PHP

Simple Php^†

Install Your Own Scripts^†

• Understand PHP essentials and the basics of object-oriented programming
• Master MySQL, from database structure to complex queries
• Create web pages with PHP and MySQL by integrating forms and other HTML features
• Learn about JavaScript, from functions and event handling to accessing the Document Object Model
• Use libraries and packages, including the Smarty web template system, PEAR program repository, and the Yahoo! User Interface Library
  
• Make Ajax calls and turn your website into a highly dynamic environment
• Upload and manipulate files and images, validate user input, and secure your applications

 

PHP and MySQL Web Development shows how to use these tools together to produce effective, interactive Web applications. It clearly describes the basics of the PHP language, explains how to set up and work with a MySQL database, and then shows how to use PHP to interact with the database and the server.

 

This practical, hands-on book includes numerous examples that demonstrate common tasks such as authenticating users, constructing a shopping cart, generating PDF documents and images dynamically, sending and managing email, facilitating user discussions, connecting to Web services using XML, and developing Web 2.0 applications with Ajax-based interactivity.

 

The fourth edition of PHP and MySQL Web Development has been thoroughly updated, revised, and expanded to cover developments in PHP 5 through version 5.3, such as namespaces and closures, as well as features introduced in MySQL 5.1.

 

 

So it's a great first book in web programming if you're just starting out:

• It shows you how to get an Apache web server environment set up, so you can test the apps on your computer
  
• It gives you a quick-start course that shows you how to develop, test, and debug PHP applications that get data from a MySQL database...in just 6 chapters

Then, whether you're a beginning or experienced web developer, the rest of the book gives you a full set of professional PHP and MySQL skills:

• The 9-chapter section on PHP teaches you how to build web applications using all the skills that make for a smooth user experience...like how to handle forms, strings, dates, arrays, cookies, sessions, and exceptions
  
• The 5-chapter section on MySQL teaches you all the standard features you need to know for working with databases...like how to design and create a database and how to use SQL and PHP to work with database data
  
• The 4-chapter section on advanced skills teaches you how to handle professional requirements, like ensuring security, generating email, processing images, and working with code from other web sites (like YouTube videos)...and it culminates with a Guitar Shop web site that shows how everything in the book ties together

Regardless of what you're learning next, each chapter covers skills from the simple to the complex. So you can go deeper and deeper to gain a sophisticated set of web and database skills, at your own pace.

So don't wait! Get your copy right away. I think you'll be delighted at how quickly you'll be creating your own database-driven websites using PHP and MySQL.

That said, because PHP is primarily a Web technology, it will help if you have at least some knowledge of other Web technologies, particularly HTML and CSS.

Many Web applications make use of a database to store data, and this book contains three chapters on working with MySQL databases. Once again, if you’re already familiar with databases in general — and MySQL in particular — you’ll be able to fly through these chapters. However, even if you’ve never touched a database before in your life, you should still be able to pick up a working knowledge by reading through these chapters.

What This Book Covers

This book gives you a broad understanding of the PHP language and its associated technologies. You explore a wide range of topics, including:

• installing a copy of the PHP engine on Ubuntu Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X; other ways you can install or use PHP; how to write a simple PHP script.
• basic PHP language concepts. variables, data types, operators, expressions, and constants.
• how to change the flow of your scripts by creating decisions and loops. if, else, and switch statements; the ternary operator; and the do, while, for, break, and continue statements. how to nest loops, and how to mix decisions and looping with blocks of HTML.
• PHP’s handling of strings, or sequences of characters; how to create strings; how to retrieve characters from a string; and how to manipulate strings with functions such as strlen(), substr(), strstr(), strpos(), str_replace(), and printf(), to name but a few.
• arrays — variables that can hold multiple values. You learn the difference between indexed and associative arrays, and find out how to create arrays and access their individual elements; array manipulation, including functions such as print_r(), array_slice(), count(), sort(), array_merge(), and list(). You also learn how to create foreach loops, as well as how to work with multidimensional arrays.
• functions — blocks of code that you can use again and again. You look at how to call built-in functions, and how to work with variable functions. You also study how to create your own functions, including defining parameters, returning values, understanding scope, and using anonymous functions. Other function-related topics such as references and recursion are also explored.
• object-oriented programming. You look at the advantages of an object-oriented approach, and learn how to build classes, properties, and methods, and how to create and use objects. You also explore more advanced topics such as overloading, inheritance, interfaces, constructors and destructors, autoloading, and namespaces.
• how to use PHP to create interactive Web forms. You learn how to create HTML forms, how to capture form data in PHP, and how to use PHP to generate dynamic forms. You also explore file upload forms and page redirection.
• how to preserve an application’s state between page views. You explore three different strategies: query strings, cookies, and PHP sessions. Includes an example user login system.
• PHP’s file and directory handling functions. You learn how to open and close files; how to find out more information about a file; how to read from and write to files; how to work with file permissions; how to copy, rename, and delete files; and how to manipulate directories. Simple text editor as an example.
• databases in general and MySQL in particular, and how to work with MySQL databases using PHP. You learn some database and SQL theory; look at how to connect to MySQL from PHP; and study how to retrieve, insert, update, and delete data in a MySQL database.
• PEAR, the PHP Extension and Application Repository. It’s a large collection of reusable code modules that can really help to speed up your application development. You look at how to install and use PEAR packages, and explore three useful packages: Net_UserAgent_Detect, HTML_Table, and HTML_QuickForm.
• ways that your PHP applications can interact with the outside world. A detailed look at date and time handling, including various useful built-in date functions, as well as the DateTime and DateTimeZone classes. Also how to work closely with HTTP request and response headers, how to retrieve Web server information, and how to send email from within your scripts.
• using PHP to generate graphics on the fly. You study some computer graphics fundamentals, then look at how to create new images, as well as modify existing images. Along the way you explore colors, drawing functions, image formats, transparency, opacity, and generating text within images.
• regular expressions. These clever pattern-matching tools let you search for very specific patterns of text within strings; regular expression syntax, how to use PHP’s regular expression functions to search for and replace patterns of text. Lots of examples are included to make the concepts clear.
• XML — eXtensible Markup Language — and how to manipulate XML from within your PHP scripts. You learn about XML and its uses, and look at various ways to read and write XML with PHP, including XML Parser, the XML DOM extension, and SimpleXML. You also take a brief look at XML stylesheets, including XSL and XSLT.
• how to configure PHP, and all the configuration directives available.
• alternative databases to MySQL that are supported by PHP.
• using PHP to write command-line scripts, further enhancing the power and flexibility of your applications.

Also, as you'd imagine, this book covers the new features added to PHP in version 5.3. However, if you're still using an older version of PHP, don't panic – the vast majority of the book applies to all versions of PHP.