[PHP] Server-side encryption to prevent form hacking: new idea?

If you have an HTML form select field xyz with possible values "apple", "banana", and "cucumber", anyone can easily set xyz to an arbitrary value. To prevent this, I create a hidden field code[xyz] with value: base64_encode(mcrypt_ecb( MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_256,$salt,"apple,banana,cucumber",MCRYPT_ENCR

[PHP] Encrypt then decrypt yields extra dots at end

I thought this code: $enc=mcrypt_ecb(MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_256,"salt123","encrypt_me",MCRYPT_ENCRYPT); $dec=mcrypt_ecb(MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_256,"salt123",$enc,MCRYPT_DECRYPT); echo $dec; would yield "encrypt_me". The actual result is "encrypt_me.." (bunch of extra dots). Why, and how do

[PHP] Arbitrary mathematical relations, not just hashes

Many programming languages (including Perl, Ruby, and PHP) support hashes: $color['apple'] = 'red'; $color['ruby'] = 'red'; $type['apple'] = 'fruit'; $type['ruby'] = 'gem'; This quickly lets me find the color or type of a given item. In this sense, color() and type() are like mathematical funct

[PHP] Intercepting fopen, mysql_connect, and similar functions for migration

I'm migrating a website from one server to another, and my file paths and dbs have changed. For example /a/b/c/foo.txt on the old machine is at /x/y/z/foo.txt on the new machine. The MySQL db "foo" on the old machine is "bar" on the new machine. Can I intercept fopen() and mysql_connect() so tha

[PHP] Calling static child method from inherited static parent method

I'm trying to implement what I think is called a "virtual method": my abstract parent class ParentClass defines a method xxx that calls method yyy, but yyy is defined only in ParentClass's children. I can't get this to work (PHP5.0.4). Sample code: === start sample code === abstract class Paren

[PHP] func_get_args as a hash? (faster constructors)

If I define a function like this: function foo ($x, $y, $z) {} and then call: foo(1,2,"bar"); is there a function I can call inside foo() that yields this hash: {"x" => 1, "y" => 2, "z" => "bar"} In other words, gives me the values *and names* of the arguments to foo? func_get_args just yiel

[PHP] PHP sendmail proxy (using xinetd)

I'm trying to write a sendmail proxy in PHP: people would connect to my proxy running on port 25 (via xinetd), and the proxy would connect to sendmail (tweaked to run on port 26). Currently, the proxy is 100% transparent, but I plan to tweak it to intercept sendmail's replies and substitute its o