Development – AgileAdam.com

Handling Daylight Saving Time in Cron Jobs

/ March 16, 2023

Our business is located in Maine (same timezone as New York; we set clocks back one hour in the Fall and ahead one hour in the Spring)
Server A uses ET (automatically adjusts to UTC-4 in the summer, and UTC-5 in the winter)
Server B uses UTC (not affected by Daylight Saving Time) – we cannot control the timezone of this server

We want to ensure both servers are always referencing, figuratively, the same clock on the wall in Maine.

Here’s what we can do to make sure the timing of cron jobs on Server B (UTC) match the changing times of Server A (ET).

# Every day at 11:55pm EST (due to conditional, commands only run during Standard Time (fall/winter)
55 4 * * * [ `TZ=America/New_York date +\%Z` = EST ] && php artisan scrub-db >/dev/null 2>&1

# Every day at 11:55pm EDT (due to conditional, commands only run during Daylight Saving Time (spring/summer)
55 3 * * * [ `TZ=America/New_York date +\%Z` = EDT ] && php artisan scrub-db >/dev/null 2>&1

# Every day at 11:55pm EST (due to conditional, commands only run during Standard Time (fall/winter)

55 4 * * * [ `TZ=America/New_York date +\%Z` = EST ] && php artisan scrub-db >/dev/null 2>&1

# Every day at 11:55pm EDT (due to conditional, commands only run during Daylight Saving Time (spring/summer)

55 3 * * * [ `TZ=America/New_York date +\%Z` = EDT ] && php artisan scrub-db >/dev/null 2>&1

Only one of the php artisan scrub-db commands will execute, depending on the time of year.

Development, Tech Tips

Using Dataview with Charts in Obsidian

/ July 28, 2022

Obsidian is my third most used application after Keyboard Maestro and Alfred. I’ve been using the dataview plugin since I got started with Obsidian. It’s an incredible plugin that gives you the ability to treat your notes like database records. In this example I’ll show how I use dataview to make my projects queryable, and then how I use Obsidian-Charts to make some bar charts of this data.

Using Dataview Variables

Here’s an example of a Project file in my Obsidian vault:

read more

Development

Testing Cookie Modification in Laravel 8

/ February 4, 2022

If there’s a better way to pass a cookie from one request to another, in a phpunit feature test in Laravel, please let me know! Here’s one way to handle it:

<?php

namespace Tests\Feature;

use Illuminate\Cookie\CookieValuePrefix;
use Tests\TestCase;

class DiveDeeperTest extends TestCase
{

    /**
     * Tests if the diveDeeper route appends the passed value to the cookie arr.
     * @return void
     */
    public function test_it_updates_path_cookie()
    {
        // Post a deeperPath to the diveDeeper route (with a starter cookie).
        // This should append the "deeperPath" value to the "path" cookie array.
        $resp = $this->withCookie('path', serialize(['/']))
            ->post(route('diveDeeper'), [
                'deeperPath' => 'Users'
            ]);

        // Assert that the cookie has been modified.
        $resp->assertCookie('path', serialize(['/', 'Users']));

        // If we make another post request here, it won't include our
        // modified "path" cookie. We have to retrieve it, then pass it
        // through to the next request.

        // Decrypt the cookie (now modified by the diveDeeper route).
        $cookieValue = CookieValuePrefix::remove(app('encrypter')
            ->decrypt($resp->getCookie('path')->getValue(), false));

        // Hit the diveDeeper route again using the modified cookie value.
        $resp = $this->withCookie('path', $cookieValue)
            ->post(route('diveDeeper'), [
                'deeperPath' => 'adam'
            ]);

        // Assert that the cookie has been modified again.
        $resp->assertCookie('path', serialize(['/', 'Users', 'adam']));

        // Etc...
    }
}

<?php

namespace Tests\Feature;

use Illuminate\Cookie\CookieValuePrefix;

use Tests\TestCase;

class DiveDeeperTest extends TestCase

{

/**

* Tests if the diveDeeper route appends the passed value to the cookie arr.

* @return void

public function test_it_updates_path_cookie()

{

// Post a deeperPath to the diveDeeper route (with a starter cookie).

// This should append the "deeperPath" value to the "path" cookie array.

$resp = $this->withCookie('path', serialize(['/']))

->post(route('diveDeeper'), [

'deeperPath' => 'Users'

]);

// Assert that the cookie has been modified.

$resp->assertCookie('path', serialize(['/', 'Users']));

// If we make another post request here, it won't include our

// modified "path" cookie. We have to retrieve it, then pass it

// through to the next request.

// Decrypt the cookie (now modified by the diveDeeper route).

$cookieValue = CookieValuePrefix::remove(app('encrypter')

->decrypt($resp->getCookie('path')->getValue(), false));

// Hit the diveDeeper route again using the modified cookie value.

$resp = $this->withCookie('path', $cookieValue)

->post(route('diveDeeper'), [

'deeperPath' => 'adam'

]);

// Assert that the cookie has been modified again.

$resp->assertCookie('path', serialize(['/', 'Users', 'adam']));

// Etc...

}

Development

Any Random Saturday Using Faker

/ January 5, 2022

Here’s a quick one, folks. I’m using Faker in Laravel factories to generate realistic data. I have a “week end date” field in one of my models that must always be a Saturday. Here’s how I generate a unique random Saturday:

PHP

date('Y-m-d', strtotime('next Saturday ' . $this->faker->unique->date()))

1

date('Y-m-d', strtotime('next Saturday ' . $this->faker->unique->date()))

read more
Development

Using “php artisan serve” with xdebug and PHPStorm

/ October 29, 2021

This is more of a person note for myself. This posts assumes some knowledge of php, Laravel, artisan, Homebrew, and xdebug.

I’ve been using php artisan serve to serve Laravel applications locally. It’s quick and it works well.

It’s probably not a great solution if you’re working with other people on a project, or if you want to implement a good CD/CI workflow. Having said that, it’s what I’m using today, so I figured I’d document how I got xdebug working with it (on my Mac).

read more

Development

Using Carbon to Generate Random Dates and Times

/ October 27, 2021

There are a number of ways to generate random dates/times in PHP. Here are some examples using the Carbon library:

// Between now and 180 days ago
Carbon::today()->subDays(rand(0, 180))
> 2021-09-02 00:00:00
> 2021-06-23 00:00:00
> 2021-05-23 00:00:00

// Between now and 180 days ago with random time
Carbon::today()->subDays(rand(0, 179))->addSeconds(rand(0, 86400));
> 2021-06-11 22:35:03
> 2021-10-24 13:19:53
> 2021-06-09 20:47:44

// Between now and 180 days ago

Carbon::today()->subDays(rand(0, 180))

> 2021-09-02 00:00:00

> 2021-06-23 00:00:00

> 2021-05-23 00:00:00

// Between now and 180 days ago with random time

Carbon::today()->subDays(rand(0, 179))->addSeconds(rand(0, 86400));

> 2021-06-11 22:35:03

> 2021-10-24 13:19:53

> 2021-06-09 20:47:44

Development

Adding a Global Function to Cypress for a Date {num} Months Ago

/ October 25, 2021

I’m working on a COVID-19 booster shot registration form. On this form I ask the user when they received their last COVID-19 vaccine shot. This is three simple fields (the month values are 01, 02, 03, etc.):

Date of last covid shot

Each vaccine brand (Pfizer, Moderna, J&J) has different eligibility criteria as it relates to the time since the individual received their original vaccine series. Pfizer, for example, is 6 months. My form needs to reject a user who says they received Pfizer less than 6 months ago.

Using Cypress I wanted some test coverage of this functionality. Original I had hard-coded a date value of 5 months ago:

cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_month"]').select('08');
cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_day"]').select('01');
cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_year"]').select('2021');

cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_month"]').select('08');

cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_day"]').select('01');

cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_year"]').select('2021');

As you can imagine this would work well for a while. Fast-forward a few months from now… the time ago will eventually be more than 6 months ago. I don’t want to have to keep updating this code with a recent date. The obvious solution is to dynamically choose the dates based on the current date. A global helper function would be ideal as I need to use this in many tests. Here’s a simple solution:

Step 1: Define the Function in index.js

The support/index.js file is loaded before each Cypress run. Creating a global function here is a quick way to introduce a reusable piece of code.

/**
 * Returns a simple object for {num} months ago, containing YYYY, MM, DD.
 *
 * @param {number} num
 *   Number of months to subtract from current date.
 *
 * @return object
 *   Object containing three properties (year:YYYY, month:MM, day:DD)
 */
cy.getDateMonthsAgo = (num) => {
    const dateObj = new Date(
        new Date().getFullYear(),
        new Date().getMonth() - num,
        new Date().getDate()
    );

    return {
        year: dateObj.getFullYear().toString(),
        month: ('0' + (dateObj.getMonth() + 1)).slice(-2),
        day: ('0' + dateObj.getDate()).slice(-2),
    }
}

/**

* Returns a simple object for {num} months ago, containing YYYY, MM, DD.

* @param {number} num

* Number of months to subtract from current date.

* @return object

* Object containing three properties (year:YYYY, month:MM, day:DD)

cy.getDateMonthsAgo = (num) => {

const dateObj = new Date(

new Date().getFullYear(),

new Date().getMonth() - num,

new Date().getDate()

);

return {

year: dateObj.getFullYear().toString(),

month: ('0' + (dateObj.getMonth() + 1)).slice(-2),

day: ('0' + dateObj.getDate()).slice(-2),

}

There are many solutions to handle getting a date from {num} months ago. If you start looking around for “What is a month, really?” you will find many different opinions. The code I’m using above responds like most humans do: give the same day of the month from {num} months ago. With a {num} of 5 (five months ago), on October 25, 2021 the result would be May 25, 2021.

WARNING: Please note the following:

new Date(2021, 1, 28) ==> February 28, 2021
new Date(2021, 1, 29) ==> March 1, 2021
new Date(2021, 1, 30) ==> March 2, 2021
new Date(2021, 1, 31) ==> March 3, 2021
new Date(2021, 1, 32) ==> March 4, 2021

new Date(2021, 1, 28) ==> February 28, 2021

new Date(2021, 1, 29) ==> March 1, 2021

new Date(2021, 1, 30) ==> March 2, 2021

new Date(2021, 1, 31) ==> March 3, 2021

new Date(2021, 1, 32) ==> March 4, 2021

Step 2: Use the Function

const fiveMonthsAgo = cy.getDateMonthsAgo(5);
cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_month"]').select(fiveMonthsAgo.month);
cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_day"]').select(fiveMonthsAgo.day);
cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_year"]').select(fiveMonthsAgo.year);

const fiveMonthsAgo = cy.getDateMonthsAgo(5);

cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_month"]').select(fiveMonthsAgo.month);

cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_day"]').select(fiveMonthsAgo.day);

cy.get('select[name="datelastvax_year"]').select(fiveMonthsAgo.year);

Development, Tech Tips

PERT Estimates – Using Three-Point Estimation to Improve Accuracy

/ July 29, 2021
Background & Method

I’ve long been a promoter of using three-point estimates for improved accuracy when estimating tasks.

When I estimate how long a task will take to execute, I imagine three separate circumstances in an effort to improve the accuracy of my estimate:
1. Optimistic: How quickly could I get this task done if everything went perfectly. What if I realize some unexpected “wins” that get me to the finish line faster?
2. Realistic: When I think about my performance executing similar tasks in the past, what’s my best guess at an average amount of time needed?
3. Pessimistic: Sometimes nothing seems to go well. If things do not come together as expected, what’s the longest (within reason) you can imagine this task taking?
If I’ve truly thought about each of these, I can use them as variables in a simple formula, and can get a more accurate time estimate as a result.

This formula, (Best+(Real*2)+(Worst*3))/6 , puts more emphasis on the worst-case scenario (#3 above) as things seem to always take longer than expected to execute. Sometimes I use two versions of the formula (one that puts even more emphasis on pessimistic).

One more thing worth noting: You’ll see I used “I” and “my” a lot above; I do not recommend estimating tasks you are not executing, personally. I recommend having the responsible party estimate the task whenever possible. Explain the PERT process to them.

Usage

While this formula is simple, and adjustable (alter the weights as you see fit), it would take some time to manually calculate the result for each task.

I utilize a few tools to generate PERT estimates at the speed of thought.

First, I’ve written an Alfred plugin to make the process simple. This is my most used method of generating PERT estimates. Here’s a screenshot to give you a taste:

I’ve also created many spreadsheets over the years. These often look similar to this:

Here are a few templates you can use: XLSX | ODS
read more

Development

Simple OAuth Token Handling with Cypress

/ June 24, 2021

Here’s a quick (and dirty?) way to handle requesting an access token and using it in a subsequent request.

You should probably pull the client_secret from an environment variable (not shown below).

commands.js

/**
 * Get an oAuth access token.
 */
Cypress.Commands.add('getOauthAccessToken', () => {
  cy.request({
    method: 'POST',
    url: '/oauth/token',
    form: true,
    body: {
      grant_type: 'client_credentials',
      client_id: 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx',
      client_secret: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
      scope: '',
    },
  });
});

/**

* Get an oAuth access token.

Cypress.Commands.add('getOauthAccessToken', () => {

cy.request({

method: 'POST',

url: '/oauth/token',

form: true,

body: {

grant_type: 'client_credentials',

client_id: 'xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx',

client_secret: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',

scope: '',

});

some-tests.spec.js

describe('API Foobar', function() {

  it('Gets expected values from GET /oauth/debug', function() {
    cy.getOauthAccessToken().then(oAuthResp => {
      cy.request({
        method: 'GET',
        url: '/oauth/debug?_format=json',
        headers: {
          'Authorization': `Bearer ${oAuthResp.body.access_token}`,
        },
      }).should((resp) => {
        expect(resp.status).to.eq(200);
        expect(resp.body.roles).to.deep.contain('authenticated');
        expect(resp.body.roles).to.deep.contain('api_foobar');
      });
    });
  });

});

describe('API Foobar', function() {

it('Gets expected values from GET /oauth/debug', function() {

cy.getOauthAccessToken().then(oAuthResp => {

cy.request({

method: 'GET',

url: '/oauth/debug?_format=json',

headers: {

'Authorization': `Bearer ${oAuthResp.body.access_token}`,

}).should((resp) => {

expect(resp.status).to.eq(200);

expect(resp.body.roles).to.deep.contain('authenticated');

expect(resp.body.roles).to.deep.contain('api_foobar');

});

Development

Remote PHP Debugging with Xdebug + PHPStorm or VSCode on Cloudways

/ June 21, 2021

Here’s a quick breakdown of the steps required to debug a PHP site on a remote Cloudways server.

Step 1:

Enable xdebug for the whole Cloudways server:

Server » Settings & Packages » Advanced » XDEBUG: Enabled

Step 2:

For the specific application in Cloudways, add some PHP settings:

Application » Application Settings » PHP FPM Settings:

php_value[xdebug.mode] = debug  
php_value[xdebug.start_with_request] = yes  
php_value[xdebug.remote_connect_back] = 1

php_value[xdebug.mode] = debug

php_value[xdebug.start_with_request] = yes

php_value[xdebug.remote_connect_back] = 1

Step 3: Setup SSH config for an ssh tunnel to the server:

Edit ~/.ssh/config

Host mhd1_xdebug
  HostName 44.33.222.111
  User master_acevdddddd
  RemoteForward 9003 localhost:9003

Host mhd1_xdebug

HostName 44.33.222.111

User master_acevdddddd

RemoteForward 9003 localhost:9003

Step 4 (PHPStorm):

Configure PHPStorm Preferences

PHP » Debug » Xdebug » Debug port = 9003
PHP » Debug » Xdebug — Check all four boxes:
- Can accept external connections
- Resolve breakpoint if it’s not available on the current line
- Force break at first line when no path mapping specified
- Force break at first line when a script is outside the project
You shouldn’t need to configure servers, PHP cli, deployment locations, or anything similar…

Try It

Start an SSH tunnel: ssh mhd1_xdebug
Drop a breakpoint in index.php (or whatever will surely execute)
Visit the site, then wait for PHPStorm to prompt you for which file to connect to. Choose accordingly. It should connect and pause. You only have to do this once; it’ll remember the settings and path mapping in PHP » Servers.

Step 4 (VSCode)

Configure VSCode Preferences

Install https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=felixfbecker.php-debug
Click the Run and Debug sidebar icon (⌘⇧D)
SSH into the server to find the exact path to the root of the site (which should match the root of your repo locally, your workspace folder)
Add new configuration (you can disable the log option if things work well right away)

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Listen for Xdebug",
            "type": "php",
            "request": "launch",
            "port": 9003,
            "pathMappings": {
              "/home/511111.cloudwaysapps.com/crwysaaaaa/public_html": "${workspaceFolder}",
            },
            "log": true
        },
    ]
}

{

"version": "0.2.0",

"configurations": [

{

"name": "Listen for Xdebug",

"type": "php",

"request": "launch",

"port": 9003,

"pathMappings": {

"/home/511111.cloudwaysapps.com/crwysaaaaa/public_html": "${workspaceFolder}",

"log": true

]

}

Try it

Start an SSH tunnel: ssh mhd1_xdebug
Click Listen for Xdebug in the Run and Debug screen
Drop a breakpoint in index.php (or whatever will surely execute)
Visit the site

Using Dataview Variables

Step 1: Define the Function in index.js

Step 2: Use the Function

Background & Method

Usage

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3: Setup SSH config for an ssh tunnel to the server:

Step 4 (PHPStorm):

Configure PHPStorm Preferences

Try It

Step 4 (VSCode)

Configure VSCode Preferences

Try it