Latest Blog Posts
Learning React - Building a simple list of blog posts with React and Bootstrap
The best way to learn React is to dive straight in and build something. To keep things simple I decided to copy our current www.coursedate.com website (PHP with Twig templates) in React. That way I wouldn’t have to spend any time thinking about the usual stuff that comes with a new web project (requirements, UI design etc), instead I could just focus on understanding how React works.
I’m using Express.js with React. I created the React project in a folder called client inside the Express project. I think that’s just for convenience - I can open both projects at once in VS Code.
MoreHow to build a dynamic sitemap with PHP
The sitemap file for Coursedate, our online course booking system, is generated on the fly using PHP.
We don’t manually update the sitemap.xml file each time a training provider creates a new course. New course pages now appear automatically in the sitemap file as soon as they are published in Coursedate’s course directory. That’s less work for us and it means the sitemap is always up to date when search engines do their indexing.
MoreReact Native and Bluetooth - Discovering Services and Characteristics and Reading Data
I’ve built a simple app to capture weight data from some bluetooth enabled bathroom scales. The app uses the react-native-ble-plx library from Polidea to handle the Bluetooth connections. The library is great - there’s good documentation - and getting it to work with the scales was pretty straightforward once I’d got a basic understanding of how the scales’ Bluetooth LE services and characteristics work.
MoreWhat does bespoke software development cost?
How do you estimate the cost of a software development project? Suppose you want to pay a software development company to build a bespoke web application. Can you get a rough idea of the cost before you start looking for a supplier?
MoreWhat you should know before you commission and develop your mobile app
Are you about to commission your first mobile app? Here are some things you should know. They may save you time, reduce your costs and in the end help you create a better product.
MoreSimple TCP service with Node.js to capture weight data from wireless weighing scales
How do you use Node.js to build a TCP server to collect weight data from a set of wireless enabled scales?
TCP works by establishing a connection between server and client. The server listens on a particular port and then makes a connection when messages come in from a client device.
MoreHow to create a line graph in Chart.js with dynamic data
How do you create JavaScript charts with the chart.js library that use data from a database on a server?
We use chart.js to display data about apprenticeship vacancies Sheffield. Each day we get the data from the gov.uk apprenticeship service API. The data's saved to a database and then used to build a chart that shows how the number of apprenticeship vacancies in each category is changing over time.
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