In a new tutorial from NetTuts.com today they show you how to combine a CodeIgniter-based backend and a jQuery frontend to make a simple Ajax data grid of data pulled from a database.

In this lesson, we will create a CodeIgniter library that allows us to generate data grids automatically for managing any database table. I'll explain each step required to create this class; so you'll likely learn some new OOP techniques/concepts in the process! As a bonus, we'll proceed to write some jQuery code that will enable a user to update the data grid's content without having to wait for a page refresh.

The tutorial's broken up into a few different steps, each complete with descriptions and plenty of code ready for cut-and-paste:

• Build a Data Grid Generator Class (a helper in PHP)
• Testing the Datagrid Helper Class with a CodeIgniter Controller
• Implementing Ajax (jQuery to the Rescue!)
• Check All or Nothing!

You can also download the source for all of the scripts if you'd like to dive right into the code.

From Superdit.com there's a tutorial showing you how to display search results in an ExtJS grid as pulled from Google's API. The article's from the beginning of the year, but it's a good self-contained example of using ExtJS to automatically pull in data produced from the backend.

This time I want to make a simple example in displaying google web search result in ExtJS grid, other ExtJS component that can be used to displaying this result is dataview, but grid is more common in displaying data in ExtJS.

The code (downloadable here) is pretty simple and the full CSS, Javascript, PHP and markup you'll need are included. The PHP pulls the results from the Google API and

Kae Verens has posted a cool little application of how to pull information out of a photo and parse it with the GD library. His example is a visual sudoku solver (part one, at least).

The plan for this one is that, if you're doing a sudoku puzzle in the pub or on the train, and you get stuck, you just take a snapshot of the puzzle with your camera-phone, send the photo to a certain mobile number, and a few seconds later the solution is sent back as an SMS message. The solution costs you something small - 50 cents, maybe.

The script looks at a picture of a sudoku puzzle, converts it to b&w and tries to find the squares surrounding each position of the board. With these measurements, the next step is to grab the numbers already in the puzzle and hand those off to the puzzle solver to be processed.

Richard Thomas has released the latest version of his extensible framework today - jQPie 0.3.

The main thing in this release is the addition of an auto complete and a grid example based of the extjs library, One thing to keep in mind the css files provided by extjs will overrun pretty much any css you have, the main one being ext-all.css, It seems some things are set in here that are required for the examples to work but at the same time it styles pretty much every element in existence.

jQPie is a "a lightweight PHP interface to jQuery. The lightweight interface allows multiple ways to interact." It also has a plugin interface that allows other modules to be built on to the core functionality. Check out its wiki for more information.

In the continuing development of his online PHP-based game, Pádraic Brady has created a simple class to help with mapping out the objects/structures in the game. He shares the code for this in his latest blog post.

The code sets the stage for the Redux mapping system. Basically, we're aiming at a grid-based map with each grid coordinate representing a Sector.

Right now, it's just a skeleton structure, but it already has some of the key bits of functionality in place. The Redux_Map class manages the requests coming back and forth between the client and server, and the Redux_Map_Grid class helps to generate a grid structure of the objects found in that sector.

He even includes the unit tests for testing the Redux_Map_Grid class to ensure everything's in tip top shape. Next on his list is adding actual entities to the game - planets, facilities, etc.

A press release has been published from Senza Limiti about their acquisition of the PHPScripts.se's Ajax-enabled DataGrid component and intentions to release it under both an Open Source license and a commercial license (like MySQL has done).

The PHP Grid is an Ajax-based table component that shows database information in a good looking, easy to use way. All user actions are performed in real time, on the client side, giving instant feedback and providing a desktop-like user experience. Among its features are Excel support and an automated print function that presents the table in a printable format. It also allows instant editing of database rows.

You can get the complete details on the component from these pages on Senza Limiti's website.

When it comes to protecting your code, you definitely want to find the right product for your needs. Finding the information on all of the encoders out there can be a task in itself, though. Fortunately, EncoderCompare.com has been created to give you a quick and easy reference.

Whilst we would always recommend the use of the ionCube Encoder product to protect your PHP source code when distributing your product to customers and users, there are several other products available to choose from.

To help with this, we have launched a comparison website which lists the available encoders and compares their features. The feature set is standardised so that it is possible to compare like for like in a clear manner.

Currently, there's fifteen encoders listed with all of their stats - protection types, restrictions available, what OSes it has loaders for, the availability of licensing, and the pricing. There's links to get more specific information on each as well.

Björn Schotte has posted this anticipatory post for the powerful Ajax + PHP tool coming from the TurboAjax.com group - a virtual data grid.

If you use Dojo, have a look at the fabulous widgets called TurboWidgets from TurboAjax.com: it's available for non-commercial and commercial usage. One of the great widgets is a data grid which can be customized in a wide variety.

As I've discovered in the TurboWidget forums, they're working on a virtual data grid. Imagine you want to display a list of 100,000 or more items which can be a major pita especially when working with slow internet connectivity. The solution is a real virtual data grid

He points to a demo they've posted and includes two screenshots, one of the previous situation with data grids like this, and a shot of theirs in action (loaded with 100,000 rows).