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Server Side Scripting PHP

This document provides an overview of server-side scripting using PHP. It discusses what PHP is, how PHP files work, how PHP integrates with MySQL for database functionality. It also covers PHP syntax, variables, operators, and conditional statements. The document is intended as an introduction to PHP for newcomers to help them understand the basics of using PHP for server-side scripting.

Uploaded by

Aspen Thrush
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© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
96 views

Server Side Scripting PHP

This document provides an overview of server-side scripting using PHP. It discusses what PHP is, how PHP files work, how PHP integrates with MySQL for database functionality. It also covers PHP syntax, variables, operators, and conditional statements. The document is intended as an introduction to PHP for newcomers to help them understand the basics of using PHP for server-side scripting.

Uploaded by

Aspen Thrush
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Server side scripting

With PHP
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
• 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
PHP Installation
• If your server supports PHP you don't need to do
anything.
• Just create some .php files in your web
directory, and the server will parse them for you.
Because it is free, most web hosts offer PHP
support.
• However, if your server does not support PHP,
you must install PHP.
• Download PHP for free here:
http://www.php.net/downloads.php
• Download MySQL Database
• Download MySQL for free here:
http://www.mysql.com/downloads/index.html
• Download Apache Server
• Download Apache for free here:
http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi
PHP Syntax
• PHP code is executed on the server, and the
plain HTML result is sent to the browser.
• Basic PHP Syntax
• A PHP scripting block always starts with <?php
and ends with ?>. A PHP scripting block can be
placed anywhere in the document.
• On servers with shorthand support enabled you
can start a scripting block with <? and end with
?>.
• For maximum compatibility, we recommend that
you use the standard form (<?php) rather than
the shorthand form.
• <?php
?>
example
• A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, just
like an HTML file, and some PHP scripting code.
• Below, we have an example of a simple PHP
script which sends the text "Hello World" to the
browser:
• <html>
<body>

<?php
echo "Hello World";
?>

</body>
</html>
• Each code line in PHP must end with a
semicolon. The semicolon is a separator and is
used to distinguish one set of instructions from
another.
• There are two basic statements to output text
with PHP: echo and print. In the example above
we have used the echo statement to output the
text "Hello World".
• Note: The file must have a .php extension. If the
file has a .html extension, the PHP code will not
be executed.
Comments in PHP

• In PHP, we use // to make a single-line comment or /* and */ to make a


large comment block.
• <html>
<body>
<?php
//This is a comment
/*
This is
a comment
block
*/
?>
</body>
</html>
PHP Variables

• A variable is used to store information.


• Variables in PHP
• Variables are used for storing a values, like text
strings, numbers or arrays.
• When a variable is declared, it can be used over
and over again in your script.
• All variables in PHP start with a $ sign symbol.
• The correct way of declaring a variable in PHP:
Variables in PHP

• $var_name = value; New PHP programmers


often forget the $ sign at the beginning of the
variable. In that case it will not work.
• Let's try creating a variable containing a string,
and a variable containing a number:
• <?php
$txt="Hello World!";
$x=16;
?>
PHP is a Loosely Typed Language

• In PHP, a variable does not need to be declared before


adding a value to it.
• In the example above, you see that you do not have to
tell PHP which data type the variable is.
• PHP automatically converts the variable to the correct
data type, depending on its value.
• In a strongly typed programming language, you have to
declare (define) the type and name of the variable before
using it.
• In PHP, the variable is declared automatically when you
use it.
Naming Rules for Variables
• A variable name must start with a letter or an
underscore "_"
• A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric
characters and underscores (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _
)
• A variable name should not contain spaces. If a
variable name is more than one word, it should
be separated with an underscore ($my_string),
or with capitalization ($myString)
PHP String Variables
• A string variable is used to store and manipulate
text.
• String Variables in PHP
• String variables are used for values that contains
characters.
• After we create a string we can manipulate it. A
string can be used directly in a function or it can
be stored in a variable.
• Below, the PHP script assigns the text "Hello
World" to a string variable called $txt:
• <?php
$txt="Hello World";
echo $txt;
?>
The Concatenation Operator
• The output of the code above will be:
• Hello World Now, lets try to use some different functions and
operators to manipulate the string.
• There is only one string operator in PHP.
• The concatenation operator (.) is used to put two string values
together.
• To concatenate two string variables together, use the concatenation
operator:
• <?php
$txt1="Hello World!";
$txt2="What a nice day!";
echo $txt1 . " " . $txt2;
?>
The strlen() function

• The output of the code above will be:


• Hello World! What a nice day! If we look at the code
above you see that we used the concatenation operator
two times. This is because we had to insert a third string
(a space character), to separate the two strings.

• The strlen() function is used to return the length of a


string.
• Let's find the length of a string:
• <?php
echo strlen("Hello world!");
?>
• The output of the code above will be:
• 12 The length of a string is often used in loops or other
functions, when it is important to know when the string
ends. (i.e. in a loop, we would want to stop the loop after
the last character in the string).
• The strpos() function
• The strpos() function is used to search for character
within a string.
• If a match is found, this function will return the position of
the first match. If no match is found, it will return FALSE.
• Let's see if we can find the string "world" in
our string:
• <?php
echo strpos("Hello world!","world");
?> The output of the code above will be:
• 6 The position of the string "world" in our
string is position 6. The reason that it is 6
(and not 7), is that the first position in the
string is 0, and not 1.
Arithmetic Operators
Operator Description Example Result

+ Addition x=2 4
x+2
Subtraction x=2 3
5-x
* Multiplication x=4 20
x*5
/ Division 15/5 3
5/2 2.5
% Modulus (division remainder) 5%2 1
10%8 2
10%2 0
++ Increment x=5 x=6
x++
-- Decrement x=5 x=4
x--
Assignment Operators
= x=y x=y
+= x+=y x=x+y
-= x-=y x=x-y
*= x*=y x=x*y
/= x/=y x=x/y
.= x.=y x=x.y
%= x%=y x=x%y
Comparison Operators
== is equal to 5==8 returns false
!= is not equal 5!=8 returns true
<> is not equal 5<>8 returns true
> is greater than 5>8 returns false
< is less than 5<8 returns true
>= is greater than or equal to 5>=8 returns false
<= is less than or equal to 5<=8 returns true
Logical Operators
Operator Description Example
&& and x=6
y=3 (x < 10 && y > 1) returns true

|| or x=6
y=3 (x==5 || y==5) returns false

! not x=6
y=3 !(x==y) returns true
PHP If...Else Statements
• Conditional statements are used to perform different
actions based on different conditions.
• Conditional Statements
• Very often when you write code, you want to perform
different actions for different decisions.
• You can use conditional statements in your code to do
this.
• In PHP we have the following conditional statements:
• if statement - use this statement to execute some code
only if a specified condition is true
• if...else statement - use this statement to execute some
code if a condition is true and another code if the
condition is false
• if...elseif....else statement - use this statement to select
one of several blocks of code to be executed
• switch statement - use this statement to select one of
many blocks of code to be executed
The if Statement
• Use the if statement to execute some code only if a
specified condition is true.
• Syntax
• if (condition) code to be executed if condition is true;The
following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if
the current day is Friday:
• <html>
<body>
<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri") echo "Have a nice weekend!";
?>
</body>
</html> Notice that there is no ..else.. in this syntax. You
tell the browser to execute some code only if the
specified condition is true.
• The if...else Statement
• Use the if....else statement to execute some
code if a condition is true and another code if a
condition is false.
• Syntax

• if (condition)
code to be executed if condition is true;
else
code to be executed if condition is false;
• The following example will output "Have a nice
weekend!" if the current day is Friday, otherwise
it will output "Have a nice day!":
• <html>
<body>
<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri")
echo "Have a nice weekend!";
else
echo "Have a nice day!";
?>
</body>
</html>
• If more than one line should be executed if a condition is
true/false, the lines should be enclosed within curly
braces:
• <html>
<body>
<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri")
{
echo "Hello!<br />";
echo "Have a nice weekend!";
echo "See you on Monday!";
}
?>
</body>
</html>
• The if...elseif....else Statement
• Use the if....elseif...else statement to select one of several blocks of code to
be executed.
• Syntax
• if (condition)
code to be executed if condition is true;
elseif (condition)
code to be executed if condition is true;
else
code to be executed if condition is false;
Example
• The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the
current day is Friday, and "Have a nice Sunday!" if the current day is
Sunday. Otherwise it will output "Have a nice day!":
• <html>
<body>
<?php
$d=date("D");
if ($d=="Fri")
echo "Have a nice weekend!";
elseif ($d=="Sun")
echo "Have a nice Sunday!";
else
echo "Have a nice day!";
?>
</body>
</html>
PHP Switch Statement
• Conditional statements are used to perform different actions based
on different conditions.
• The PHP Switch Statement
• Use the switch statement to select one of many blocks of code to be
executed.
• Syntax
• switch (n)
{
case label1:
code to be executed if n=label1;
break;
case label2:
code to be executed if n=label2;
break;
default:
code to be executed if n is different from both label1 and label2;
}
• This is how it works: First we have a single
expression n (most often a variable), that is
evaluated once. The value of the expression is
then compared with the values for each case in
the structure. If there is a match, the block of
code associated with that case is executed. Use
break to prevent the code from running into the
next case automatically. The default statement is
used if no match is found.
Example

• <html>
<body>
<?php
switch ($x)
{
case 1:
echo "Number 1";
break;
case 2:
echo "Number 2";
break;
case 3:
echo "Number 3";
break;
default:
echo "No number between 1 and 3";
}
?>
</body>
</html>
PHP Arrays
• An array stores multiple values in one single variable.
• What is an Array?
• A variable is a storage area holding a number or text.
The problem is, a variable will hold only one value.
• An array is a special variable, which can store multiple
values in one single variable.
• If you have a list of items (a list of car names, for
example), storing the cars in single variables could look
like this:
• $cars1="Saab";
$cars2="Volvo";
$cars3="BMW"; However, what if you want to loop
through the cars and find a specific one? And what if you
had not 3 cars, but 300?
• The best solution here is to use an array!
• An array can hold all your variable values under a single name. And
you can access the values by referring to the array name.
• Each element in the array has its own index so that it can be easily
accessed.
• In PHP, there are three kind of arrays:
• Numeric array - An array with a numeric index
• Associative array - An array where each ID key is associated with
a value
• Multidimensional array - An array containing one or more arrays
• Numeric Arrays
• A numeric array stores each array element with a numeric index.
• There are two methods to create a numeric array.
• 1.
• In the following example the index are
automatically assigned (the index starts at 0):
• $cars=array("Saab","Volvo","BMW","Toyota"); 2.
In the following example we assign the index
manually:
• $cars[0]="Saab";
$cars[1]="Volvo";
$cars[2]="BMW";
$cars[3]="Toyota";
• Example
• In the following example you access the variable
values by referring to the array name and index:
• <?php
$cars[0]="Saab";
$cars[1]="Volvo";
$cars[2]="BMW";
$cars[3]="Toyota";
echo $cars[0] . " and " . $cars[1] . " are Swedish
cars.";
?>The code above will output:
• Saab and Volvo are Swedish cars.
• Associative Arrays
• An associative array, each ID key is associated with a
value.
• When storing data about specific named values, a
numerical array is not always the best way to do it.
• With associative arrays we can use the values as keys
and assign values to them.
• Example 1
• In this example we use an array to assign ages to the
different persons:
• $ages = array("Peter"=>32, "Quagmire"=>30,
"Joe"=>34); Example 2
• This example is the same as example 1, but shows a
different way of creating the array:
• $ages['Peter'] = "32";
$ages['Quagmire'] = "30";
$ages['Joe'] = "34"; The ID keys can be used in a script:
• <?php
$ages['Peter'] = "32";
$ages['Quagmire'] = "30";
$ages['Joe'] = "34";
echo "Peter is " . $ages['Peter'] . " years old.";
?> The code above will output:
• Peter is 32 years old.
Multidimensional Arrays
• In a multidimensional array, each element in the main array can also be an
array. And each element in the sub-array can be an array, and so on.
• Example
• In this example we create a multidimensional array, with automatically
assigned ID keys:
• $families = array
(
"Griffin"=>array
(
"Peter",
"Lois",
"Megan"
),
"Quagmire"=>array
(
"Glenn"
),
"Brown"=>array
(
"Cleveland",
"Loretta",
"Junior"
)
);
• The array above would look like this if written to the output:
• Array
(
[Griffin] => Array
(
[0] => Peter
[1] => Lois
[2] => Megan
)
[Quagmire] => Array
(
[0] => Glenn
)
[Brown] => Array
(
[0] => Cleveland
[1] => Loretta
[2] => Junior
)
) Example 2
• Lets try displaying a single value from the array above:
• echo "Is " . $families['Griffin'][2] .
" a part of the Griffin family?"; The code above will output:
• Is Megan a part of the Griffin family?
• Loops execute a block of code a specified number of times, or while a specified
condition is true.
• PHP Loops
• Often when you write code, you want the same block of code to run over and over
again in a row. Instead of adding several almost equal lines in a script we can use
loops to perform a task like this.
• In PHP, we have the following looping statements:
• while - loops through a block of code while a specified condition is
true
• do...while - loops through a block of code once, and then repeats
the loop as long as a specified condition is true
• for - loops through a block of code a specified number of times
• foreach - loops through a block of code for each element in an array
• The while Loop
• The while loop executes a block of code while a condition is true.
• Syntax
• while (condition)
{
code to be executed;
}
Example
• The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1.
The loop will continue to run as long as i is less than, or
equal to 5. i will increase by 1 each time the loop runs:
• <html>
<body>
<?php
$i=1;
while($i<=5)
{
echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
$i++;
}
?>
</body>
</html> Output:
• The number is 1
The number is 2
The number is 3
The number is 4
The number is 5
The do...while Statement
• The do...while statement will always execute the block of
code once, it will then check the condition, and repeat
the loop while the condition is true.
• Syntax
• do
{
code to be executed;
}
while (condition);
• The example below defines a loop that starts with i=1. It
will then increment i with 1, and write some output. Then
the condition is checked, and the loop will continue to
run as long as i is less than, or equal to 5:
Example
• <html>
<body>
<?php
$i=1;
do
{
$i++;
echo "The number is " . $i . "<br />";
}
while ($i<=5);
?>
</body>
</html> Output:
• The number is 2
The number is 3
The number is 4
The number is 5
The number is 6
The foreach Loop

• The foreach loop is used to loop through arrays.


• Syntax
• foreach ($array as $value)
{
code to be executed;
} For every loop iteration, the value of the
current array element is assigned to $value (and
the array pointer is moved by one) - so on the
next loop iteration, you'll be looking at the next
array value.
• Example
• The following example demonstrates a loop that will print the values of the
given array:
• <html>
<body>
<?php
$x=array("one","two","three");
foreach ($x as $value)
{
echo $value . "<br />";
}
?>
</body>
</html> Output:
• one
two
three
PHP Functions

• The real power of PHP comes from its functions.


• In PHP, there are more than 700 built-in functions.
• PHP Built-in Functions

• To keep the browser from executing a script when the


page loads, you can put your script into a function.
• A function will be executed by a call to the function.
• You may call a function from anywhere within a page.
Create a PHP Function

• Syntax
• function functionName()
{
code to be executed;
}
• PHP function guidelines:
• Give the function a name that reflects what the function
does
• The function name can start with a letter or underscore
(not a number)
Example
• A simple function that writes my name when it is called:
• <html>
<body>
<?php
function writeName()
{
echo “my name";
}
echo "My name is ";
writeName();
?>
</body>
</html> Output:
• My name is my name
PHP Functions - Adding parameters

• To add more functionality to a function, we


can add parameters. A parameter is just
like a variable.
• Parameters are specified after the function
name, inside the parentheses.
• Example
• The following example will write different
first names, but equal last name:
example
• <html>
<body>
<?php
• function writeName($fname)
{
echo $fname . “ Nyapere.<br />";
}
echo "My name is ";
writeName(“kelvin");
echo "My sister's name is ";
writeName(“carol");
echo "My brother's name is ";
writeName(“Tom");
?>
</body>
</html>
Example 2

• The following function has two parameters:


• <html>
<body>
<?php
function writeName($fname,$punctuation)
{
echo $fname . “ Nyapere" . $punctuation . "<br />";
}
echo "My name is ";
writeName(“Kelvin",".");
echo "My sister's name is ";
writeName(“carol","!");
echo "My brother's name is ";
writeName(“Tom","?");
?>
</body>
</html> Output:
• My name is kelvin nyapere.
My sister's name is Carol nyapere!
• My brother's name is Tom Refsnes?
• PHP Functions - Return values
• To let a function return a value, use the return statement.
• Example
• <html>
<body>
<?php
function add($x,$y)
{
$total=$x+$y;
return $total;
}
echo "1 + 16 = " . add(1,16);
?>
</body>
</html> Output:
• 1 + 16 = 17
PHP Forms and User Input
• The PHP $_GET and $_POST
variables are used to retrieve
information from forms, like user
input.
• PHP Form Handling
• The most important thing to notice
when dealing with HTML forms and
PHP is that any form element in an
HTML page will automatically be
available to your PHP scripts.
Example
• The example below contains an HTML
form with two input fields and a submit
button:
• <html>
<body>
<form action="welcome.php"
method="post">
Name: <input type="text" name="fname"
/>
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
• When a user fills out the form above and click on the
submit button, the form data is sent to a PHP file, called
"welcome.php":
• "welcome.php" looks like this:
• <html>
<body>
Welcome <?php echo $_POST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
You are <?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?> years old.
</body>
</html> Output could be something like this:
• Welcome John!
You are 28 years
Form Validation
• User input should be validated on the
browser whenever possible (by client
scripts). Browser validation is faster and
reduces the server load.
• You should consider server validation if
the user input will be inserted into a
database. A good way to validate a form
on the server is to post the form to itself,
instead of jumping to a different page. The
user will then get the error messages on
the same page as the form. This makes it
easier to discover the error.
• PHP $_GET Function
• The built-in $_GET function is used to collect
values in a form with method="get".
• The $_GET Function
• The built-in $_GET function is used to collect
values from a form sent with method="get".
• Information sent from a form with the GET
method is visible to everyone (it will be displayed
in the browser's address bar) and has limits on
the amount of information to send (max. 100
characters).
Example

• <form action="welcome.php"
method="get">
Name: <input type="text" name="fname"
/>
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
• When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the
URL sent to the server could look something like
this:
• http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php?fname
=Peter&age=37 The "welcome.php" file can now
use the $_GET function to collect form data (the
names of the form fields will automatically be the
keys in the $_GET array):
• Welcome <?php echo $_GET["fname"]; ?>.<br
/>
You are <?php echo $_GET["age"]; ?> years
old!
When to use method="get"?

• When using method="get" in HTML forms, all variable


names and values are displayed in the URL.
• Note: This method should not be used when sending
passwords or other sensitive information!
• However, because the variables are displayed in the
URL, it is possible to bookmark the page. This can be
useful in some cases.
• Note: The get method is not suitable for large variable
values; the value cannot exceed 100 characters.
The $_POST Function
• The built-in $_POST function is used to
collect values from a form sent with
method="post".
• Information sent from a form with the
POST method is invisible to others and
has no limits on the amount of information
to send.
• Note: However, there is an 8 Mb max size
for the POST method, by default (can be
changed by setting the post_max_size in
the php.ini file).
Example

• <form action="welcome.php" method="post">


Name: <input type="text" name="fname" />
Age: <input type="text" name="age" />
<input type="submit" />
</form> When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the
URL will look like this:
• http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php The
"welcome.php" file can now use the $_POST function to
collect form data (the names of the form fields will
automatically be the keys in the $_POST array):
• Welcome <?php echo $_POST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
You are <?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?> years old.
• When to use method="post"?
• Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to
others and has no limits on the amount of information to send.
• However, because the variables are not displayed in the URL, it is
not possible to bookmark the page.
• The PHP $_REQUEST Function
• The PHP built-in $_REQUEST function contains the contents of
both $_GET, $_POST, and $_COOKIE.
• The $_REQUEST function can be used to collect form data sent
with both the GET and POST methods.
• Example
• Welcome <?php echo $_REQUEST["fname"]; ?>!<br />
You are <?php echo $_REQUEST["age"]; ?> years old.
PHP Date() Function
• The PHP date() function is used to format
a time and/or date.
• It formats a timestamp to a more readable
date and time.
• A timestamp is a sequence of characters,
denoting the date and/or time at which a
certain event occurred.
• Syntax
• date(format,timestamp)
ParameterDescriptionformatRequired.
• Specifies the format of the timestamp
timestampOptional. Specifies a timestamp.
Default is the current date and time
PHP Date() - Format the Date
• The required format parameter in the
date() function specifies how to format the
date/time.
• Here are some characters that can be
used:
• d - Represents the day of the month (01 to
31)
• m - Represents a month (01 to 12)
• Y - Represents a year (in four digits)
• Other characters, like"/", ".", or "-" can
also be inserted between the letters
to add additional formatting:
• <?php
echo date("Y/m/d") . "<br />";
echo date("Y.m.d") . "<br />";
echo date("Y-m-d")
?>
• The output of the code above could
be something like this:
• 2009/05/11
2009.05.11
2009-05-11
PHP Date() - Adding a
Timestamp
• The optional timestamp
parameter in the date() function
specifies a timestamp. If you do
not specify a timestamp, the
current date and time will be
used.
• The mktime() function returns the
Unix timestamp for a date.
Syntax for mktime()
• mktime(hour,minute,second,month,day,ye
ar,is_dst)
• To go one day in the future we simply add
one to the day argument of mktime():
• <?php
$tomorrow =
mktime(0,0,0,date("m"),date("d")+1,date("
Y"));
echo "Tomorrow is ".date("Y/m/d",
$tomorrow);
?>
• The output of the code above could be
something like this:
• Tomorrow is 2011/03/08
Php and databases
• Before we can get data out of
MySQL, we have to put data in it.
• Most PHP scripts come with
what's known as a dump file that
contains all the data required to
create and populate a MySQL
database.
• MySQL uses its own user permissions table. At
setup, a default user (root) is automatically
created with no password.
• other users with various permissions, can be
added.
• If you set up your own server and database, it's
vital that you assign a password to the root user.
Creating a database
We need to create the actual
database. From the command
line, type:
–mysqladmin -u root create mydb
• That creates a database called
"mydb." The flag tells MySQL that
we're doing this as the root user.
CREATE TABLE employees ( id tinyint(4)
DEFAULT '0' NOT NULL
AUTO_INCREMENT, first varchar(20), last
varchar(20), address varchar(255),
position varchar(50), PRIMARY KEY (id),
UNIQUE id (id));
INSERT INTO employees VALUES
(1,'Bob','Smith','128 Here St,
Cityname','Marketing Manager');
INSERT INTO employees VALUES
(2,'John','Roberts','45 There St ,
Townville','Telephonist');
INSERT INTO employees VALUES
(3,'Brad','Johnson','1/34 Nowhere Blvd,
Snowston','Doorman');
• Consider the following text file saved in
your Web server document tree with a
.php extension.
<html><body>
<?php
$db = mysql_connect("localhost","root");

mysql_select_db("mydb",$db);

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM employees",$db);

printf("First Name: %s<br>\n", mysql_result($result,0,"first"));

printf("Last Name: %s<br>\n", mysql_result($result,0,"last"));

printf("Address: %s<br>\n", mysql_result($result,0,"address"));


printf("Position: %s<br>\n", mysql_result($result,0,"position"));
?>
</body>
</html>
• The mysql_connect() function
opens a link to a MySQL server
on the specified host (in this case
it's localhost) along with a
username (root). If you needed to
specify a password, you'd add it
here as well.
• The result of the connection is
stored in the variable $db.
• mysql_select_db() then tells PHP
that any queries we make are
against the mydb database.
• We could create multiple
connections to databases on
different servers.
• Next, mysql_query() does all the
hard work. Using the database
connection identifier, it sends a line
of SQL to the MySQL server to be
processed. The results that are
returned are stored in the variable
$result.
• Finally, mysql_result() is used to
display the values of fields from our
query. Using $result, we go to the first
row, which is numbered 0, and
display the value of the specified
fields.
• In each of the lines above, %s
indicates that the variable in the
second half of the expression (e.g.,
mysql_result($result,0,"position"))
should be treated as a string and
printed.
First, let's query our database using the following code.
<html>
<body>
<?php
$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "root");
mysql_select_db("mydb",$db);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM
employees",$db);
echo "<table border=1>\n";
echo "<tr><td>Name</td><td>Position</tr>\n";
while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_row($result))
{
printf("<tr><td>%s %s</td><td>%s</td></tr>\n",
$myrow[1], $myrow[2], $myrow[3]);
}
echo "</table>\n";
?>
</body>
</html>
• notice the while() loop.
• it says that as long as there are new rows of
data to be grabbed (using the mysql_fetch_row()
function), assign that row to the $myrow
variable.
• Then execute the instructions between the curly
brackets ({}).
• Take a look for a second, and this should make
sense.
• Problem with mysql_fetch_row() is that it
returns an array that supports only
numeric references to the individual fields.
• So the first field is referred to as 0, the
second as 1, and so on.
• With complex queries this can become
something of a nightmare.
• The include() function imports the referenced file each
time it is encountered. If it's not encountered, PHP won't
bother with it.
• This means that you can use include in loops and
conditional statements, and they'll work exactly as
planned.

• Finally, if you use require() and the file you're including


does not exist, your script will halt and produce an error.

• If you use include(), your script will generate a warning,


but carry on.

• You can test this yourself by trying the following script.


Run the script, then replace include() with require() and
compare the results.
<html>
<body>

<?php

include("emptyfile.inc");
echo "Hello World";

?>
</body>

</html>
• Information common to all pages can be
placed inside include files
• Things like HTML headers, footers,
database connection code, and user-
defined functions are all good candidates.
• Paste this text into a file called header.inc.
<?php
$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "root");
mysql_select_db("mydb",$db);
?>
<html>
<head>
<title>
<?php
echo $title ?>
</title>
</head>
<body>
<center>
<h2>
<?php
echo $title
?>
</h2>
</center>
Footer
• Then create another file called footer.txt
that contains some appropriate closing
text and tags.
• Now let's create a third file containing the
actual PHP script.
• Try the following code, making sure that
your MySQL server is running.
• The include files are tossed into the main file
and then the whole thing is executed by PHP.
Notice how the variable $title was defined before
header.inc is referenced. Its value is made
available to the code in header.inc; hence, the
title of the page is changed.
• You can now use header.inc across all your
PHP pages, and all you'll have to do is change
the value of $title from page to page.
• Using a combination of includes, HTML,
conditional statements, and loops, you can
create complex variations from page to page
with an absolute minimum of code. Includes
become especially useful when used with
functions.
• The mysql_fetch_array() function.
• This is exactly the same as mysql_fetch_row()
with one nice exception:
• Using this function, we can refer to fields by their
names (such as $myrow["first"]) rather than their
numbers.
• This should save us some headaches. We've
also introduced a do/while loop and an if-else
statement.
• Everything's about the same
except the printf function, so let's
look at it in some detail.
• First notice that each quotation
mark is proceeded by a
backslash.
• The backslash tells PHP to
display the character following it,
rather than treat it as part of the
code.
• Also note the use of the variable
$PHP_SELF.
• This variable, which stores the script's
name and location, is passed along with
every PHP page.
• It's helpful here because we just want this
file to call itself. Using $PHP_SELF, we
can be sure that will happen, even if the
file is moved to another directory - or even
another machine.
<html>
<body>
<?php
$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "root");
mysql_select_db("mydb1",$db);
// display individual record
if ($id)
{
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM
employees WHERE id=$id",$db);
$myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result);
printf("First name: %s\n<br>", $myrow["first"]);
printf("Last name: %s\n<br>", $myrow["last"]);
printf("Address: %s\n<br>", $myrow["address"]);
printf("Position: %s\n<br>", $myrow["position"]);
}
else
{ // show employee list
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM employees",$db);
if ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{ // display list if there are records to display
do
{
printf("<a href=\"%s?id=%s\">%s %s</a><br>\n", $PHP_SELF,
$myrow["id"], $myrow["first"], $myrow["last"]);
} while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result));
}
else
{
// no records to display
echo "Sorry, no records were found!";

}
}
?>
</body></html>
Throw in Some Forms
• <html>
• <body>
• <form method="post" action="<?php echo
$PHP_SELF?>">First name:<input type="Text"
name="first"><br>Last name:<input type="Text"
name="last"><br>Address:<input type="Text"
name="address"><br>Position:<input
type="Text" name="position"><br><input
type="Submit" name="submit" value="Enter
information">
• </form>
• </body>
• </html>

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