jpg
/home/photos/public_html/2012/0917/2516539_7_tmp.jpg
resource(127) of type (gd)
resource(130) of type (gd)
http://www.ApartmentsInMedford.com/Images/Apts/132847_lv2.jpg
/home/photos/public_html/2012/0917/2516539_11_tmp.jpg
resource(163) of type (gd)
resource(166) of type (gd)
http://www.AllstonApartmentX.com/images/agents/61.jpg
/home/photos/public_html/2012/0917/2516539_12_tmp.jpg
bool(false)

UPDATE

This is the code snippet that is causing the library to return a false value.

private function open_image( $file )
{

    // If $file isn't an array, we'll turn it into one
    if ( !is_array($file) ) {
        $file = array(
            'type'      => File::mime( strtolower(File::extension($file)) ),
            'tmp_name'  => $file
        );
    }

    $mime = $file['type'];
    $file_path = $file['tmp_name'];

    switch ( $mime )
    {
        case 'image/pjpeg': // IE6
        case File::mime('jpg'): $img = @imagecreatefromjpeg( $file_path );  break;
        case File::mime('gif'): $img = @imagecreatefromgif( $file_path );   break;
        case File::mime('png'): $img = @imagecreatefrompng( $file_path );   break;
        default:                $img = false;                               break;
    }

    return $img;
}

Answer

Answer by Starx

Starx

Checking for the mime type is a very good method to ensure the validity of JPEG image. Here is how you can do this.

$finfo = finfo_open(FILEINFO_MIME_TYPE); // return mime type
$type = finfo_file($finfo, $filename) . "n";  
if($type == "image/jpeg") { 
     //Valid JPEG Image
}
finfo_close($finfo);

According to your errors, you are sending boolean value instead of image resource.

Question 8

Question by apurv nerlekar

apurv nerlekar

I am trying to create a settings page(for the clients) where in they can view the current up address,change the ip address etc. I have a php file to view the ip address

 <?php
  $res=shell_exec("ifconfig");
  echo $res;
 ?>

This code works just fine and displays the expected result.
However the code to change the ip address of the server is not working properly.

 <?php
 shell_exec("ifconfig eth0 192.168.163.136");
 ?>

After running this code when i check the ipaddress on the terminal using ipaddr i don’t see any change in the ipaddress.
Pls point out where i am going wrong. I think its a problem of apache not being a super/root user. If that is the case i don’t know how to make apache run as a root user.

Answer

Answer by Starx

Starx

IP address are configured in Network Layer of an Network Protocol, not in application layer where PHP runs. Simply, PHP does not have access to it and cannot changed them.

Just imagine the vulnerabilities it could create if this was possible.

Question 9

Question by Julien

Julien

I have the following situation:
We have a webapp built with Zend Framework 1.10 that is available under www.domain.com/webapp

On the server filesystem, we really also have the webapp deployed in /srv/www/webapp

Now, for some reasons I can’t detail too much, the project manager has requested, now that the app is finished, that each client recieves his own url litteraly.
So we would have:
www.domain.com/webapp/client1
www.domain.com/webapp/client2

Normally, what start after the webapp/ would be the controllers, actions and so forth from zend.

Therefore the question: is there a quick way in apache to create these virtual subdirectories, as in the example, client1, client2 ?

I guess it should be possible with url rewriting ?

Thanks in advance

Answer

Answer by Starx

Starx

Rather than creating virtual directories, this can be solved by creating a specific route with Zend_Route. Assuming, controller as User and the action to pass the name would be view, then

$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    'webapp/:username',
    array(
        'controller' => 'user',
        'action'     => 'view',
        'username'   => 'defaultuser'
    )
);

Tag: apache

Auto version your JavaScript or Stylesheet files using .htaccess

Yes! there is.

Using mod_rewrite to make Blog URLs more SEO Friendly

Three3’s Question:

Another Technique

Disable direct access to files in PHP

Mr Me’s Question:

Apache is not executing PHP scripts

User2495173’s Question:

apache_request_headers() versus $_SERVER

User1032531’s Question:

Running a Zend Framework Project on a shared server

Question by Mikey

Answer by Starx

Load php_oauth.dll into local server

Question by Nich

Answer by Starx

How to ensure JPEG image is valid and can be handled by PHP?

Question by Nyxynyx

UPDATE

Answer by Starx

Changing ip address of apache server using php

Question by apurv nerlekar

Answer by Starx

Zend 1.10 place websites in virtual subdirectories

Question by Julien

Answer by Starx

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