Not long after starting your fancy new webapp, you will start to realize that putting

if (!isset($_SESSION['isloggedin'])) {
  redirect('/login');
}

in every single controller function is very tedious.

You can create an extension of the Controller class and put the common code in there. Here’s how.

Create a file in /system/application/libraries called MY_Controller.php. The name of this file is important. If the prefix “MY_” doesn’t do it for you, go into /system/application/config/config.php and change

$config['subclass_prefix'] = 'MY_';

to whatever you want. Don’t change the “Controller” part though! You can also extend Models and Helpers.

Start with the following code in MY_Controller.php:

class Authenticated_Controller extends Controller {
  function Authenticated_Controller() {
    parent::Controller();
    session_start();
    if (!isset($_SESSION['isloggedin'])) {
      redirect('/login');
    }
  }
}

Go ahead and add any common controller functions to this class. Feel free to change “Authenticated_Controller” to whatever you want. You can also have multiple Controller extensions in this file.

Note: If you only have one controller extension, it is standard to name your class MY_Controller (rather than Authenticated_Controller).

Important Note: If you find yourself creating a bunch of controller extensions, take a step back and consider what you are doing. Is your extension being used by only one controller? If so, just put your code in that controller’s constructor.

Now it’s time to start using your new controller extension!

In every controller that requires authentication (don’t do this for your login controller!) rather than the traditional

class Manage extends Controller { ...

use this instead:

class Manage extends Authenticated_Controller { ...

Do you have CodeIgniter controller extensions that could be useful to others? Let us know in the comments.

So in order to fill this need rtraction and technology lawyer David Canton are pleased to announce the release of our first PolicyTool, a free social media policy generator.

After answering a few short questions about your business and your employees roles online, you are provided with a full social media policy. We have worked with David Canton to review other social media policies, and relied on his legal perspective to build a strong and reliable tool that we are excited to share with the community.

This is being released as a free resource because we hope that it will encourage businesses of all sizes to start engaging in online conversations and feel safe doing so.

If you would like to see other policy tool modules, or have suggestions for improvements to the Social Media Policy Generator, then please submit them to our feedback form.

To learn more about social media, and how your company can take advantage of the many different technologies available, please check out services or contact us with specific questions.

Compost is an easy web-based way to grow consensus with your designs. Upload designs and allow your clients to annotate, rate and discuss. Easily revise comps based on feedback and get approval.

Compost is currently in version 0.8beta. Coming-soon features include email notifications, project searching, and an iPhone application.

Compost is free software, released under GPLv3. You have the freedom to:

• - use the software for any purpose
• - change the software to suit your needs
• - share the software with your friends and neighbours
• - share the changes you make

Getting Started

You can download the latest version of Compost here. Follow the README instructions to get Compost up and running in seconds.

If you have any suggestions or problems, be sure to drop us a line.

Compost Versus Alternatives

Compost differs from most feedback systems in that it is completely free and open source. Here is a chart that compares some popular feedback systems to Compost.

Participate

If you’re handy with PHP, jQuery and Code Igniter we encourage you to become a committer! Help us move Compost forward and give back to the open source community.

To get started, visit the project at Google Code – there you can familiarize yourself with the issues, checkout the source code and browse changes. You will need to be a member of the project to commit any changes – to become a member, send an email to gavin.blair at rtraction.com and I’ll add you as a committer.

If you’re not a coder you can still help out by testing Compost and providing feedback.

Coming Soon

Very soon Compost will have an iPhone app, drag-and-drop design ordering, and email notification options. What features would you like to see in Compost? Leave a comment below or at our feedback site.

With this most recent update, the Tweetdeck has added YouTube and Flickr to their list of supported sites. You can now watch YouTube clips and view Flickr photos all within Tweetdeck. Now if one of your friend links to one of these site, you don’t have to leave the application.

One very neat update is column navigation. Now you can quickly jump to any column by hovering over a link a the bottom of the window. You no longer have to scroll horizontally across a screen.

There are also a couple of back end improvements. The Twitter API rate limit was increased and Tweetdeck now makes 350 calls per hour. This is great for anyone managing multiple accounts, or interacting with a high number of followers. We have also been given the option to edit search terms without having to delete the query and start over.

Its great to see the group at Tweetdeck constantly improving their application. Tweetdeck is quickly becoming the one program to easily manage your social media activities.

The event in Guelph is organized primarily by Brydon Gilliss (twitter: @Brydon). There were a limited number of presenters and we were among the privileged few who were chosen to show off what we’ve been working on. There was a variety in the types of projects: some, like ours, were pure software and others combined software and hardware.

Tara Hunt (twitter: @missrogue)
First up was the special guest speaker, Tara Hunt. Tara is the author of The Whuffie Factor, and had many interesting things to say about social media as it applies to individuals and companies. Regarding individuals branding themselves, she said “Who needs a personal brand? Get a personality!” To business, the comment was simpler but along the same line “Stop being robots”. Basically what she was saying to everyone is to be authentic. Whether we work for a small company, large corporation or are self-employed, we are still human beings with our own interests, passions and even flaws. She used the example of karaoke and how it allows people to relate to her better. Social media does more than just connect people, it embraces the human factor in everything we do.

Tiny Hippos (twitter: @tinyHippos)
This group built a browser plugin for mobile website and widget developers to aid in the laborious process of testing with multiple devices. This saves the time and effort of running multiple emulators. This project was still in its early stages and we were among some of the first to see it in action.

BerryBlab (twitter: @berryblab)
BerryBlab is a clean easy-to-use BlackBerry application to read vBulletin forums. This program has a clear purpose and achieves it well.

Compost (twitter: @compostr)
This was our presentation of our new opensource web design feedback tool. The hardest part was demoing in under 15 minutes, including setup and questions. After taking a quick tour through the demo website, we fielded several questions from the audience.
My two favourite questions were (paraphrasing a bit):
Q: What distinguishes Compost from similar software, such as ConceptShare or others?
A: Ours is free.
Q: How do you plan to make money off this product?
A: We don’t. The time savings of using the program translate to money indirectly, but the code itself is opensource under GPL3 and free for anyone to use.

JaxCore (twitter: @jaxcore)
JaxCore is looking to change the way web development is done by introducing a new language. The biggest challenge we can see is getting programmers to let go of their favourite programming languages.

SnapSort (twitter: @snapsort)
This is a camera comparison website with a bit different spin than many others. The application looks at the specs and compares them weighted by what’s actually important to consumers. If you’ve ever tried to compare cameras online, you’ve experienced the frustration of trying to figure out what any of the stats actually mean. This site might help me in finally deciding which digital SLR to buy.

Little Robots (twitter: @tonious)
This was a very interesting demo, though very hard to see in the packed room. He addressed the basic issue of subtle communication between individuals. The developer built two little robots, one for his fiancé and another for himself. By pushing the belly-button on his robot, his fiancé’s robot waves at her, and vice-versa. Very cool. But since I know little about hardware, I’ll stick with text messaging my girlfriend for now.

All around, it was a great event and I would love to see a DemoCampLondon. We have a number of specialized user groups: one for Drupal, another for .NET, and of course many great networking groups such as the GeekDinner, but nothing quite along these lines. Seeing a variety of cool products in development in a casual grassroots manner was a different experience and one I look forward to next time.

There are a number of applications that allow you to share your location with your friends. Gowalla, Foursquare are two that have made this into a game, allowing users to collect points and “dropped items“.

Metro’s recent announcement that they have partnered with Foursquare has taken these applications from permissible non creepy stalking to useful tools.

Metro newspaper is a free daily that is handed out at transit stations in major Canadian cities. They have also been active participants in new media, with numerous Twitter accounts and casually written blogs. They claim a circulation of over 800,000.

When a user checks into a location near a site that Metro has a reviewed, a Foursquare tip will be displayed on their phone with the option to read a full review.

There are other applications like AroundMe or CanPages that use you GPS location to return search results related to your location. However Foursquare has the benefit over these application of being crowd sourced and therefore updated more frequently.

While this announcement only speaks about reviews, there is also the potential for breaking news to be shared in the same way, a featuring lacking in other proximity applications.

While augmented reality could arguably be considered more interesting, there is still a barrier of entry (for example the need to install applications to your device). Foursquare and similar services are web based and are easy to use, therefore encouraging more users.

What Is Your Business Doing?

Social media gives businesses of all types the ability connect with their customers. And potential clients are asking to be connected with you. So what are you doing to converse with them? The tools are available and just waiting to be used in news and interesting ways.

In conversations around replacement postings, we’ve discussed titles like Account Manager, Inside Sales Rep, Sales Support, Communication Manager, Client Manager, Stank Funk Enforcement Officer (ask Josh) etc, etc. The list goes on and on. In an organization as multifaceted as ours, it’s difficult to pin any one title to the role.

And so we thought: let’s take a different approach. Rather than an iron-clad job description and title, here is a list of the skills we’ve determined are ideal for this position:

Required:

1. Loves working with a variety of clients in different industries
2. Strong Writing Skills
3. Strong Oral Communication Skills
4. Great Problem Solving / Creative Thinking Skills
5. High Energy / Positive Mojo
6. Analytical Thinking
7. Good Negotiation Skills
8. Ability to Edit/Proof Read (Attention to Detail)
9. Ability to create and deliver killer presentations
10. Nothing gets you more excited than writing up a solid pitch/proposal to a new prospect
11. A desire to work with our community to make it a better place to live

Would-be-Great-To-Have:

1. Technical Aptitude (not programming, but not afraid of technology either)
2. Marketing Aptitude
3. Experience with Non-Profits
4. Experience with High Tech/Medical Agencies
5. Graphic Design Skills (for presentations, documentation)
6. Understanding of Financials / Budgeting / Business Lifecycles
7. Have your own Blog / Twitter Account / Website / Facebook Fan Page
8. Know how to spell HTML

Why would you want to work with us? Several reasons, really. A chance to work on exciting, dynamic projects. Perhaps you want to help us build a stronger community by doing good. You like the challenge of working in new, emerging media technologies. You (or your family) is a big fan of international standards in web development. You like robots. Maybe, just maybe you have a healthy hatred of all things undead. You like to rock out. And last but not least, you like to work hard AND  play hard with your peers.

If you have these skills and a desire to work in online marketing with our team, drop me a line and maybe we can create an opportunity together. Alternatively, if you know someone that is ideal – please pass them along.

And last but not least, if you’re happily situated in your job and don’t know anyone looking, please leave some comments about any thoughts you have for any important attributes for individuals working with clients in the digital media / online marketing space – your feedback is welcome and appreciated!

UPDATE 01/25/2010: A few people have commented/wrote/called, etc asking how they can contact us if interested (and specifically what to send). I’ve been asking interested individuals to send a note describing what about this blog post resonates with them and sparks interest, identifying the skills in which they excel at and perhaps the ones that need work. And, of course, a traditional C.V. is always a good idea! You may send it directly to me at david.billson@rtraction.com

Thanks to all our community members that have passed this on!

Next week, I’ll be joining the Sunshine Foundation as their National Media and Communications Coordinator. Sunshine is dedicated to fulfilling dreams for children who are challenged by severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illnesses. I’m hugely excited about my new team, about the role itself, and about the prospect of using social media to support our work and our volunteers across Canada .

I’ve met a lot a great people in the past 15 months, and I hope you will stay in touch.

For rtraction, 2009 was our best year ever in terms of how much we were able to give back and contribute to the community. We do this both as individuals (we offer staff a full day every month to volunteer) and as a group.

 
Shawn Adamsson, Jeremy Richardson, Julie Ryan, Nik Harron and Chris McInnis at the Amazing Tree Quest Launch for Reforest London

As a group, this year we donated over a thousand hours of staff time to design, build and promote entirely new websites and promotional videos for long-time community partners like ReForest London and TechAlliance, and for new groups and campaigns like the United Way’s GenNext and the LUSO Community Centre’s 1000 Acts of Kindness.

 
Stephen Ash and Norma Oreadi giving away chocolates on Hugs and Kisses Day for 1000 Acts of Kindness

For 1000 Acts, we not only built their site, but also developed a social media strategy for the campaign and committed to performing 500 acts ourselves. We were completely blown away by their success, and incredibly proud to have been part of it. (They inspired the community to achieve 52,115 acts of kindness in one month!)

We closed out the year with a collection of 1000 pounds of food and $1000 for the London and Area food bank.

 
Food Bank Prank at rtraction

When we combine services, sponsorships and cash, our agency contributed over $100,0000 to the community this year. Not too shabby for a team of 15 and a business that’s under ten years old. Yet even as we reflect on what we managed to accomplish this past year, we’re determined to do even more in 2010.

At the risk of sounding cliché … Corporate Social Responsibility is more than just a tagline for us. It’s what gets us excited, what keeps us motivated, and one of the things we’re most proud of. Bring on 2010!

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	while ($meeting_types = db_fetch_object($queryResult)) {
		$meetings = unserialize($meeting_types->global_settings);
	}
	$meeting_list = explode("\n", $meetings['allowed_values']);
	$meeting_array = array("" => "All Meeting Types");
	foreach($meeting_list as $meeting_type)
	{
		$meeting = explode("|", $meeting_type);
		$meeting_array = array_merge($meeting_array,
			array($meeting[0]=>$meeting[1]));
	}

	return $meeting_array;
}