Chapter 2. A simple tutorial

Table of Contents
What do I need?
Your first PHP-enabled page
Something Useful
Dealing with Forms
Using old code with new versions of PHP
What's next?

Here we would like to show the very basics of PHP in a short, simple tutorial. This text only deals with dynamic webpage creation with PHP, though PHP is not only capable of creating webpages. See the section titled What can PHP do for more information.

PHP-enabled web pages are treated just like regular HTML pages and you can create and edit them the same way you normally create regular HTML pages.

What do I need?

In this tutorial we assume that your server has activated support for PHP and that all files ending in .php are handled by PHP. On most servers, this is the default extension for PHP files, but ask your server administrator to be sure. If your server supports PHP, then you do not need to do anything. Just create your .php files, put them in your web directory and the server will automatically parse them for you. There is no need to compile anything nor do you need to install any extra tools. Think of these PHP-enabled files as simple HTML files with a whole new family of magical tags that let you do all sorts of things. Most web hosts offer PHP support, but if your host does not consider reading the PHP Links section for resources on finding PHP enabled web hosts.

Let us say you want to save precious bandwidth and develop locally. In this case, you will want to install a web server, such as Apache, and of course PHP. You will most likely want to install a database as well, such as MySQL. You can either install these individually or choose a simpler way. Locate a pre-configured package which automatically installs all of these with just a few mouse clicks. It is easy to setup a web server with PHP support on any operating system, including Linux and Windows. On Linux, you may find rpmfind and PBone helpful for locating RPMs.

User Contributed Notes
A simple tutorial

riquez
08-Dec-2003 01:17


fukuman is right - go for "Complete MySQL" - it's a breeze to install (just follow the instructions provided) & minimises your need to use the terminal. It's exactly the same as the official MySQL, but just has a handy installer.



Another great bit of software to look out for is "CocoaMySQL" it will give you an easy to use interface to manage your MySQL databases, set up tables, fields etc)



These 2 bits of software I definately recommend if your starting out with MySQL!

28-Nov-2003 09:14


Another good place to start is http://www.allsyntax.com and get more information on PHP and working with MySQL. Also, pay a visit to www.mysql.com and the newest version is available

gr33dy
28-Nov-2003 09:52


A free and easy web server to install is http://www.aprelium.com. It is easy to configure using an html control panel, and the support is excellent. 

I also recommend using a DNS service, such as http://www.microtech.co.gg/dns which will give you a URL such as www.mysite.DNSservice.com - much easier if you have a dynamic I.P. address.

Walrus99
24-Oct-2003 11:08


More for OS X Users,



The book "Mac OS X" by J. Ray and W. Ray has a good chapter on gettng PHP going on OS X 10.2.  PHP is already installed on OS X 10.2.  It just requires  some changes in the configuration file for Apache.



http://www.mysql.com/ has MySQL 4.0 available for download for OS X as a dmg file, which is very easy to install. http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-4.0.html



I wouldn't try this if you are a novice, but if you have experience using the terminal, databases, and a scripting language, this is a quick and easy way to start learning PHP and MySQL.  I was able to get a page on the server that accessed a database in MySQL in a few hours of work.  Be careful of security measures.



I am not sure if PHP is on 10.3, but I assume it will be.  It is not on versions before 10.2.

fukuman
28-Sep-2003 08:25


Mac OS X users,



a good place to start is with this site: 

http://www.serverlogistics.com/

then you can get the Complete PHP , Complete Apache2, and Complete MySQL packages.

please note the default Apache in OS X is 1.3.27 so enabling Apache2 you don't turn on SystemPref>>Sharing>>PersonalWebSharing. consult the  docs that come with the downloads. It's pretty easy to do. all install nicely and are enabled. They install into /Library/Apache2, /Library/MySQL/ and /Library/PHP4/  

the Install Guide.pdf for each package documents the installs excellently. and the Apache2 and MySQL packages come with a preference pane to easily control the starting of the msqld and apache2 webserver.

So do yourself a favour. use the ServerLogistics packages.