Restructuring database

Well, before I was able to get a fully functioning system up and running, I decided to change a few things.

I'm leaving the current work up for display to the public at the moment, but I've already built a new database, and I am tweaking the database update scripts.  The new database was designed to hold much more info than the previous one.

One problem I've already run into?  Handling errors in the xml file.  For some reason, one person has "broken" my second generation script, because their privacy settings have been set in a manner that removes some tags from the xml feed.  Luckily, I was able to develop a way to catch this error before he changed his settings.

Before, the script would die, leaving the process half completed.  Now, I was able to locate a function to examine child elements and make decisions based on that.

FYI, I am using the amara toolkit in python to handle the xml feed.  It allows me to bind variables to the xml tags which is much easier than developing objects to handle the data.  Since it is only getting thrown into an SQL script, there is no disadvantage.

In other news, I've switched to google apps for my domain to handle email, and I've also configured apache and my dns settings to provide a better domain for my test server.  Instead of using my dyndns domain, I've given it http://gamertagops.ryanveach.com.

First new entry, and project log

So, I've recently decided to delete all my old posts, and start over, but with a purpose this time.

The abridged story of my recent life:  I've graduated from college, started a post degree job, and now I've begun working on things to learn more about certain subjects.

Lately, I have been playing around with a virtual linux server.  I have installed ubuntu server 9.10 as a guest on Windows XP.  While it is not my best option, I do not have a spare pc to dedicate to the project yet.

I am currently working on a project using python to fetch data from an XML feed, and insert it into a MySQL database.  Then, the MySQL data can be displayed through a php web page.  I have selected xbox live data to fetch and display, since it changes often, and has plenty of potential.  The current url for this project is http://gamertagops.ryanveach.com.
post edited to reflect new domain name.

Currently, only one group can be displayed via php, and data must be manually entered into the database.  My current focus on this project is going directly into the php pages.  Since the information is stored in a database, the information is easily manipulated, so more features will be implemented soon.