Phptutorial

PHP Tutorial 1

Getting Started with Dynamic Web Sites

Setting Up Your Computer

To follow this tutorial, you’ll need to have PHP, MySQL and a Web server up and running on your computer. This will be your “testing server,” where you can build and test your database-driven Web pages The most common approach is to run Apache (a Web server) along with PHP and MySQL, but it’s also possible, if you’re a Windows user, to use Microsoft’s Web server, IIS. Because this can be a complicated procedure you’ll find three possible installation scenarios below, ranging from the “Egads, I have trouble installing Microsoft Office, and you expect me to install a Web server AND a database server” type of computer user, to the “Back off buddy, I was installing computer systems when you were still in diapers” computer jock.

Scenario 1: When You’ve No Idea Where to Start

The easiest way to install all of the parts of the puzzle is to download an all-in-one solution—a simple click to go, one stop shop for powerful Web server software. One choice is the XAMPP project from a group called Apache Friends—www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html. XAMPP is essentially an Apache Web server, PHP, MySQL database server, and a bunch of other stuff rolled up into a single package that you can install on your computer. It’s not a “production” setup—meaning you wouldn’t want to use this software for really hosting a Web site. It isn’t optimized for working with lots of visitors, and it has some potential security holes that could be exploited if you put XAMPP out in the wild of the Internet. However, for a testing server that completely simulates a real world Web server, XAMPP is the perfect choice. It lets you create databases, build dynamic Web pages, and view them right on your own computer making it easier for you to build and test database-driven Web sites. The steps are slightly different for Mac and Windows so they’ll be explained separately: Windows 1. Download the software at:...