WEEK 11 - PHP

PHP is a server-side scripting language.

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What You Should Already Know

Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:

• HTML/XHTML
• JavaScript

If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on ourHome page.

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What is PHP?

• PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
• PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP
• PHP scripts are executed on the server
• PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)
• PHP is an open source software
• PHP is free to download and use

What is a PHP File?

• PHP files can contain text, HTML tags and scripts
• PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML
• PHP files have a file extension of ".php", ".php3", or ".phtml"

What is MySQL?

• MySQL is a database server
• MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications
• MySQL supports standard SQL
• MySQL compiles on a number of platforms
• MySQL is free to download and use

PHP + MySQL

• PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform)

Why PHP?

• PHP runs on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.)
• PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
• PHP is FREE to download from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
• PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

Where to Start?

To get access to a web server with PHP support, you can:

• Install Apache (or IIS) on your own server, install PHP, and MySQL
• Or find a web hosting plan with PHP and MySQL support

PhpMyAdmin Tutorial

PhpMyAdmin is web base software used for creating and maintaining MySQL databases. This tutorial is designed to get you starting with the basics of phpMyAdmin.
You can access your MySQL account using phpMyAdmin using the link provided to you --something like below where my-domain.ca is your domain name

http://www.my-domain.ca/phpmyadmin/

When you click on the link above, a dialog box will prompt you for a username and password. This will be the username and password given you when we set it up for you.

Once you log in, a phpMyAdmin screen appears as shown below.

Creating a table in your database
The left-hand frame in phpMyAdmin is used for navigation.You will see your database displayed here (in this case called mydomain). As you create tables, they will show below this.
Click on your database the navigation frame and a new window will appear on the right hand side.

We will create a table in the database, called "people". Use the Create new table feature. Type in the name of the new table into the Name: people, and the number of columns in the table (4) into Fields:. This tutorial is only designed to show you the basic php/MySQL/phpMyAdmin functions. You can delete it using the Drop function. You will want to allow for growth in your table.

Click Go and you should see something like this. The table title now appears with under the database name.


Now enter the names and attributes of our table fields. Enter the following information as above:

Field	Type	Length	Default	Extra
id	int	6	0	auto_increment
name	char	100
telephone	char	50
birthday	char	50

The Length value indicates the maximum allowable length of characters for input. There are many different values that can be set for Type; see further documentation here. The Types specified in this example aren't the most efficient, but just used for the purposes of this exercise. The "id" field, which will be used as a Primary key for this table, has been set to auto_increment, saving you from having to having to type in the next number in sequence when you input records. Set the Default to 0
Once you've entered all the values, click Save. A screen like this will appear.

Congratulations!-You have created your table! The corresponding SQL command for creating these fields is also displayed. This isn't needed but in time you will start to recognise MySql commands
Note that you can use Drop to delete a table or fields.
When you are ready we suggest you check out all of the options on this page.
Inputting data into the table.
Click the tab labeled "Insert" - and another window should appear, like this.

Now type in the details for each of the fields for this record. The "id" column was set to automatically increment so you do not need to enter a number.
Note - if you ever get lost with phpMyAdmin navigation click "Home" in the left hand nav bar and start again.
Now click Save and the record is saved to the people table.
The previous window reappears with the SQL command for the insert. You can keep adding recordsby re-selecting Insert".
For multiple records, you can select the "Insert another new row" radio button on the input form.
When you've finished entering several records into the table, you can check them by clicking on the Browse tab. You can click on individual records for editing or deleting.

You can use the Select tab to refine your display when your database starts grows to many pages of records.
Backup your data
You "don't know what you've got 'til its gone"!
- Click on your database name in the left hand navigation bar
- Click on EXPORT (top tab)
- Highlight the table/s you want to back up
- Select STRUCTURE and DATA radio button
- Select "Enclose table and field names with backquotes"
- Select "Save as file" and "zipped" check boxes
- Click "Go" and a zipped archive file will be generated.
Well done! - you've created a database, a table and fields, entered in a few records, viewed the records, edited and perhaps deleted some of them and practised backing up.