SAN FI LIBRARY

Covers
PHP 5.2

l, debug, and deploy feature-rich

Web applications

Work with HTML, XML, database, and

multimedia content
Steven Holzner
Learn advanced AJAX techniques
J Osborne
PHP: The Complete Reference
About the Author
Steven Holzner is the award-winning author of more
than 100 computer books, including three bestsellers on
PHP. He's been a contributing editor for PC Magazine,
teaches programming classes at Fortune 500 companies,,
and has been on the faculty at Cornell University
and MIT.

About the Technical Editor

Chris Cornutt has been involved in the PHP
community for about eight or nine years now.
Soon after discovering the language, he started up
his news site, PHPDeveloper.org, to share the latest
happenings and opinions from other PHPers around
the world. Chris has written for PHP publications
such as php | architect and the International PHP
Magazine on topics ranging from geocoding to
trackbacks. He was also a coauthor of the PHP String
Handling Handbook (Wrox Press, 2003).
Chris lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and
son and works for a large natural gas distributor,
maintaining its Web site and developing PHP-based
applications.
 /

PHP: The Complete Reference

Steven Holzner

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Holzner, Steven.
PHP: the complete reference/Steven Holzner.
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ISBN 0-07-150854-6 (alk. paper)
1. PHP (Computer program language) I. Title.
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PHP: The Complete Reference

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To Nancy
\

I
 Contents at a Glance
1 Essential PHP . 1
2 Operators and Flow Control . 41
3 Strings and Arrays . 81
4 Creating Functions . 123
5 Reading Data in Web Pages . 161
6 PHP Browser-Handling Power . 203
7 Object-Oriented Programming . 245
8 Advanced Object-Oriented Programming . 281
9 File Handling . 319
10 Working with Databases .. 361
11 Sessions, Cookies, and FTP . 395
12 Ajax . 433
13 Advanced Ajax . 467
14 Drawing Images on the Server . 501
15 XML and RSS . 537

Index . 575

VI!
V

' ' ‘

'
 Contents
Introduction. xvii

1 Essential PHP . 1
Enter PHP . 1
Getting PHP . 3
PHP on the Internet . 4
PHP on Your Local Machine . 5
Creating Your Development Environment . 6
Creating a First PHP Page ..... 8
Running Your First PHP Page . . 9
Some Troubleshooting . 9
Mixing HTML and PHP . 10
Printing Some Text . 14
Printing Some HTML . 16
More Echo Power . 17
Using PHP "Here" Documents . 19
Command-Line PHP . 20
Adding Comments to PHP Code . 24
Working with Variables . 26
Storing Data in Variables . 27
Interpolating Strings . 31
Creating Variable Variables . 33
Creating Constants . 35
Understanding PHP's Internal Data Types . 37

2 Operators and Flow Control . 41

PHP's Math Operators . 41
Working with the Assignment Operators . 46
Incrementing and Decrementing Values . 48
The PHP String Operators . 30
The Bitwise Operators . 31
The Execution Operator .* 32
PHP Operator Precedence . 33
Using the if Statement . 35
The PHP Comparison Operators .
The PHP Logical Operators . 61

IX
X PHP: The Complete Reference

The else Statement . 63

The elseif Statement . 65
The ternary Operator . 66
The switch Statement . 67
Using for Loops . 69
Using while Loops . 72
Using do...while Loops . 74
Using the foreach Loop .'. 76
Terminating Loops Early .i. 77
Skipping Iterations . 78
PHP Alternate Syntax . 80

3 Strings and Arrays . 81

The String Functions . 81
Converting to and from Strings . 87
Formatting Text Strings . 88
Building Yourself Some Arrays . 92
Modifying the Data in Arrays . 95
Deleting Array Elements . 97
Handling Arrays with Loops . 99
The for Loop . 99
The print_r Function . 100
The foreach Loop . 101
The while Loop . 103
The PHP Array Functions . 104
Converting Between Strings and Arrays Using implode and explode .... 106
Extracting Data from Arrays . 107
Sorting Arrays . 109
Using PHP's Array Operators . 110
Comparing Arrays to Each Other . 112
Handling Multidimensional Arrays . 112
Using Multidimensional Arrays in Loops . 114
Moving Through Arrays . 116
Splitting and Merging Arrays . 117
Other Array Functions . 119

4 Creating Functions . 123

Creating Functions in PHP . 123
Passing Functions Some Data . 125
Passing Arrays to Functions . 127
Passing by Reference . 130
Using Default Arguments . 132
Passing Variable Numbers of Arguments . 133
 Contents xi

Returning Data from Functions . 135

Returning Arrays . 137
^.Returning Lists . 139
Returning References . 141
Introducing Variable Scope in PHP . 143
Accessing Global Data . 145
Working with Static Variables . 147
PHP Conditional Functions . 150
PHP Variable Functions . 153
Nesting Functions . 156
Creating Include Files . 157
Returning Errors from Functions . 158

5 Reading Data in Web Pages . 161

Setting Up Web Pages to Communicate with PHP ... 161
Handling Text Fields ..*. 164
Handling Text Areas . 167
Handling Check Boxes . 170
Handling Radio Buttons . 173
Handling List Boxes . 175
Handling Password Controls . 179
Handling Hidden Controls . 182
Handling Image Maps . 184
Handling File Uploads . 187
Handling Buttons . 191
Making Button Data Persist . 192
Using Submit Buttons as HTML Buttons . 195

6 PHP Browser-Handling Power . 203

Using PHP's Server Variables . 203
Using HTTP Headers . 205
Getting the User's Browser Type . 206
Redirecting Browsers with HTTP Headers . 209
Dumping a Form's Data All at Once . 212
Handling Form Data with Custom Arrays . 215
Putting It All in One Page . 218
Performing Data Validation . 221
Checking if the User Entered Required Data . 223
Requiring Numbers . 227
Requiring Text . 230
Persisting User Data . 234
Client-Side Data Validation . 237
Handling HTML Tags in User Input . 241
Xii PHP: The Complete Reference

7 Object-Oriented Programming . 245

Creating Classes . 246
Creating Objects . 250
Setting Access to Properties and Methods . 253
Public Access . 253
Private Access . 254
Using Constructors to Initialize Objects . 257
Using Destructors to Clean Up after Objects .\.:. *.. 260
Basing One Class on Another with Inheritance . 262
Protected Access .■. 264
Constructors and Inheritance . 266
Calling Base Class Methods . 267
Overriding Methods . 271
Overloading Methods . 273
Autoloading Classes . 277

8 Advanced Object-Oriented Programming . 281

Creating Static Methods . 281
Creating a Static Method .!. 283
Passing Data to a Static Method . 285
Using Properties in Static Methods . 286
Static Members and Inheritance . 291
Creating Abstract Classes . 294
Creating Interfaces . 297
Supporting Object Iteration . 301
Comparing Objects . 304
Creating Class Constants . 306
Using the final Keyword . 308
Cloning Objects . 312
Reflection . 315

9 File Handling . 319

Opening Files Using fopen . 319
Looping over a File's Contents with feof . 322
Reading Text from a File Using fgets . 322
Closing a File . 323
Reading from a File Character by Character with fgetc . 325
Reading a Whole File at Once with file_get_contents . 328
Reading a File into an Array with file . 330
Checking if a File Exists with file_exists . 332
Getting File Size with filesize . 334
Reading Binary Reads with fread . 335
 Contents xiii

Parsing Files with fscanf . 338

Parsing ini Files with parse_ini_file . 339
Qetting File Info with stat /. 341
Setting the File Pointer's Location with fseek . 343
Copying Files with copy . 343
Deleting Files with unlink . 345
Writing to a File with fwrite . 346
Reading and Writing Binary Files . 348
Appending to Files with fwrite . 352
Writing a File All at Once with file_put_contents . 355
Locking Files . 357

10 Working with Databases . 361

What Is a Database? . 362
Some Essential SQL . 362
Creating a MySQL Database . 364
Creating a New Table . 367
Putting Data into the New Database . 368
Accessing the Database in PHP . 370
Connecting to the Database Server . 371
Connecting to the Database . 372
Reading the Table . 372
Displaying the Table Data . 374
Closing the Connection . 376
Updating Databases . 377
Inserting New Data Items into a Database . 380
Deleting Records . 383
Creating New Tables . 385
Creating a New Database . 389
Sorting Your Data . 393

11 Sessions, Cookies, and FTP . 395

Setting a Cookie . 395
Reading a Cookie . 397
Setting Cookies' Expiration . 399
Deleting Cookies . 400
Working with FTP . 402
Downloading Files with FTP . 406
Uploading Files with FTP . 408
Deleting a File with FTP . 411
Creating and Removing Directories with FTP . 414
Sending E-mail . 416
Xiv PHP: The Complete Reference

Sending Advanced E-mail . 418

Adding Attachments to E-mail . 421
Storing Data in Sessions . 425
Writing a Hit Counter Using Sessions . 429

12 Ajax . 433
Getting Started with Ajax . 433
Writing Ajax . 435
Creating the XMLHttpRequest Object . 436
Opening the XMLHttpRequest Object .•.. 440
Handling Downloaded Data . 441
Starting the Download . 445
Creating XMLHttpRequest Objects . 446
Ajax with Some PHP . 448
Passing Data to the Server with GET . 449
Passing Data to the Server with POST . 453
Handling XML . 456
Handling XML with PHP . 464

13 Advanced Ajax . 467

Handling Concurrent Ajax Requests
with Multiple XMLHttpRequest Objects . 467
Handling Concurrent Ajax Requests with an XMLHttpRequest Array .... 472
Handling Concurrent Ajax Requests with JavaScript Inner Lunctions .... 475
Downloading Images Using Ajax . 479
Downloading JavaScript with Ajax . 481
Connecting to Google Suggest . 484
Connecting to Other Domains Using Ajax . 494
Logging in with Ajax and PHP . 495
Getting Data with Head Requests and Ajax .. 497

14 Drawing Images on the Server . 501

Creating an Image . 504
Displaying Images in HTML Pages . 506
Drawing Lines . 507
Setting Line Thickness . 540
Drawing Rectangles . 544
Drawing Ellipses . 543
Drawing Arcs . 544
Drawing Polygons . 545
Pilling in Pigures . 54g
Drawing Individual Pixels . 520
Drawing Text . 522
 Contents XV

Drawing Vertical Text . 525

Working with Image Files . 528
,Tiling Images ./. 531
Copying Images . 535

15 XML and RSS . 537

Creating XML . 537
Creating RSS . 540
Using the SimpleXML Functions . 544
Extracting Attributes . 550
Using XPath . 552
Modifying XML Elements and Attributes . 555
Adding New Elements and Attributes . 557
Sending XML to the Browser . 560
Interacting with Other PHP XML Packages . 561
Parsing with the XML Parser Functions . 563

Index . 575
 •

■V.

«
 #

Introduction
T his book is your guide to PHP, and it was written to be as complete and comprehensive
as possible. It puts the power of PHP to work for you, emphasizing seeing example
after example. We push the PHP envelope here, in more than a hundred examples,
ready to run.
PHP is a hot topic—it's become the most popular server-side language by far. A Google
search for “PHP" results in a hefty 2,890,000,000 hits. That's two billion, eight hundred and
ninety million hits, far more than any other server-side language can boast.
What's behind this incredible popularity? PHP is fast and easy to use, fast and easy to
develop in. You can mingle it with HTML in your Web pages. You can write it easier than
other languages—PHP has learned from their mistakes. You don't need to compile it, as you
do with other languages, before running it. But more than all that, developing with PHP is
just plain fun. It's just a terrific language that people who write server-side code really enjoy.
And this book is all about bringing you that experience.
People who have Web sites are requiring more and more power these days, and
increasingly, they're finding their answer in PHP. No longer content to be limited to
working with JavaScript in the browser, they want to have the power of writing code to
be executed on the server. Guest books, interactive calendars, databases, autoresponder
e-mailers, blogs, chat rooms—the things you can do with PHP are unlimited. Using PHP,
you have total control over your Web applications and the good part is that they re not
much harder to write than the typical Web page. You can do a lot with a little.
You're getting into PHP at the right time. Excitement is soaring, and PHP is flying high.
This book tries to stay as true to the spirit of that excitement as possible, giving you the full
PHP experience. You're going to find more PHP in this book than in any similar book as you
get the complete details on the PHP story.
. -.^

This Book Is for You

This is your book if you want to develop all the power that PHP is capable of, and you want
to see examples at every step along the way. You might, for example, want to start putting
cookies on other people's computers rather than just accepting them on your computer You
might want to read the data the users enter into text fields, list boxes, check boxes, or radio
buttons on your Web page. You might want to keep data for your online store in a database
on the server. You might want to track users with sessions, gaining the capability to create
multipage Web applications.
Whatever your online need, this book is for you.

XVII
xviii PHP: The Complete Reference

And this book was written so that you don't need a lot of background to use it. In fact,
the only thing you need to know before reading through and working with this book is a
knowledge of HTML. You won't need to be an HTML wizard, but you'll need to know some
HTML in this book. If you don't have any clue when it comes to HTML, now's the time to
look up an online tutorial on the subject.
We use PHP 5.2 in this book—and you may already have it on your server. If not, you'll
see where to get it for free in this book, and how to install it. In fact, you won't even need a
Internet server that supports PHP to read this book—if you wish, you can develop and test
your PHP pages all on the same computer. On the other hand, if'you want to put your PHP
code on the Internet, you'll need to use an ISP that supports PHP. Check with your ISP to
find if they support PHP—more and more ISPs are doing so every day.
This book has been written to be as complete as possible, and to be at the top of its field.
If you have questions or comments, please drop me a line—I'd love to hear from you.

Where Can You Get the Code?

All the code for the examples in this book is available online, so you don't have to type it in
yourself. You should be able to unzip those examples to your server; they're ready to run
(with the exception of examples that need passwords for your database system or to connect
to another ISP).
You can get the code for the examples in this book at www.mhprofessional.com. All you
have to do is to download the Zip file and unzip it—everything's in there.
Alright, that gives us the start we need. PHP is your gateway to server-side power, and
you're going to get a guided tour of PHP in this book. All the PHP that can fit into a single
book has been packed in here. All that remains is to get started, by turning to Chapter 1.
 CHAPTER
Essential PHP
T ake a look at Figure 1-1. That's the Ohio State University home page. Pretty snazzy
eh? Now take a closer look at the URL in the address bar: http://www.osu.edu/
index.php. That's a PHP page you're looking at, index.php.
Here's another page for you: http://wwwl.umn.edu/twincities/index.php, the home
page for the University of Minnesota, which appears in Figure 1-2. Also a PHP page, as you
can see from the URL. Not bad.
And here's another one: the Yahoo Maps page you see in Figure 1-3, http://maps.yahoo
.com/index.php. Want driving directions? Just enter your start and end locations into that
page and click Go. PHP will do the rest.

Enter PHP
Welcome to the world of PHP. Officially, PHP stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor,"
but it's also still known around the world by its original name, Personal Home Page. It s the
server-side programming language that's taken the Web world by storm PHP is far and
away the most popular programming language for use on Web servers. That's the idea
behind PHP: being able to do some easy programming on the Web server, creating
everything from online databases to guest books, from customer schedulers to chat rooms,
from file uploading tools to shopping carts. It's all possible with PHP.
Where did PHP come from? PHP users are sometimes startled to learn that PHP has been
around for quite some time; it was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994 (Rasmus wanted a
way of logging who was looking at his online resume). PHP got such a good reputation that
by 1995 it was available for use by other people, and the PHP revolution was underway.
PHP at that time was called Personal Home Page, or Personal Home Page Tools. At that
time, as you might expect, PHP was very simple, and could be used to cieate Web page hit
counters, guest books, and the like. The 1995 version of PHP was called PHP/FI Version 2
(FI was an HTML form reader package, also written by Rasmus).
In time, Rasmus added support for interfacing with Mini SQL (mSQL), and PHP/FI
started growing at an astonishing rate as more people contributed code to it. There was a
real need for an easy Web server programming language then, and the number of PHP
pages just kept growing. In 1996, PHP/FI was already being used by about 15,000 Web
pages. In 1997, that number grew to more than 50,000.

1
2 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 1-1 The Ohio State Home page

Things started happening fast at that point. In 1997, PHP/FI became just PHP, and more
people got involved as PHP teams started appearing. Much core work was redone by Zeev
Suraski and Andi Gutmans, and PHP Version 3 appeared—much of it totally rewritten.
Today, PHP is everywhere you look on the Web, with an estimated 100 million PHP
pages (it's hard to get accurate statistics—if you do a search on Google for PHP, for
example, you get an astounding estimated 2,740,000,000 hits). PHP is still true to its original
name: Personal Home Page, because it gives you the easiest way to make your Web pages
come alive on the server. But PHP has also become a very professional language, suitable
for top-notch sites.
You're going to see it all in this book. This is where your Web pages and applications
come alive.
The lid is off the box when you start to work with PHP now. Just about anything you
can do on the Web, you can do with PHP. No longer do Web pages have to be static,
unchanging things—you're going to be able to interact with users in a safe and secure way,
sending them back Web pages tailored to their input. And it all happens in real time.
You can handle button clicks, radio button selections, and list box choices with ease
using PHP. You can code simple Web applications such as guest books, or do anything
advanced that's possible on the Web: create database applications, client/server
applications, and multilayer data processors; create graphics interactively on the server
and send them back to the browser; register students for your online school; create Web-
based classrooms; and more.
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 3

Figure 1-2 The University of Minnesota Home page

Static Web pages are, well, static. They can display data just fine, as well as text and
images. But there's nothing really going on there—the user can't interact with anything.
PHP changes all that by making those Web pages come alive—things start happening on the
server side. Unlike languages like JavaScript, which work in the browser and don't create
any lasting effects (JavaScript can't write files, and it can't work with data on the server),
languages that execute on the server can be used as the basis of true Web applications. Users
will be able to open your pages, seeing everything they'd expect from a full-fledged
application, including everything from text fields they can enter text in to tables full of data
you create on the fly, from retrieving data from databases to fluidly creating graphics—
everything you might see on the most professional interactive Web application is now
within your grasp. That's the name of the PHP game—being able to respond to the user
dynamically, on the fly.

Getting PHP
This book will use PHP 5.2.0, whose official Web site is www.php.net (PHP missed its
chance for php.com—that's now the Parents Helping Parents Web site). You're going to
need PHP to work with this book, and that's going to mean getting access to a Web server
that runs it.
4 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 1-3 The Yahoo Maps page

As of this writing, PHP 6 is in the works. There are many minor changes coming up in
PHP 6—none of which should stop your PHP 5 code from running—and a major change:
support for Unicode. Unicode (www.unicode.org) is a character set that's designed to
encompass many of the world's languages, unlike PHP today. As I'm writing this, support
for Unicode in PHP 6 is transparent—that is, your PHP 5 code will run fine. At most, you'll
be required to place a directive at the beginning of your scripts indicating whether you
want Unicode support turned on or off. And then you'll have the full Unicode character
set—everything from Arabic to Cherokee to Tibetan.

PHP on the Internet

In fact, your Internet service provider (ISP) quite probably already supports PHP—you can
ask your support staff, or you can try to upload and run a PHP file of the kind we'll be
developing shortly.
You can also open a command prompt for your server and check on PHP that way. You
can open a command-prompt window connected to your server using various utilities—
Telnet, SSH, or SSH2 (you won't need these applications in this book, so don't worry if you
don't have them). Windows, for example, comes with a Telnet utility built in—just enter
C:\>telnet followed by your ISP's name (e.g., phpbigserver.com), and press enter.
Once you have a command prompt open for your server, you can check if PHP is
installed with the -v option, which gives the version of PHP if it can be reached (note that
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 5

I m going to use % as a generic command prompt in this book, standing for the command
prompt in Windows, Linux, and so forth):
• /
%php -v

If PHP is installed and accessible, you'll see the PHP version and date displayed like this:

%php -v
PHP 5.2.0 (cli) (built: Nov 2 2006 11:57:36)
Copyright (c) 1997-2006 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2006 Zend Technologies

The other way to test if you have PHP installed is to upload a PHP script and see if it
runs. To do that, check out the sample scripts you'll see in this chapter. Upload such a test
script to your ISP, and see if you can access it in your browser.
Note that on Unix-based systems, you have to first explicitly set the permission of the
script to executable, and most FTP utilities (File Transfer Protocol utilities, including the one
built into Windows and accessible by typing ftp at a DOS command prompt) will let you set
that permission. If you have a PHP script on a Unix-based server, you should set its
permissions to Owner: Execute, Read, and Write; Group: Execute and Read; and Public:
Execute and Read. Numerically, that works out to a permission setting of 755 for PHP
scripts on Unix-based servers.

Tip If you want a list of ISPs that already run PHP, take a look at www.php.net/links.phptthosts.

PHP on Your Local Machine

It's a good idea to install PHP on your local machine if you want to do any substantial
PHP development (and who doesn't?). That way, you can examine your PHP pages in
your Web browser on your machine immediately after you edit them locally. That speeds
things up tremendously, and it cuts the development cycle in half. But to do things this
way, you'll need PHP installed locally.
Some operating systems, such as Linux, and some versions of Unix, come with PHP
already installed. You can test that out with the php -v command, as described in the
preceding section. If you get a response showing PHP's creation date, you're all set. In
Windows, however, you're going to have to install PHP yourself.
There are prebuilt "binary" versions ready for download and immediate installation for
a number of operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Novell NetWare, OS/2, RISC OS, SGI
IRIX 6.5.x, AS/400. You can find the binary installation package for Windows at www.php
.net/downloads.php, along with links to the binaries for the other operating systems
mentioned.
You should be able to install PHP on your machine simply by using the appropriate
binary file. For example, in Windows, you'll download a Windows installer (.msi) file, and
double-click it. Answer the questions it asks, and you're in.
Before installation, you'll have to decide on the Web server you want to use. The installer
will currently set up Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), Apache, Xitami, and Sambar
Server; if you are using a different Web server you'll need to configure it manually using the
directions you can find at www.php.net/download-docs.php (download the whole PHP
documentation—it includes a section on installation).
6 PHP: The Complete Reference

The most popular Web server for use with local installations of PHP is the Apache Web
server, which you can get at http://httpd.apache.org/. In Windows, however, it's even
easier to use Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), which comes already built in to
most versions of Windows. If you want to check if you've got IIS, look for the directory
C:\inetpub—if you've got it, you've got IIS.
You'll also be asked what extensions you want to install (an extension is a PHP add-on,
adding functionality). To handle the material this book is going to cover, select the MySQL,
GD2, and SMTP extensions. ' 1

Tip If you get stuck during the installation process, you can download the PHP documentation
from www.php.net/download-docs.php—there's a special section for help with installation, and
that section is extensive, covering an enormous array of issues.

Downloading the PHP documentation is an excellent idea in any case—that's the official
PHP manual, the one that can give you the answers you need if you want the official word
on a PHP point.

Creating Your Development Environment

Okay, you've got access to PHP on a server at this point. To actually create PHP scripts,
you're going to need to use a text editor of some kind—something that will let you write
PHP and save it in files with the extension .php, which is the extension you need to give to
PHP scripts (such as shoppingcart.php). There are plenty of editors available on many
different operating systems that will work: vi, emacs, pico, Macintosh's BBEdit or
SimpleText, Windows Notepad or WordPad.
Your text editor needs to be able to save files in plain text format—that is, text without
any special formatting codes. Theoretically, you can even use word processors such as
Microsoft Word, as long as you save your PHP pages in plain text format. On Windows,
many people use Microsoft WordPad, which comes with Windows. If you are going to use
WordPad, make sure you select the Save As Type option Text Document when you save
your file, not the default RTF (Rich Text Format) type. WordPad also has the bad habit of
appending the suffix .txt to any file whose extension it doesn't understand, and you need
to fix that. So if you save a file as chatroom.php, for example, WordPad is going to save it
as chatroom.php.txt, which is a problem. To get around that, enclose the name of the file
you're saving in quotation marks, such as "chatroom.php". Doing so tells WordPad to
keep its hands off the extension—which is good, because unless you use the extension
.php for your files, your Web server isn't going to understand that your PHP is indeed
a PHP file.
For example, you can see Windows WordPad editing a PHP page in Figure 1-4. That's
a mix of HTML and PHP you see in that figure—PHP specializes in letting you insert
HTML directly into your PHP pages. We're about to see this page, phphtml.php, in action
in a few pages.
You can also use a PHP integrated development environment (IDE) to create your PHP
pages. IDEs give you all kinds of tools that simple text editors don't, such as checking what
you've written automatically to make sure it's valid PHP; automatic syntax highlighting
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 7

Figure 1-4 Windows WordPad

(which means that items like PHP keywords appear in various colors, making it easy to pick
out what's going on at a glance); and automatic deployment, where the IDE can send your
PHP pages up to your ISP when you click a button or select a menu item.
Here's a starter list of IDEs available online that can handle PHP. Note, however, that
most of them are going to cost money, and although they have some features that are nice to
have, we won't rely on those features in this book:

• Komodo, www.activestate.com/Products/Komodo Runs on Linux and Windows.

• Maguma, www.maguma.com Runs on Windows only.

• PHPEdit, www.phpedit.com/products/PHPEdit Free, but runs on Windows only.

• Zend Studio, www.zend.com/store/products/zend-studio.php Runs on Windows

and Linux. This one is created by the same people who create the Zend software
"engine" that actually runs at the core of PHP itself.

If you're running PHP on an ISP, you're also going to need some way of uploading your
PHP to your Web server. You can use the same method you use to upload standard HTML
pages to your ISP. For example, you can use a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program to upload
your PHP pages. If you're using a Unix-based server, don't forget to change the permission
of your PHP page to executable, as mentioned earlier, under "PHP on the Internet." If you
don't have an FTP program, ask your ISP technical staff for recommendations.
S PHP: The Complete Reference

Creating a First PKP Page

Here's where the action starts—creating some PHP. This is where your Web applications—
from guest books to professional database lookup applications, from interactive games to
shopping carts—starts.
This first PHP page will be a very simple one. You can start this page with the special
markup that indicates you're about to start using PHP, and that markup looks like this:
V 1
<?php

That's how you start a PHP page—with the markup <?php. That starts a PHP section as far
as the PHP engine on the server is concerned.
When the server sends a PHP page back to the browser, the PHP engine starts by opening
that page. When it sees the markup <?php, it begins interpreting what follows as PHP. At the
end of your PHP, you use the closing markup, which is ?>:

<?php

Okay, so far we've told the PHP engine on the server that we want to insert some PHP
code into the page. Now let's do just that, by adding this line:

<?php
phpinfo()
?>

This is a call to the PHP function phpinfoQ. A function is a grouping of PHP code that is
addressable using a single name, such as phpinfo(). PHP functions are coming up in
Chapter 5; all that's necessary to know at this point is that when you use the name of the
function, the code in that function is executed. In this case, the phpinfo() function creates a
table of information about your PHP installation—what's installed, when it was built, and
so on—and displays it in the Web page sent back to the browser.
So this first PHP page is just going to display information about the PHP installation
itself. In fact, this first line of PHP code is not quite complete—you also have to end every
PHP statement with a semicolon (;), so let's add that like this:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Okay, that's our first PHP page. Save it as phpinfo.php, and load it into your server. As
long as your Web server can handle and run PHP pages, you can place this page anywhere
you'd place an HTML page. Then just use the URL of the page to view it, something like
http:/ /www.yourisp/youraccount/phpinfo.php.
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 9

If you're using a local Web server, such as Windows IIS, that means placing phpinfo.php
in C;\Inetpub\wwwroot, or a subdirectory of wwwroot, and then opening your browser
using gjaURL like http://localhost/phpinfo.php or http://localhost/subdirname/phpinfo
.php if you've placed phpinfo.php in a subdirectory of wwwroot.
The code that accompanies this book is stored in the folders chOl for Chapter 1, ch02 for
Chapter 2, and so on. So you'll find phpinfo.php in the chOl folder.

Running Your First PHP Page

Make sure the Web server is running (if you're using IIS in Windows, it's always running)
and navigate to phpinfo.php in your browser, as shown in Figure 1-5. Congratulations,
you're running your first PHP page.
You can see the results in that figure—the call to phpinfo() returned an HTML table
containing information about your PHP installation. What actually happened is that the
phpinfo() function returned the text holding the HTML table, and that table is inserted into
the resulting page, which you see in Figure 1-5.

Some Troubleshooting
What if it doesn't work? What if you don't see the display in Figure 1-5? Unfortunately,
there are many things that could go wrong, especially with a local installation of PHP. Don't
panic—the problem can be fixed. It'll just take a little time.

Figure 1-5 Calling phpinfo()

10 PHP: The Complete Reference

First, check if your PHP code was actually run by selecting View | Source in your
browser. If you see your original PHP there, it wasn't run by the server. Make sure you did
not open phpinfo.php directly in your browser, without running it through your Web
server. Do not, for example, just double-click phpinfo.php directly or use your browser's
File | Open menu item, because that would open it in your browser directly, without letting
your PHP-enabled Web server run it. And your browser is not going to have any idea how
to rim a function like phpinfo(). So enter the actual URL for phpinfo.php in your browser,
and run it that way. ' ' ‘
Next, check if PHP is actually running. If you're running PHP locally, that's easy to
check: open a command prompt window and try the php -v command. If you see PHP
version information, PHP is running. If your PHP installation isn't local, use Telnet or SSH/
SSH2 to check the php -v command on your server. If you don't get version information,
PHP might not be running, which would account for any problems with phpinfo.php.
The next most common trouble is that PHP may not have been installed correctly as far
as your server is concerned. This is the problem if you get a blank page, and when you do a
"view source" in the Web browser, you can see the source code of your PHP script. This
means that the Web server did not pass the script to the PHP engine to be run. This can be a
little finicky, which is why the instructions from www.php.net are so extensive. The best
idea is to go through those directions again, line by line, to make sure you did everything
just as it's listed.
Next, make sure that phpinfo.php is where your Web server expects to find it. In the
Apache Web server, that's the htdocs directory in the directory where Apache has been
installed. For IIS, it's inetpub/wwwroot. In Linux, it may be /var/www/html. The actual
directory may be different on various servers; on one PHP server I use, the correct directory is
/httpdocs/ROOT, so ask your ISP's tech support. If you've uploaded phpinfo.php to the usual
directory on your ISP for your HTML pages and it's not working, ask your ISP's tech support;
sometimes, they have to enable support on a directory-by-directory basis. For that matter, some
ISPs even demand that you use a different extension for PHP 5 scripts, like .php5.
Finally, take a look at the "Problems?" section in the PHP manual for a troubleshooting
guide. The PHP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), at www.php.net/FAQ.php, handles
many such problems. So does PHP installation Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at www
.php.net/manual/faq.installation, so take a look.

Mixing HTML and PHP

So far, you've just created a simple Web page that only included PHP code, specifically,
a call to the phpinfo() function:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

But there's more to PHP pages than that. One of the charms of PHP is that you can
intersperse your PHP code with HTML. That's very cool, because the HTML will be
displayed by your browser, and the PHP will be run on your server—and if that PHP
generates some HTML, that HTML will be displayed in your browser as well.
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 11

For example, take a look at a new page, phphtml.php. That page starts with a standard
HTML <head> section, just as any HTML page might:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using PHP and HTML together
</title>
</head>

And then it continues with a <body> section, which contains an <hl> header and
some text:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using PHP and HTML together
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using PHP and HTML together
</hl>
Here is your PHP info:
<br>

</body>
</html>

And now here're the key—you can insert PHP anywhere in this page and the PHP
engine on the Web server will run it, as long as it's contained in the <?php...?> markup.
When that PHP is run, any HTML it generates will be inserted into the page at the location
of that PHP. So, for example, if you wanted to display the PHP configuration table returned
by the phpinfoQ function, you could call that function like this in the Web page.

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using PHP and HTML together
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using PHP and HTML together
</hl>
12 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here is your.PHP info:

<br>
<br>
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
</body>
</html>
v • '

Now when this page is run by the PHP engine on the server, the HTML will be passed
through to the browser unchanged—and the PHP part will be executed. Any HTML created
by the PHP will be inserted into the page sent to the browser as well.
This page is called phphtml.php, and you can see it in Figure 1-6.
Note that the HTML in the page appears where it should—and so does the HTML
generated by the PHP.
Want to give your pages a more professional appearance? You can use the PHP logos
you can find at www.php.net/download-logos.php. These downloadable images can be
used in your Web pages to give you that PHP look. For example, here's how you might use

H Using PHP and HTML together - Microsoft Internet Explorer

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help

^ Back ’ ’ 3 igl d' > : Favorites 0 ijijjjj * U, ^

1 Address http://localhost/chOl/phphtml.php v| Go Links >y |

Using PHP and HTML together

Here is your PHP info;

PbP)
System Windows NT DM8400 5.1 build 2600
Build Date Nov 2 2006 11:50:55
Configure Command cscript/nologo conflgure.js "--enable-snapshot-build" “-with-gd=shared"
Server API COI/FastCGI
Virtual Directory Support enabled
Configuration File (php.ini) C:\Prograrn FilestPHPtphp.ini
Path
PHP API 20041225
PHP Extension 20060613
< &.
10 Done

Figure 1-6 Mixing PHP and HTML

 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 13

the image php med-trans-light.gif in a page named phpimage.php (put the image file in the
same directory as phpimage.php on your server):

chtml^
<head>
<title>
Using PHP and HTML together
</title> *
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using PHP and HTML together
</hl>
Here is your PHP info:
<br>
<br>
<?php
phpinfoO; *
?>
<img src='php-med-trans-light.gif 1>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results—the logo is at the lower right—in Figure 1-7.

Figure 1-7 Using PHP logos

14 PHP: The Complete Reference

Printing Some Text

Alright, how about printing some text using PHP? You've already seen that you can put text
into your PHP files much as you would an HTML page, as here, where you put an <hl>
header and some text into a page:

<html>
<head>
<title> v
Using PHP and HTML together
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using PHP and HTML together
</hl>
Here is your PHP info:

That's fine, but obviously, that's also static. The displayed text isn't going to change, no
matter what's going on in the code part of your page, and that's clearly unacceptable. What
if you wanted to display the results of a database lookup, or a ticket reservation?
You need to be able to insert text into the page using PHP as well, and you can do that using
the PHP echo statement. For example, to echo the text "Welcome to PHP" to the Web page sent
back to the browser, you could add this line of code to a new page, phpdisplaytext.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Displaying text from PHP
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Displaying text from PHP
</hl>
Here's what PHP has to say:
<br>
<br>
<?php
echo "Welcome to PHP.";
?>
</body>
</html>

Take a look at this page, phpdisplaytext.php, in your browser now, as shown in

Figure 1-8. You can see the text that PHP inserted into the page in the figure—not bad.
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 15

Figure 1-8 Displaying text from PHP

You can pass text to display to the echo statement using single or double quotes:

echo "Welcome to PHP.";

echo 'Welcome to PHP.';

There's a subtle difference between these two ways of passing text, which you'll see in
the next chapter. You can also directly pass numbers to echo if you want, no quotation
marks needed:

echo 1234.5678;

And you can pass text inside parentheses to echo as well:

echo ("Welcome to PHP.");

Passing data to functions also works like this: you place the data you want the
function to operate on between parentheses. There are many functions built into
PHP; however, echo, technically speaking, is not a function—it's a built-in PHP
language construction.
16 PHP: The Complete Reference

Printing Some HTML

Never forget that when you work with PHP online, you're interacting with the user through
a browser. That means that the text you send back to the browser will be interpreted as
HTML, not just simple text. That also gives you the chance to make use of HTML to format
your text, as shown here in a new sample, phpdisplayhtml.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Displaying text from PHP
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Displaying text from PHP
</hl>
Here's what PHP has to say:
<br>
<br>
<?php
echo "<i>Welcome</ixbr>" ;
echo " <u>to</uxbr>" ;
echo "<b>PHP</b>.";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 1-9—including the HTML formatting.

Figure 1-9 Displaying HTML from PHP

 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 17

So if you want to skip to the next line in your displayed output, you have to insert the
correct HTML, <br>, into your displayed text.

More Echo Power

You can also run PHP from the command line, in fact, simply by using the php command.
Here s what you d see if you ran phpdisplayhtml.php from the command line (remember
that % stands for a generic command-line prompt in this book):

%php phpdisplayhtml.php
<html>
<head>
<title>
Displaying text from PHP
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Displaying text from PHP
</hl>
Here's what PHP has to say:
<br>
<br>
<i>Welcome</i><br><u>to</uxbrxb>PHP</b>. </body>
</html>

Note that the HTML wasn't interpreted as HTML here; it was simply printed out as
plain text. If you want to skip to the next line in this case, you should use the \n control
character, which PHP will interpret as a newline character—this will display all three words
on their own lines:

echo "Welcome\n";
echo "to\n";
echo "PHP.";

Here is a sampling of the control characters available in PHP:

• \n Newline character
• \r Carriage return
• \t Tab
• \\ Displays a \
• \$ Displays a $
• \" Displays a "
• \0 to \777 Displays a character corresponding to a hexadecimal (base 8) code
• \x0 to \xFF Displays a character corresponding to a hexadecimal (base 16) code
18 PHP: The Complete Reference

You can print a sensitive character like a quotation mark (") without telling PHP that
you're ending your text (which a " mark would otherwise do). To do this, use \" instead
this way:

echo "He said, \"I like ice cream.\"";

This is called escaping the quotation mark so that PHP will display it instead of treating it
as marking the end of a text string.
If you want to, you can break a long quoted string up across various lines in your script,
and the line breaks will be preserved—if you're printing at the command line (if you're
printing to a Web page, the line breaks will be ignored):

<?php
echo "This text
spans
multiple
lines
when
printed
at
the
command
line.";
?>

You can also separate the items you want to print with commas, like this:

echo "Welcome", "to", "PHP.";

All the items you want printed this way are printed, one right after another:

WelcometoPHP.

If you want to include spaces between the words, do something like this:

echo "Welcome ", "to ", "PHP.";

This would give you

Welcome to PHP.

You can also assemble text strings together into one string using a dot (.). Here's
an example:

echo "Welcome " . "to " . "PHP.";

In this case, PHP takes your expression "Welcome ". "to ". "PHP." and assembles it
together (this is called concatenation) into one single string, "Welcome to PHP"; it then
passes that string on to the echo statement.
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 19

In addition, there's another way of displaying text: you can also use the PHP print
statement using the same syntax, like this: print "Welcome to PHP";. What's the difference
between print and echo? Not much; print is more like a PHP function (see Chapter 5), so it
returns a value, which is always set to 1. For most purposes, echo and print work the same
way in PHP, so the one you use is up to you.

Using PHP “Here” Documents

In fact, there's another way of displaying text that you should be aware of, and that's using
PHP "here" documents. A here document is just some text inserted directly in a PHP page,
between two instances of the same token; that token is a word, such as END. Then you can
display the text in a here document by using the syntax echo <«TOKEN, where TOKEN is
the word that begins and ends the here document.
Here's an example, phphere.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Displaying text from PHP
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Displaying text from PHP
</hl>
Here's what PHP has to say:
<br>
<br>
<?php
echo <<<END
This example uses
"here document" syntax to display all
the text until the ending token is reached.
END;
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see what this produces in a browser in Figure 1-10. As the figure shows,
the text in the here document was displayed in the browser.
Using the token END is by no means necessary; here's the same here document with the
token FINISH:

echo <<<FINISH
This example uses
"here document" syntax to display all
the text until the ending token is reached.
FINISH;
20 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 1-10 Displaying a here document in PHP

Command-Line PHP
This book concentrates on running PHP on Web servers, and seeing the results in Web
browsers, but you can also run PHP on the command line. That can be great even if you're
doing Web development—using PHP on the command line can pinpoint errors that cause
Web servers to balk, and can also save you the time involved in uploading your PHP to the
server. When you run Web-specific PHP on the command line, you'll see the HTML your
page prints out, and you can debug that page more easily.
PHP is an interpreted language; the PHP engine just reads in the text of a PHP page and
interprets it, executing that PHP immediately, line by line. The command-line version of
PHP is called the command-line interpreter, or CLI, and is just given the name php. The
online PHP engine is actually called php-cgi ("cgi" stands for Common Gateway Interface,
a standard term for online programs that interface to Web servers). In fact, when you
execute the command php -v on the command line, you can see that you're executing the
CLI, because it tells you so:

%php -v
PHP 5.2.0 (cli) (built: Nov 2 2006 11:57:36)
Copyright (c) 1997-2006 The PHP Group
Zend Engine V2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2006 Zend Technologies
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 21

It's easy to execute PHP files from the command line. For example, say you had a PHP
file named echoer.php:

<?php '

echo "Hello, PHP here.";

?>

The <?php...?> is still*mandatory, even though you're only using straight PHP here. You can
run this file from the command line like this:

%php echoer.php
Hello, PHP here.";
o
~o

And you see the result—the CLI printed out the message your file echoed. Any non-PHP
text outside the <?php...?> section is interpreted as HTML and simply echoed to the output.
Executing PHP like this assumes that the CLI is in your computer's path, which it
should be if you've installed PHP. If this doesn't work, you can specify the exact location of
php. That might look like something this in Unix or Linux:

$/usr/local/bin/php echoer.php

And something like this in Windows:

C:\>C:\php\php echoer.php

The CLI has many command-line options, which you can use to customize its operation.
In fact, php can tell you all about its options if you enter php -h to get this list:

%php -h
Usage: php [options] [ f] <file> [--] [args...]
php [options] - <code> [--] [args...]
php [options] [ B <begin_code>] -R <code> [-E <end_code>] [--] [args...]

php [options] [ B <begin_code>] -F <file> [-E <end_code>] [--] [args...]

php [options] - [args...]

php [options] -

-a Run interactively
-c <path>|<file> Look for php.ini file in this directory

-n No php.ini file will be used

-d foo[=bar] Define INI entry foo with value ’bar'

-e Generate extended information for debugger/profiler

-f <file> Parse and execute <file>.

-h This help
-i PHP information
-1 Syntax check only (lint)

-m Show compiled in modules

-r <code> Run PHP <code> without using script tags <?..?>

-B <begin_code> Run PHP <begin_code> before processing input lines

-R <code> Run PHP <code> for every input line

-F <file> Parse and execute <file> for every input line

-E <end code> Run PHP <end code> after processing all input lines
22 PHP: The Complete Reference

-H Hide any passed arguments from external tools.

-s Display colour syntax highlighted source.
-V Version number
-w Display source with stripped comments and whitespace.
-z <file> Load Zend extension <file>.

args... Arguments passed to script. Use -- args when first argument

starts with - or script is read from stdin

< • ‘
--rf <name> Show information about function <name>.
--rc <name> Show information about class <name>.
--re <name> Show information about extension <name>.

Many of these options are useful. For example, php -a lets you run the CLI in interactive
mode, where you can execute PHP just by typing it. Here's an example—the CLI's response
is in bold:

%php -a
Interactive mode enabled

<?php
echo "Hello from PHP.";
Hello from PHP.

And you can keep typing PHP and the CLI will execute it, as here:

%php -a
Interactive mode enabled

<?php
echo "Hello from PHP.";
Hello from PHP.
echo "Hello again.";
Hello again.

The php -i command gives you an enormous amount of information from phpinfo()
about the way PHP was installed on the machine:

%php -i
phpinfo()
PHP Version => 5.2.0

System => Windows NT DM8400 5.1 build 2600

Build Date => Nov 2 2006 11:50:55
Configure Command => cscript /nologo configure.js "--enable-snapshot-build"
with-gd=shared"
Server API => Command Line Interface
Virtual Directory Support => enabled
Configuration File (php.ini) Path => C:\Program Files\PHP\php.ini
PHP API => 20041225
PHP Extension => 20060613
Zend Extension => 220060519
Debug Build => no
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 23

Thread Safety => enabled

Zend Memory Manager => enabled
IPv6 Support => enabled
Registered PHP Streams => php, file, data, http, ftp, compress.zlib
Registered Stream Socket Transports => tcp, udp
Registered Stream Filters => convert.iconv.*, string.rotl3, string.toupper, stri
ng.tolower, string.striptags, convert.*, consumed, zlib.*
i• *
This program makes use of the Zend Scripting Language Engine:

Want to see the source code in your PHP file displayed using syntax highlighting, where
PHP keywords are in green and data items in red? Just use php -s. For example, if you wanted
to get a syntax-highlighted version of echoer.php and store it in an HTML document ready for
viewing in your browser, echoer.html, you could execute this command:

%php -s echoer.php > echoer.html

Here's what echoer.html would end up containing:

<codexspan style= "color: #000000">

<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php
<br /x/spanxspan style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</spanxspan style="color:
#DD0000">"Hello,&nbsp;PHP&nbsp;here."</spanxspan style="color: #007700">;
<br /x/spanxspan style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;
<br /></span>
</span>
</code>

You can also use the CLI to check the syntax of a PHP file to see if that file has any
PHP errors in it. For example, say you omitted the opening quotation mark in this
statement in echoer.php:

<?php
echo Hello, PHP here.";
?>

Here's what you'd get when you tried to run this through the CLI using the -1 option:

%php -1 echoer.php
PHP Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting 1 , 1 or 1 ; 1 in echo

er.php on line 2
Errors parsing echoer.php

That's the same error you'd get from PHP online (php-cgi).
You should know that the CLI output differs from the php-cgi output; for example, the
CLI output does not include the standard HTTP headers that the php-cgi prints out when it
sends output back to the browser. And error messages are printed out in plain text by the
CLI, not the HTML that php-cgi will give you.
24 PHP: The Complete Reference

It's also worth noticing that in Linux and Unix, you can run PHP scripts simply by typing
the name of the script on the command line, if you indicate where to find PHP with a line that
begins with #!:

#! /usr/bin/php
<?php
echo "Hello from PHP.";
?>

Adding Comments to PHP Code

Like virtually every other programming language, you can comment your PHP code.
Comments are those human-readable annotations that you add to make your code more
readable, and they're ignored by PHP. Comments are important to add to your PHP if that
PHP code is extensive, because you—or someone else—may come back to that code years
from now and have no idea what it does. You can laboriously reconstruct what's going on,
but why not add comments to make it easy? That way, you can decipher your old code—or
someone else's code—easily.
There are three types of comments in PHP. The first type of comment lets you create
multiline comments, which start with /* and ends with */, this way:

<?php
/* Begin by displaying a
message explaining what
we are doing to the user */

echo "Welcome to PHP.";

?>

That's great if you have a substantial comment that will take multiple lines to display. One
thing that drives PHP crazy is nesting comments, however, so don't do something like this:

<?php
/* Begin by displaying an
/* English */
message explaining what
we are doing to the user */

echo "Welcome to PHP.";

?>

PHP looks for */ to mark the end of the comment, and if you nest comments, it'll find * /
before the real end of the comment.
Both of the other types of comments are one-line comments. These types of comments
only last for one line, not like the multiline /*...*/ type. The first type of single-line comment
starts with //:

<?php
// Display a welcoming message.

echo "Welcome to PHP.";

?>
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 25

And the second type of single-line comment works the same way, except that it starts
with a # sign instead:
f r. j
<?php
// Display a welcoming message.
# Display a welcoming message.

echo "Welcome'to PHP.";

?>

In fact, PHP ignores everything after the // or # mark, so you cap also put single-line
comments at the end of lines, following valid PHP code like this:

<?php
// Display a welcoming message.
# Display a welcoming message.

echo "Welcome to PHP."; // Display a welcoming message,

echo "Welcome again!"; # Display another welcoming message.
?>

You can even use single-line comments to make comment blocks in your PHP code,
which look something like multiline comments, like this:

<?php
// Begin by displaying a
// message explaining what
// we are doing to the user

echo "Welcome to PHP.";

?>

Want something that will really stand out, comment-wise? Try something like this:

<?php
##############################
# Begin by displaying a #
# message explaining what #
# we are doing to the user #
##############################

echo "Welcome to PHP.";

?>

It's not necessarily pretty, but it does get your attention.

You're probably going to find that you use more single-line comments than multiline
comments. Single-line comments are easier to write, because you don't have to keep track of
the comment's end point. Multiline comments are useful too in PHP, however, and you'll
often see them at the definition of PHP functions, explaining what data you pass to the
function, and what data you'll get back.
26 PHP: The Complete Reference

L a | L |M| [r |r| |
.;| ■■■■■■■ r.rrJri..„,---

Working with Variables

Up to this point, the text our scripts have produced has been static. In this case, for example,
this script only displays the text "Welcome to PHP.":

<?php
echo "Welcome to PHP.";
?>
\ ' ‘

That's pretty static text. You can do some addition with the PHP addition operator, +, to add
numbers together like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Here is the answer</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
The Answer
</hl>
<?php
echo "Here is the answer: " , 1+5+8 , ".";
?>
</body>
</html>

The first time you run this, it displays the message "Here is the answer: 14." And the second
time you run it, it displays the message "Here is the answer: 14." again. So it's the same
thing—you've got static text here once again.
That's fine as far as it goes, but that's not very far. If you just wanted static text, you
might as well stick with HTML. That's where variables come in. As in any other
programming language, PHP variables are named memory locations that hold data. Say for
example that you wanted to keep track of the number of users of your site in three cities—
Paris, London, and Boise—but the number of users in each location isn't known until your
program rims. Variables to the rescue.
With variables, you could store the number of users in each city's variable at run time.
In PHP, variable names begin with a $ sign, followed by a name—and that name must start
with a letter or an underscore, not a number. For example, to store the number of users in
Paris, you might have a variable named $paris; the number of users in London and Boise
might be in variables $london and $boise. You could place data in those variables at run
time, and add those three data items together, also at run time. Doing the addition might
look like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Here is the answer</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
The Answer
</hl>
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 27

<?php
echo "Here is the answer: " , $paris + $london + $boise , ".";
?>
</bofly> '
</html>

At run time, the value inside each variable is substituted for that variable, so if Sparis = 1,
$london = 5, and $boiee = 8, the preceding line of PHP code would look like this to PHP:

<?php
echo "Here is the answer: " , 1+5+8 ,
?>

And so you get "Plere is the answer: 14."—the same answer as before. But now say that the
three variables held 2, 4, and 6 at run time, you'd get

<?php
echo "Here is the answer: " , 2 + 4 + 6 ,

So you'd get "Here is the answer: 12."—meaning our message is no longer static.
That's why they're called variables—fhe data inside them can vary. That's the first step to
working with data in PHP: using variables to store that data. So how exactly do you store
data in variables?

Storing Data in Variables

In PHP, as in other languages, you can assign data to variables. PHP lets you store numbers
and text to those variables, as in these examples:

$pi = 3.1415926535;
$number_of_Jupiters = 1;
$name = "Egbert Stodge";
$fish = "haddock";

Unlike some other online languages, such as Java, PHP doesn't insist that you create
different types of variables for different types of data. Here's how these variables might be
created in Java:

double pi = 3.1415926535;
int number_of_Jupiters = 1;
String name = "Egbert Stodge";
String fish = "haddock";

PHP can store all types of data in variables, and you don't have to create different variable
types to store that data, which makes things a lot easier. On the other hand, due to the
internal architecture of computers, your data is stored internally by PHP in different
formats, and it's sometimes important to know what those internal formats are more
on that later.
28 PHP: The Complete Reference

Note the use of the = sign here, which you use to assign data to variables. The = sign is
the assignment operator in PHP, letting you assign data to variables. (In fact, there are other
assignment operators, as discussed in the next chapter, but the = sign is the primary one).
For example, to set the number of cheeseburgers in your code to 1, you'd do this:

<?php
echo "Setting the number of cheeseburgers to l.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = 1;

?>

Then you could echo the current number of cheeseburgers to the browser:

<?php
echo "Setting the number of cheeseburgers to l.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = 1;
echo "Current number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";

?>

Now you might change the number stored in the variable Scheeseburgers as more
cheeseburgers came online. If you got three more cheeseburgers, for example, you could use
the PHP + operator to add them to the current number stored in Scheeseburgers like this:

<?php
echo "Setting the number of cheeseburgers to l.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = 1;
echo "Current number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";
echo "Adding 3 more cheeseburgers.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = $cheeseburgers + 3;

?>

Now you can display the new number of cheeseburgers in this example, phpvariables.
php, like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Storing data in variables
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Storing data in variables
</hl>
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 29

<?php
echo "Setting the number of cheeseburgers to l.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = 1;
/fech© "Current number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";
echo "Adding 3 more cheeseburgers.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = $cheeseburgers + 3 ;
echo "Number of cheeseburgers now: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see phpvariables.php in Figure 1-11, where, as you see, the value stored in
Scheeseburgers was successfully changed.
In some languages, like Java, you have to declare variables, giving their type and name,
before using them, such as

double pi;
int number_of_Jupiters = 1;
»

You don't have to declare variables in PHP before using them—another way that PHP
saves you time and effort. All you have to do before using a variable in PHP is to assign a
value to it—when you do, PHP will create that variable for you, and store your data in it.

H Storing data in variables - Microsoft Internet Explorer

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help

0Back * Q jV] yg] » ) Search Favorites > + & ' D & <9 4
Address http://localhost/ch01/phpvariables.php
gj Go Units

Storing data in variables

Setting the number of cheeseburgers to 1
Current number of cheeseburgers: 1
Adding 3 more cheeseburgers.
Number of cheeseburgers now: 4

yj Local intranet
Si Done .— _

Figure 1-11 Putting variables to work in PHP

30 PHP: The Complete Reference

That means you have to assign data to a variable before attempting to read a variable's
value, however. For example, if you tried to read the number of cheeseburgers without first
setting them.

<?php
echo "Current number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";
echo "Adding 3 more cheeseburgers.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = $cheeseburgers + 3;
echo "Number of cheeseburgers now: ", $cheeselpurgers, "<br>";
?>

you'd get the error you see in Figure 1-12.

Here's the error message:

PHP Notice: Undefined variable: cheeseburgers in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ch01\

phpvariables.php on line 14 PHP Notice: Undefined variable: cheeseburgers
in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ch01\phpvariables.php on line 16

Want to uncreate a variable? It's hard to think of occasions that you might no longer want
a variable around, but you can indeed uncreate variables in PHP. Just use code like this:

unset($cheeseburgers);

After you execute this PHP statement, the $cheeseburgers will no longer exist, and
you'd get an error if you tried to read the value in it.

Figure 1-12 Forgetting to initialize a variable in PHP

 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 31

Interpolating Strings
You can,display the value in a variable like this, of course:

<?php
$cheeseburgers = 1;
echo "Current number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";
?> i ■ *

In this case, you're explicitly put Scheeseburgers in the list of items whose values you
want displayed. On the other hand, there's a shortcut way of doing this in PHP that you
should be aware of, called string interpolation.
When you use interpolation, you only have to place the variable whose value you want
to insert inside a double-quoted (not single-quoted) text string. For example, you could
convert the earlier phpvariables.php example to use string interpolation in a new example
named phpinterpolation.php like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using string interpolation
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using string interpolation
</hl>
<?php
echo "Setting the number of cheeseburgers to l.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = 1;
echo "Current number of cheeseburgers: $cheeseburgers <br>";
echo "Adding 3 more cheeseburgers.<br>";
$cheeseburgers = $cheeseburgers + 3;
echo "Number of cheeseburgers now: $cheeseburgers <br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

Note how this works: PHP sees the name of a variable, Scheeseburgers, inside a double-
quoted text string:

echo "Current number of cheeseburgers: $cheeseburgers <br>";

That means that PHP will immediately place the value held in Scheeseburgers into the
string, like this:

echo "Current number of cheeseburgers: 1 <br>";

That's how string interpolation works; PHP will substitute the value of a variable for
that variable in a double-quoted text string. You can see phpinterpolation.php at work
in Figure 1-13.
32 PHP: The Complete Reference

3 Using string interpolation - Microsoft Internet Explorer

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help
E mi9
OBack ~ -J i3 ill ifc PSearch Favorites $ 0- L ?S * D
Address http://localhost/ch01/phpinterpolation.php v jjj Go Links ”

Using string interpolation

Setting the number of cheeseburgers to 1. t • ‘
Current number of cheeseburgers: 1
Adding 3 more cheeseburgers.
Number of cheeseburgers now: 4

Done ^ Local intranet

Figure 1-13 Using string interpolation in PHP

String interpolation is a quick shortcut, allowing you to pop the value of a variable into
a double-quoted (not single-quoted) string, but there's something to know here: you need to
surround the variable name with spaces or simple punctuation. If you put the variable
name directly next to text, you could confuse PHP. For example, if the variable $type holds
the text "basket" and you want to insert the text "basketball" into double-quoted text, you
might be tempted to use the expression Stypeball. And that's not going to work; you'll see

PHP Notice: Undefined variable: typeball in C:\php\wrong.php on line 8

The solution here is to enclose the name of the variable in curly braces like this: {$type},
making the expression ${type)ball, as you see in phpadjoininginterpolation.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using variable interpolation with adjoining words
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using variable interpolation with adjoining words
</hl>
<?php
$type = "basket";
echo "The name of the game is {$type}ball.<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>
 /
Chapter 1: Essential PHP 33

Figure 1-14 Using string interpolation with adjoining text in PHP

Now it works, as you can see in Figure 1-14.

String interpolation is useful, but you might not want to use it all the time. For example,
what if you have the text string: "Got a great deal on lunch—it was $cheap even for
Jessica."? As it stands, that's going to confuse PHP, which is going to try to find a variable
named $cheap, and will give you an error when it can't find it.
There are two solutions to this problem; first, you could use single quotes instead of
double quotes, like this: ’Got a great deal on lunch - it was $cheap even for Jessica.'. When
you use single quotation marks, PHP does not apply string interpolation.
The second way to avoid interpolation when you don't want it—but you still want to
use double quotation marks—is to escape the name of the variable by preceding the $ sign
with a backslash (\), giving you: "Got a great deal on lunch—it was \$cheap even for
Jessica." PHP will see the "\$" and convert it into a harmless $ sign, as it should be here, not
the beginning of a variable name.
'Phot's string interpolation—if you want to pop a variable s value into a double-quoted
string, this is the tool for you.

Creating Variable Variables

While discussing variables, it's also worthwhile to discuss variable variables. No, that's no
typo_PHP lets you create variable variables—which are variables that hold the name of
another variable.
34 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's how it works. You might have a variable named $cheeseburgers, which you
might set to a value of 1:

<?php
$cheeseburgers = 1;

Then you might create a new variable, $burgertype, that holds the name of the first
variable, "cheeseburgers":

<?php
$cheeseburgers = 1;
$burgertype = "cheeseburgers";

■p >

You know that you can display the value in $cheeseburgers this way:

<?php
$cheeseburgers = 1;
$burgertype = "cheeseburgers";
echo "Number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";

>

It turns out that you can also access the value in Scheeseburgers using the variable
variable, $burgertype, like this:

<?php
$cheeseburgers = 1;
$burgertype = "cheeseburgers";
echo "Number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";
echo "That number again: ", $$burgertype, "<br>";

?>

Note the syntax here—because $burgertype contains the text "cheeseburgers", the
expression $$burgertype is the same as Scheeseburgers.
Want to use variable variables with string interpolation? PHP is going to have trouble
with an expression like $$burgertype inside double quotes, so the way to fix that is to use
the expression ${$burgertype). You can see this at work in this example,
phpvariablevariables.php:
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 35

<html>
<head>
<title>
f' ’ Using variable variables
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl> ,
Using variable variables
</hl>
<?php
$cheeseburgers = 1;
$burgertype = "cheeseburgers";
echo "Number of cheeseburgers: ", $cheeseburgers, "<br>";
echo "That number again: ", $$burgertype, "<br>";
echo "Once again: ${$burgertype} <br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

If you hadn't used the curly braces in this example, you would have gotten this output:

Number of cheeseburgers: 1
That number again: 1
Once again: $cheeseburgers

Variable variables might not look like much more than a curiosity right now, but they
have their uses when you're working with loops and arrays, covered in Chapter 3.

Creating Constants
Sometimes, you don't want a data item to be a variable. For example, the value of pi,
3.1415926535, shouldn't change. If you created a variable named $pi, something in your
code might assign a new value to $pi by mistake. The thing to do here is to create a constant,
whose value can't be modified.
You create a constant in PHP with the define function, passing define the name of the
constant you want to create and the value you want to give it, such as define ("PI",
3.1415926535). That creates a constant named PI—and that's case-sensitive: PI is not the same
as pi (if you want to make a constant non-case-sensitive, you can pass a value of TRUE like
this: define ("PI", 3.1415926535, TRUE)). Note that this just creates a constant named pi—you
don't use a $ in front of the name because doing so would make it a variable.
Here's how creating a constant works in an example phpconstant.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Defining constants
</title>
</head>
36 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
<hl>
Defining constants
</hl>
<?php
define ("PI", 3.1415926535);
echo "The value of pi is ", PI, "<br>";
?>
</body> ( • t
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 1-15, where the constant was indeed created.
So that's the idea behind constants—if you try to alter the value of this constant, pi
(like this pi = 3.14), PHP won't accept it and won't even start the script.
Here's one thing to note: because you don't prefix constants with a $, PHP can end up
confused if you use a constant with the same name as one of the reserved keywords in PHP.
These keywords appear in Table 1-1.
Also, there are a number of predefined constants available to your scripts. We'll use
these constants as we need them; here's a sample:

• _LINE_ The current line number of the file

• _FILE__ The full path and filename of the file
• _FUNCTION_ The function name
• __CLASS_ The class name
• _METHOD_ The class method name
• PHP VERSION The PHP version

CLASS FILE FUNCTION LINE

METHOD and array as

break case cfunction class

const continue declare default

die do echo else

elseif empty enddeclare endfor

endforeach endif endswitch endwhile
eval exception exit extends
for foreach function global
if include include once isset
list new old function or
php user filter print require require once
return static switch unset
use var while xor

Table 1-1 The PHP Keywords

 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 37

Figure 1-15 Defining constants

• PHP_OS The operating system

• DEFAULT_INCLUDE_PATH Where PHP will search for what it needs

For example, using echo_LINE_at a specific location in a script will display the
current line that's executing.

Understanding PHP’s Internal Data Types

PHP does you a big favor by letting you store data without having to specify the data's
type. In other languages, you need to specify the exact data format of each variable, but
PHP handles that for you.
Sometimes, however, you have to know about the internal data types that PHP uses, as
you're about to see. Here are those internal types:

• boolean Holds true/false values

• integer Holds numbers like -1, 0, 5 and so on
• float Holds floating-point numbers ("doubles") like 3.14159 or 2.7128

• string Holds text like "Welcome to PHP."

• array Holds arrays of data items
• object Holds programming objects
• resource Holds a data resource
• NULL Holds a value of NULL
38 PHP: The Complete Reference

PHP usually handles your data's types automatically. For example, this statement
creates a variable that holds a string:

$data = "That is a lot of cheeseburgers you have there.";

This statement creates a variable that holds a float internally:

$data = 123.456;
v ■ *

Here's an example that creates a boolean (TRUE/FALSE) variable:

$data = TRUE;

That's all fine; the problem comes when you start mixing data types. For example, if you
start with a simple variable set to "0",

<?php
$variable = "0"; // $variable is a string set to "0"

?>

then that creates a variable that contains the string "0". Now what if you add 1 to that
variable's value:

<?php
$variable = "0"; // $variable is a string set to "0"
$variable = $variable +1; // $variable is now an integer set to 1

>

In this case, PHP does the best it can; adding the number 1 to the string "0" leaves
Svariable holding the integer 1. What if you add a floating-point value?

<?php
$variable " 0 " ; // $variable is a string set to "0"
$variable $variable + 1; // $variable is now an integer set to 1
$variable $variable + 1.2; // $variable is now a float set to 2.2

9 >

Now Svariable is left holding a float value of 2.2. What if you add 3 + "8 cheeseburgers"?
PHP will again do its best, adding 3 + 8 and leaving the result, an integer value of 11, as
the result:
 Chapter 1: Essential PHP 39

<?php
$variable = " 0 " ; // $variable is a string set to "0"
$variable = $variable + 1; // $variable is now an integer set to 1
$variable'' = $Variable + 1.2; // $variable is now a float set to 3.2
$variable = 3 + "8 cheeseburgers"; // $variable is an integer set to 11
?>

You should avoicUreliance on these rules. They're built into PHP, but relying on them could
give you the wrong result. If you want to convert a value from one data type to another, you
can explicitly use a data type cast. Casts are data types you put in parentheses; for example:

$integer = (integer) $data;

explicitly converts the value in $data to an integer. This converts the value in $data to a $float:

$float = (float) $data;

When you're converting to the boolean type, these values are considered FALSE:
»

• The boolean FALSE

• The integer 0
• The float 0.0
• The empty string, and the string "0"
• An array with zero elements
• An object with no member variables
• The special type NULL (including unset variables)

Every other value is considered TRUE.

When you're converting to the integer type, here are the rules:

• A boolean FALSE will yield 0 (zero), and boolean TRUE will yield 1 (one).
• Values of type float will be rounded toward zero.

When you're converting data to the float type, PHP first converts the data to an integer
and then to a float. You can also convert from string to the numeric types, but that's a little
involved—see Chapter 3 for the details.
PHP also includes special functions to let you check the internal format of data—is_int(),
is_float(), is_array(), and so on—for example, if you pass a variable that PHP has stored as
an integer internally to is_int(), that function will return a value of TRUE—more on this
comes up in the next chapter.
 «

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CHAPTER
Operators and Flow Control
C hapter 1 was an introduction to PHP, and this chapter gets down to nuts and bolts.
Everything you see in this chapter is an essential skill for the rest of the book.
This chapter discusses the PHP operators that you use to manipulate your data;
this is the most basic part of the PHP foundation you'll need. For example, the expression
$variable + 8 adds 8 to the value in $variable. The expression Svariable * 4 multiplies the
value on Svariable by 4. Even if you've seen operators in other languages, at least skim this
material, because there's some PHP-specific material coming up.
You're also going to see all about flow control in this chapter. Flow control lets you make
decisions in your code. Are you going to have a picnic? You can make that decision based
on the current outside temperature in PHP code. Do you have enough inventory to handle
customer orders? Again, a matter of flow control. In PHP, as in other languages, the
primary flow control statement is the if statement, which allows you to make a decision
and execute some code if that decision goes one way, and alternate code if the decision
goes another.
Besides statements like the if statement, you're also going to see loops discussed here.
Loops are fundamental to PHP, as they are to many programming languages, and they
allow you to handle large sets of data by looping over those sets of data, one data item at
a time. Computers were built for repetitive tasks like these, so loops get a prominent place
in PHP.

PHP’s Math Operators

We're going to start with the most basic of operators—the math operators. Here they are:

• + Adds two numbers

• - Subtracts one number from another
• * Multiplies two numbers together
• / Divides one number by another
• % Returns the remainder when one number is divided by another (modulus)

41
42 PHP: The Complete Reference

These operators work as you'd expect: to add two values, you use the + operator like
this: a + b. To subtract b from a, it's a - b. Okay, it's time to get some code going. Here's an
example, phpmathoperators.php, that puts the math operators to work:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the math operators
</title> v • »
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using the math operators
</hl>
<?php
echo "7 + 2 = " , 7 + 2;
echo "7 - 2 = ", 7 - 2;
echo "7 ★ 2 = ", 7 * 2;
echo "7 / 2 = ", 7 / 2;
o
echo "7 "o 2 = ", 7 *o 2;
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 2-1, where the math operators are doing their thing.

Figure 2-1 The PUP math operators at work

 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 43

This example showed the use of the math operators with two numbers, 7 and 2, but of
course you can use variables as well:

$result $operandl + $operand2;

$result $operandl - $operand2;
$result $operandl * $operand2;
$result $operandl / $operand2;
$result $oper^nj?l % $operand2 ;

Besides the built-in math operators, PHP also supports a number of math functions, and
while discussing the math operators, it's worth taking a look at the math functions too. Here
they are:

• abs Absolute value

• acos Arc cosine
• acosh Inverse hyperbolic cosine
• asin Arc sine
• asinh Inverse hyperbolic sine
• atan2 Arc tangent of two variables
• atan Arc tangent
• atanh Inverse hyperbolic tangent
• base_convert Converts a number between bases
• bindec Converts binary to decimal
• ceil Rounds fractions up
• cos Cosine
• cosh Hyperbolic cosine
• decbin Converts decimal to binary
• dechex Converts decimal to hexadecimal
• decoct Converts decimal to octal
• deg2rad Converts the number in degrees to the radian equivalent
• exp Calculates the exponent of e
• expml Returns exp(number) - 1
• floor Rounds fractions down
• fmod Returns the floating-point remainder of the division of the arguments
• getrandmax Shows the largest possible random value
• hexdec Converts hexadecimal to decimal
• hypot Returns sqrt(numl*numl + num2*num2)
• is_finite Determines whether a value is a legal finite number
• is_infinite Determines whether a value is infinite
• is_nan Determines whether a value is not a number
• lcg_value Combined linear congruential generator
44 PHP: The Complete Reference

• loglO Base 10 logarithm

• loglp Returns log(l + number)
• log Returns the natural logarithm
• max Finds the highest value
• min Finds the lowest value
• mt_getrandmax Shows the largest possible random value
v * t
• mt_rand Generates a better random value
• mt_srand Seeds the better random number generator
• octdec Converts octal to decimal
• pi Gets the value of pi
• pow Exponential expression
• rad2deg Converts the radian number to the equivalent number in degrees
• rand Generate a random integer
• round Rounds a float
• sin Sine
• sinh Hyperbolic sine
• sqrt Square root
• srand Seed the random number generator
• tan Tangent
• tanh Hyperbolic tangent

Here's an example, phpmathfunctions.php, that puts some of these functions to work.

For example, you might want to find the tangent of 45°, and you'd use the tan function for
that. The tan function expects its operand to be in radians, so you first have to convert 45°
into radians, which you can do with the deg2rad function:

<?php
echo "tan(deg2rad(45)) = ", tan(deg2rad(45)), "<br>";

9 >

How about calculating an exponent next? You can calculate 4 to the power 3, that is, 43,
using the pow function:

<?php
echo "tan(deg2rad(45)) = ", tan(deg2rad(45)), "<br>";
echo "pow(4, 3) = ", pow(4, 3), "<br>";

?>
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 45

You can round numbers down using the floor function, or up using the ceil function.
Here's an example, rounding pi downward:

*'' <?php
echo "tan(deg2rad(45)) = ", tan(deg2rad(45)), "<br>";
echo "pow(4, 3) = ", pow(4, 3), "<br>";
echo "floor(3.14159) = ", floor(3.14159), "<br>";
i ■ *

How about a little hexadecimal math? The dechex function converts from decimal
values to hexadecimal like this:

<?php
echo "tan(deg2rad(45)) = ", tan(deg2rad(45)), "<br>";
echo "pow(4, 3) = ", pow(4, 3), "<br>";
echo "floor(3.14159)’= ", floor(3.14159), "<br>";
echo "dechex(16) = ", dechex(16), "<br>";

?>

And you can find the arc tangent of 1 with the atan function, converting the radians
answer into degrees this way in phpmathfunctions.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the math functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using the math functions
</hl>
<?php
echo "tan(deg2rad(45)) = ", tan(deg2rad(45)), "<br>";
echo "pow(4, 3) = ", pow(4, 3), "<br>";
echo "floor(3.14159) = ", floor(3.14159), "<br>";
echo "dechex(16) = ", dechex(16), "<br>";
echo "rad2deg(atan(1)) = ", rad2deg(atan(1)), "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see phpmathfunctions.php in Figure 2-2, where everything works as planned.
46 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 2-2 The PHP math functions at work

Working with the Assignment Operators

The main assignment operator is the = operator, which just assigns a value, like this, which
stores the value 99 in $bottles_of_beer_on_the_wall:

$bottles_of_beer_on_the_wall = 99;

Here's something else you should know about the = assignment operator: you can make
multiple assignments on the same line, like this:

<?php
$a = $b = $c = $d = 3;

This line of code assigns the value 3 to each of the variables $a, $b, $c, and $d. Pretty handy.
Now take a look at these lines of code:

<?php
$a = 3;
$a = $a + 6;

?>
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 47

The idea here is we're assigning a value of 3 to the variable $a, and then adding 6 to that
value to end up with 9 in $a. PHP gives you a set of combination assignment operators, so
that if yop want to collapse a line like $a = $a = 6, you can do it using the combination
assignment operator +=. The += operator combines the + and = operators so that this line:

$a = $a + 6;

works the same way cfs this:

<?php
$a = 3;
$a += 6;

?>

So the combination assignment operators give you a shortcut way of performing two
operations, where one of them is an assignment; $a = $a + 6 becomes $a += 6;.
Similarly, the -= assignment operator combines subtraction with assignment; this code
leaves 1 in $a:

<?php
$a = 3;
$a ~ = 2 ;

?>

Here are the PHP combined assignment operators. Some of the operators here might not
be familiar yet, but they're coming up in this chapter:

• +=

/=

%=

&=

A—

«=

»=
48 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's another example, using the PHP string concatenation operator (.) like this:

<?php
$a = "No
$a .= "worries.";

?>

This leaves the text "No worries." in $a.

Incrementing and Decrementing Values

Another thing you do frequently in PHP is to increment (add 1 to) or decrement (subtract 1
from) values. For example, you could use code like this to increment the value in $a:

<?php
$a = 1;
$a = $a + 1;

?>

In fact, you could even use the shortcut assignment operator += like this:

<?php
$a = 1;
$a += 1;

r> >

But PHP has an easier operator specially for incrementing values: the ++ operator,
which you use like this:

<?php
$a = 1;
$a++;

?>

After this code executes, $a is left with a value of 2. Similarly, the — operator decrements values
Here's something that's key to understand about ++ and If you use ++ or - after a
variable, as in $a++, the value in the variable is incremented after the rest of the statement is
executed. So, for example, this line of code finds and displays the square root of 4, displaying
a value of 2, and only then increments the value in $a:
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 49

<?php
$a = 4;
echo sqrt($a++);

•p >

■ m

On the other hand, this code, where the -f + comes first, increments the value in $a first.
and then displays the square root of 5:

<?php
$a = 4;
echo sqrt(++$a);

? >

That's important to keep in mind—if you put ++ or - in front of a variable, the value in
that variable is incremented or decremented before the rest of the statement is executed; if
you put the ++ or — after the variable, the value in that variable is incremented or
decremented after the rest of the statement is executed.
Here's an example PHP page, showing how incrementing works in PHP, phpincrement.
php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Incrementing and Decrementing
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Incrementing and Decrementing
</hl>
<?php
$a = $b = $c = $d = 1;

echo "\$a = \$b = \$c = \$d = 1 <br>";

echo "\$a++ gives ", $a++, "<br>";
echo "Now \$a = ", $a, "<br>";
echo "++\$b gives ", ++$b, "<br>";
echo "\$c-- gives ", $c--, "<br>";
echo "Now \$c = ", $c, "<br>";
echo "--\$d gives ", --$d, "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page, phpincrement.php, in Figure 2-3.

50 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 2-3 Incrementing and decrementing with PHP

The PHP String Operators

You may have heard that PHP excels at working with text strings, and that's true. So you
may be surprised to learn that PHP only has two operators that work with strings: the
concatenation operator,., and the combined concatenation assignment operator, The true
string power in PHP is in its string functions, which you're going to see in Chapter 3.
Here's an example using the string operators, phpstringoperators.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>The string operators</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>The string operators</hl>
<?php
$a = "No ";
echo "\$a = ", $a, "<br>";
echo "\$b = \$a . \"worries \"<br>";
$b = $a . "worries ";
echo "Now \$b = ", $b, "<br>";
echo "\$b .= \"at all.\"<br>";
$b .= "at all.";
echo "Now \$b = ", $b, "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 51

3 The string operators Microsoft Internet Explorer

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help

© Back w 0 3 | A P Search Favorites 0w M # 4

Address http://localhost/ch02/phpstringoperators. php 13 Go Links

The string operators

$a = No
Sb = $a . "womes"
Now Sb = No womes
Sb .= “at all."
Now Sb = No womes at all.

■iO Done I Local intranet

Figure 2-4 The string operators in PHP

You can see phpstringoperators.php in Figure 2-4.

The Bitwise Operators

PHP also provides you a set of bitwise operators that can work with the individual bits
inside numbers. There's usually little call to use these operators unless you know what
you're doing in detail. If you don't know about the bits in bytes, don't worry about this
one. Although you normally use this one on integers and the like, you can in fact also use
these operators on strings, in which case you'll be working with the numeric ASCII code of
each character.

Note These operators are designed to work on the individual bits inside their operands; if you're
looking for the boolean operators that work on TRUE/FALSE values, that's coming up later in
this chapter.

For example, the Or operator, |, works on two operands like this: $a | $b. In the result,
bits that are set (that is, equal to 1, not 0) in either $a and $b are set in the result. So, for
example, if $a equals 1 (which has the 0th bit set) and $b = 2 (which has the 1st bit set),
then $a | $b will equal 1 | 2; both the 0th bit and the 1st bit set in the result, so it equals 3.
You can see the bitwise operators in Table 2-1.
52 PHP: The Complete Reference

Operator Operation Example Result

$a & $b And $a & $b Bits that are set in both $a and $b are set.

$a 1 $b Or $a 1 $b Bits that are set in either $a or $b are set.

<
-Q

Xor $a A $b Bits that are set in $a or $b but not both are set.
CD

~ $0 Not ~ $0 Bits that are set in $a are not set, and vice versa.

$a « $b Shift left $a « $b Shift the bits of $a $vb steps to the left

(each step means “multiply by two”).

$a » $b Shift right $a » $b Shift the bits of $a $b steps to the right

(each step means “divide by two”).

Table 2-1 The Bitwise Operators

You might also notice the shift operators, « and », here. These operators let you shift
the bits inside their operands to the left («) or right (»). You give the number you want
shifted, and the number of places you want the bits in that number shifted. For example, 8
« 1 shifts the bits of the value 8 to the left one place, which multiplies 8 by 2 to give you 16.
Or, 8 » 2 shifts the bits in the value 8 to the right two places, which is the same as dividing
by 4, so 8 » 2 = 2.

The Execution Operator

The PHP execution operator is cool—it allows you to execute system commands, such as
the Windows date or dir (for directory) commands. All you have to do to execute a system
command is to enclose it in backticks (').
Here's an example. This code will run the Windows command "dir c:\Inetpub\
wwwroot\ch02" and display the results (note that the \ here is a sensitive character, so
you have to escape it as \\):

<?php
$output = 'dir c:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot\\ch02';
echo $output;
?>

Here's what you get when you execute this example, phpdir.php:

%php phpdir.php
Volume in drive C has no label.

Directory of c:\lnetpub\wwwroot\ch02

04/06/2007 03:06 PM <DIR>

04/06/2007 03:06 PM <DIR>
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 53

04/06/2007 03:08 PM 78 phpdir.php

04/06/2007 02:08 PM 569 phpincrement.php
04/06/2007 12:45 PM 539 phpmathfunctions.php
04/06/2607 12:17 PM 457 phpmathoperators.php
04/06/2007 02:47 PM 425 phpstringoperators.php
08/26/2004 11:55 AM 464 phptext.html
07/11/2006 04:08 PM 328 phptext.php
7, .F^ile (s) 2,860 bytes
2 Dir(s) 68,807,487,488 bytes free

Here's another example; this runs the date command:

<?php
$output = 'date';
echo $output;
?>

Here's the kind of result you might see under Unix, using the bash shell:
»

-bash-2.05b$ php phpdate.php

Fri April 06 11:24:45 PDT 2007

Since date is also a command in DOS, here's what you might see in a DOS window:

C:\php>php phpdate.php
The current date is: Fri 04/06/2007
Enter the new date: (mm-dd-yy)

PHP Operator Precedence

Most of the additional PHP operators you'll see in this book are for use in if statements and
loops, and they're coming up next. There's one thing to say about operators first, however,
and that's about operator precedence—the order in which operators get executed.
For example, take a look at this expression:

4 + 3*9

What's going to happen here? Will the 4 + 3 be added and the result be multiplied by 9
to give you 63? Or will the 3 be multiplied by 9 to give you 27 and the 4 added to that to
give you 31? It turns out that PHP processes multiplications before additions, so you'll get
31 here, as you can verify with this script, phpprecedence.php:

<?php
echo 4+3*9;
?>

When you run this, you get

%php phpprecedence.php
31
54 PHP: The Complete Reference

How can you tell the precedence of the various operators? Take a look at Table 2-2,
which lists precedence of the various operators, from high at the top of the table to low at
the bottom.
Want to set the precedence yourself? Use parentheses. You can tell PHP what operations to
execute first by enclosing them in parentheses. Here's an example, phpsettingprecedence.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>Setting operator precedence</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Setting operator precedence</hl>
<?php
echo "4+3*9=", 4+3*9, "<br>";
echo "(4+3) * 9 = ", (4+3) * 9, "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

Table 2-2 Operator Operators

Precedence
new

[
! ~ ++ - (int) (float) (string) (array) (object)

* /%
+ -.
« »

< <= > >=

— i-i—

&
A

&&
II
? ;

= += -= *= /= .= %= &= 1= A= «= »=
print

and

xor

or

i
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 55

Figure 2-5 Setting precedence in PHP

You can see this page in a browser in Figure 2-5. As you can see, using parentheses sets
the precedence of operator execution.

Using the if Statement

This is the point you start making decisions in your code, and executing other code
depending on the results of that decision. This is the if statement, the primary decision¬
making statement in PHP. Here's what it looks like formally:

if(expression)
statement

Here, expression is a PHP expression that evaluates to a TRUE or FALSE value. Just as in other
languages you may have come across, if expression is TRUE, the statement that follows is
executed; if it is FALSE, statement is not executed. You use conditional and logical operators,
coming up next, to create expressions of the kind that can be evaluated by if statements. For
example, you can use the greater-than operator, >, to form an expression such as 4 > 1, which
is TRUE, because 4 is indeed greater than 1.
It's also worth noting that although statement can be a single line of code, it's also
possible to use a compound PHP statement, which is made up of multiple single statements
enclosed in curly braces, ( and }. Here's a single statement:

echo "Here is the answer.";

56 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here is a compound statement:

{
echo "Here";
echo " is";
echo " the";
echo " answer.";
}
V * 1
The if statement is a terrific one because it allows you to make choices on the fly, and
have alternate code executed, depending on the results of that choice. For example, you
could check the value of a password to make sure it's correct, or check the user's response
to yes/no queries ("Do you want fries with that?").
For example, you might want to display some text if the outside temperature is above
65 degrees, which you could do like this:

<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature > 65)
echo "It's nice outside.";
?>

Although this way of doing things, with a single statement following the if statement,
works, it's more usual to put in the curly braces associated with compound statements like this:

<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature > 65) {
echo "It's nice outside.";
}

Because this is the way you'll usually see things done—even with single statements—
this is the way you'll see the if statement in this book—with the curly braces. You can, of
course, use compound statements here as well:

<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature >65) {
echo "It's ";
echo "nice ";
echo "outside.";
}

Here's an example, phpif.php, that checks how many minutes someone has been in the
pool—if it's more than 30 minutes, it's time to get out:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the if statement</title>
</head>
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 57

<body>
<hl>Using the if statement</hl>
<?php
*r‘ ' $minutes = 31;
if($minutes >30) {

?>
</body>
</html>

If it's time to get out, you can display a message:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the if statement</title>
</head> ,

<body>
<hl>Using the if statement</hl>
<?php
$minutes = 31;
if($minutes >30) {
echo "Your time is up!<br>";
echo "Please get out of the pool.";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see phpif.php at work in Figure 2-6.

Figure 2-6 Using the if statement in PHP

58 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's another example, phpisfloat.php. As mentioned in the preceding chapter, PHP

includes special functions to let you determine the internal storage format that PHP has
selected for variables—is_int, is_float, and so on. This example checks to make sure that a
variable is stored as a floating-point number, then adds 4.5 to it, and uses the var_dump
PHP function to "dump" (that is, display) the value of the variable to the browser:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the is_float function</title> v ‘ 1
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the is_float function</hl>
<?php
$variable = 10.7;
if (is_float($variable)) {
$variable = $variable + 4.5;
var_dump($variable);
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see phpisfloat.php at work in Figure 2-7. As you see there, the vardump
function gives you the response float(15.2) here, indicating the variable's value and
internal type.
There's more to the if statement, and that's coming up. For example, the greater-than
operator (>) is just one of a set of PHP comparison operators, and they're coming up next.

Figure 2-7 Using the is_float function in PHP

 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 59

The PHP Comparison Operators

You've already seen one of the PH^ comparison operators, the greater-than operator:

<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature > 65) {
echo "It’s n-i€e outside . " ;
}

There are plenty of other comparison operators, such as the less-than-or-equal-to

operator (<=), which you see at work here:

<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature <= 65) {
echo "Pretty chilly outside.";
}
?>

You can see all the PHP comparison operators in Table 2-3.
For example, you can see how to use the == equality operator in phpequality.php,
which checks if someone has been in the pool for exactly 30 minutes:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the == operator</title>
</head>

Operator Operation Example Result

==
JD

Equal TRUE if $a is equal to $b

CD
II
II

———
Identical $a === $b TRUE if $a is equal to $b, and they are of the
same type
!= Not equal $a != $b TRUE if $a is not equal to $b
<> Not equal $a <> $b TRUE if $a is not equal to $b

Not identical $a !== $b TRUE if $a is not equal to $b, or they are not
!==
of the same type

< Less than $a < $b TRUE if $a is strictly less than $b

> Greater than $a > $b TRUE if $a is strictly greater than $b

<= Less than or $a <= $b TRUE if $a is less than or equal to $b

equal to
>= Greater than $a >= $b TRUE if $a is greater than or equal to $b
or equal to

Table 2-3 The Comparison Operators

60 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
<hl>Usin§1 the == operator</hl>
<?php
$minutes = 30;
if($minutes == 30) {
echo "Warning:<br>";
echo "Your time in the pool is almost up.";

}
?>
. • i
</body>
</html>

You can see phpequality.php in Figure 2-8; make sure you don't confuse the equality
operator, ==, and the assignment operator, =.
Similarly, this example uses the not-equal operator, !=, to test if the temperature is not
equal to 67 degrees:

<?php
$temperature = 30;
if($temperature != 67 {
echo "The temperature is not 67 degrees.";

}
?>

Here's what you get from this script:

The temperature is not 67 degrees.

Besides using comparison operators, there is also a set of logical operators you can use
with decision-making statements like the if statement.

Figure 2-8 Using the equality operator in PHP

 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 61

The PHP Logical Operators

You've already seen how to check if the outside temperature is greater than 65 degrees:
/r 1
<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature >65) {
echo "It's pice outside.";
}

But what if you wanted to check if the temperature is greater than 65 degrees and less
than 75 degrees? In that case, you can use the and logical operator, &&, to connect two
conditional clauses as shown in phplogical.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the logical operators</title>
>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the logical operators</hl>
<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature > 65 && $temperature < 75) {
echo "It's between 65 and 75 outside.";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

Note the line

if ($temperature > 65 && $temperature < 75) {

echo "It's between 65 and 75 outside.";

You can see phplogical.php in Figure 2-9.

You use logical operators like && to connect clauses in an if statement in this case, the
if statement's conditional expression is true only if the value in $temperature is both greater
than 65 and less than 75.
On the other hand, say that you wanted to check if the temperature was either less than
32 degrees or more than 100. You could do that with the or logical operator, | |, like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the logical operators</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the logical operators</hl>
<?php
62 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 2-9 Using the and logical operator in PHP

$teraperature = 66;
if ($temperature <32 || $temperature >100) {
echo "Better stay inside today.";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can find all the PHP logical operators in Table 2-4.
You might wonder why there are two and logical operators ("and" and &&) and two or
logical operators ("or" and | |). The answer is that the && and | | operators have high
precedence, and there are times when you might want low precedence logical operators so
that you don't have to specifically use parentheses in your expressions to get things right.

Operator Operation Example Result

and And $a and $b TRUE if both $a and $b are TRUE

or Or $a or $b TRUE if either $a or $b is TRUE

xor Xor $a xor $b TRUE if either $a or $b is TRUE, but not both

! Not ! $a TRUE if $a is not TRUE

&& And $a && $b TRUE if both $a and $b are TRUE

II Or $a II $b TRUE if either $a or $b is TRUE

Table 2-4 The Logical Operators

 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 63

The else Statement

There's more to the if statement. For example, what if the if statement's condition turns out
to be Hlse—is there still a way to execute code? Yes, there is; just use an else statement. Here's
what the else statement looks like formally:

if expression
statementl <'4
else
expression2

Here, if the expression is true, statementl will be executed. If expression is false, on the
other hand, expression2 will be executed.
Here's an example, phpelse.php. Say you want to print out one message if the outside
temperature was outside the range 32 degrees to 100 degrees, and another message if the
temperature is inside that range. You can start by determining if the temperature is outside
that range and displaying a message if so:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the else statement</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the else statement</hl>
<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature <32 || $temperature > 100) {
echo "Better stay inside today.";
}

?>
</body>
</html>

Otherwise, if the temperature is inside the range 32 to 100, you can display an alternate
message, "Nice day outside.":

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the else statement</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the else statement</hl>
<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature <32 || $temperature > 100) {
echo "Better stay inside today.";

}
64 PHP: The Complete Reference

else {
echo^'Nice day outside.";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 2-10—nice day outside.

Here's another example, testing whether or not your plane has enough gas to get to the
airport:

<html> \
<head>
<title>Using the else statement</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the else stateraent</hl>
<?php
$gallons = 6;
if ($gallons < 5) {
echo "Got a parachute?";
}
else {
echo "You'll be OK.";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

The output from this script:

You'll be OK.

Figure 2-10 Using the else statement in PHP

 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 65

The elseif Statement

PHP also has an elseif statement, which you can use to check alternate if conditions—if an if
statement's conditional expression is false, you can make additional tests with elseif. Here's
how the full if statement looks, including elseif statements:

if expressionl
statementl *'*
elseif expression2
expression2
elseif expressions
expressions
elseif expression4
expression4
elseif expressions
expressions

else
expressions

And here's an example, phpelseif.php, which displays a variety of messages depending

on the temperature. If the temperature is less than 32 degrees, this script displays the
message "Too cold.". If the temperature is between 32 and 60, it displays "Pretty chilly." If
the temperature is between 61 and 70, it displays "Pretty nice outside.", and so on:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using the elseif statement</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the elseif statement</hl>
<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature < 32) {
echo "Too cold.";
}
elseif ($temperature < 60) {
echo "Pretty chilly.";

}
elseif ($temperature < 70) {
echo "Pretty nice outside.";

}
elseif ($temperature < 80) {
echo "Pretty warm outside.";

}
else {
echo "Too hot.";
}
?>
</body>
</html>
66 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 2-11 Using the elseif statement in PHP

You can see how this works. If the if statement's conditional expression is false, PHP
checks the first elseif statement's conditional expression, and if that's true, the elseif
statement's code is executed. If the first elseif statement's conditional expression is false,
PHP moves on to the next elseif statement and so on. At the end of the whole chain is an
else statement, whose code is executed if no other code has been executed in the if statement
up to this point. The whole thing appears in Figure 2-11.
And with the addition of the elseif clauses, you've now mastered the if statement—you
know all there is to know about it.

The ternary Operator

There's actually a built-in operator that acts like an if statement in PHP: the ternary
operator, which PHP shares with several other languages. This operator has an unusual
form, and here it is:

$result = condition ? expressionl : expression2;

Okay, what's going on here? If condition is true, the ternary operator—which is made
up of the characters ?:—returns expressionl. Otherwise, it returns expression2. So as you
can see, this is an operator that lets you make real-time choices.
Here's an example. This code displays "Nice day outside." if the outside temperature is
between 32 and 100 degrees, and "Better stay inside today." otherwise:

<?php
$temperature = 66;
if ($temperature < 32 || $temperature > 100) {
echo "Better stay inside today.";
}
else {
echo " Nice day outside.";

}
?>
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 67

Here's the same code using the ternary operator—note how compact this is:

<?php
$temperature = 66; •
echo ($temperature < 32 || $temperature > 100) ? "Better stay inside
today." : "Nice day outside.";
?>

i • *

Here s another example that finds the absolute value of numbers—all it does is to use
the negation operator, to change the sign of a value if that value if negative:

<?php
$value = -3;
$abs_value = $value < 0 ? -$value : $value;
echo $abs_value;
?>

This example displays the value 3.

Here's another example—a slightiy more involved one. This example converts
decimal into hexadecimal digits (as long as the result is a single hexadecimal digit, 0-F).
Here's the code:

<?php
$value = 15;
$hex = $value < 10 ? "Ox" . $value : "Ox" . chr($value - 10 + 65);
echo "In hex, $value = $hex";
?>

This script will give you: In hex, 15 = OxF (you preface hex values with Ox in PHP to tell
PHP that it's a hex value). Pretty cool—the conversion is done in a single statement (of course,
the PHP dechex function can do even better, converting multidigit values).

The switch Statement

The PHP switch statement lets you replace long if-elseif-else ladders of condition checking
with an easy single statement. You pass the switch statement a single value and it tests that
value against case statements that you list, executing the code in any case statement whose
test value matches the value you're checking. Here's how the switch statement looks
formally—note that values in square brackets [ ] are optional:

switch (testvalue) {
case expressionl:
statementl
[break;]
case expression2:
statement2
[break;]
case expression3:
statements
[break;]
case expression4:
statement4
68 PHP: The Complete Reference

[break;]

[default:
default_statement]
}

Here's how this works: You pass a value (integer or floating-point numbers or strings) to
the switch statement, and the switch statement checks it against all the cases you've listed; if
the value you're checking matches the value in a case statement, that case statement's code is
executed. If no case matches the value you're checking, the code in the default statement, if
there is a default statement, is executed. The break statement ends execution of the switch
statement—if you omit the break statement, execution will continue with the code in the
following case statement automatically.
And here's an example, phpswitch.php, which displays different messages, depending
on the current outside temperature:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the switch statement
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using the switch statement
</hl>
<?php
$temperature = 70;
switch ($temperature) {
case 70:
case 71:
case 72:
echo "Nice day outside.";
break;
case 73:
case 74 :
case 75:
echo "OK, but a little warm.";
break;
case 76:
case 77:
case 78:
echo "A little warmer.";
break;
default:
echo "Temperature outside the range this statement can handle "•
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results of phpswitch.php in Figure 2-12.

 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 69

Figure 2-12 Using the switch statement in PHP

Using for Loops

Computers are great at repetitive tasks—that's their strong point. For that reason, PHP
comes stocked with the standard loops that other programming languages, such as the for
loop, which you're going to see now. Here's how it works formally:

for {expressionl; expression2; expression3)

statement

The for loop executes expressionl before it starts; then it checks the value of expression2—if
it's true, the loop executes statement once. Then the loop executes expression (which often
increments the value in a loop counter variable) and after that checks the value of expression2
again (which might check the value in the loop counter variable). If expression2 is still true,
the loop executes statement once again. Then the loop executes expression again, and the
process keeps going until expression2 evaluates to false, when the loop ends. Note that
expression2 is checked before the loop executes, and expression is executed after every time
the loop loops.
Here's an example, phpfor.php, which displays a message six times. You can start by
initializing a loop counter variable to 0:

<?php
for ($loop_counter = 0;...){

}
?>
70 PHP: The Complete Reference

Each time through the loop, you can check if the loop counter is greater than 6, in which
case you should quit:

<?php
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < 6;...){

?>

And after each time the loop is executed, you can increment the loop counter:

<?php
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < 6; $loop_counter++){

}
?>

That sets up the loop, which will execute six times. All that's left is the body of the
loop—the statement (which can be a compound statement) that you want to execute each
time the loop loops. In this case, the example will just display another line of text, as you
see in phpfor.php:

<htral>
<head>
<title>
Using the for loop
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using the for loop
</hl>
<?php
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < 6; $loop_counter++){
echo "You're going to see this message six times.<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 2-13, where as you can see, the message appears six
times, once for each iteration of the for loop. Very nice.
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 71

Figure 2-13 Using the for loop in PHP

There's more about for loops as well; for loops can handle multiple loop counters if you
want, as long as you separate them with the comma operator. Here's an example that uses
two loop counters:

<?php
for ($loopl = 2, $loop2 = 2; $loopl < 6 && $loop2 < 6; $loopl++, $loop2++){
echo "$loopl x $loop2 = ", $loopl * $loop2, "<br>";
}
?>

And here's what the result looks like in a browser:

2x2 = 4
3x3 = 9
4 x 4 = 16
5 x 5 = 25

In fact, you don't have to use loop counters at all in a for loop. Here's an example that
starts by initializing a connection to a database, gets a new record each time through the
loop, and processes the new record until the end of the data is reached, at which point the
process_record function returns -1:

for (initialize_connection(); process_record() != -1; get_next_record()){

You can also nest for loops, one inside another, as you'll see when we work with arrays.
Here's a quick example:

<?php
for ($loop_counterl = 0; $loop_counterl < 6; $loop_counterl++){
for ($loop_counter2 = 0; $loop_counter2 < 2; $loop_counter2++){
72 PHP: The Complete Reference

echo "You're going to see this message twelve times.<br>";

}
}
?>

Using while Loops

PHP has another type of loop: the while loop. This one's real easy—here's what it looks like:
\ ■ ‘

while (expression)
statement

While expression is true, the loop executes statement. That's all there is to it. When expression
is false, the loop ends (which means, please note, that it's possible that statement will never get
executed). In other words, the while loop keeps executing while its test expression is true.
Here's an example, phpwhile.php, which keeps incrementing a variable until its value is
greater than or equal to 10, at which point it quits:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the while loop
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using the while loop
</hl>
<?php
$variable = 1;

while ($variable < 10){

echo "Now \$variable holds: ", $variable, "<br>";
$variable++;
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 2-14—the while loop kept looping while $variable
held less than 10—and when that was no longer true, it quit.
You can even convert a while loop into a for loop if you use an explicit loop counter, as
in this example:

<?php
$loop_counter = 0;
while ($loop_counter < 6){
 /
Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Contro 73

Figure 2-14 Using the while loop in PHP

Then you increment and use the loop counter in the body of the loop:

<?php
$loop_counter = 0;
while ($loop_counter < 6) {
echo "You're going to see this message six times. <br>";
$loop_counter++;

}
?>

You often use the while loop when you have a looping situation where you don't actually
need a loop counter. For example, while loops are often used to read data from files; you
might open a file, and then use a while loop to check if you're at the end of the file:

<?php
openfile();
while (notat endoffile0){

}
?>

If you're not at the end of the file, you can read data from the file and echo it:

<?php
open_file();
while (not at_end_of_file()){
74 PHP: The Complete Reference

$data = read_data_fromfile();
echo $data;

}
?>

Using do...while Loops

There's another kind of while loop—the do...while loop. This kind of loop is just like the
while loop with one exception: it checks its test expression at the'end of the loop, not the
beginning. Here's what the do...while loop looks like:
*

do
statement
while (expression)

In this case, the do...while loop keeps executing statement while expression is true—and note
in particular that because expression is tested at the end of the loop, expression could actually
be false, and the loop's body would still be executed at least once. That's useful when you
have a situation in which the test condition is set inside the body of the loop and so can't be
tested until the end of the loop.
Here's an example, phpdowhile.php, that converts the previous while example into do...
while form:

<htral>
<head>
<title>
Using the do...while loop
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using the do. . .while loop
</hl>
<?php
$variable = 1;

do {
echo "Now \$variable holds: ", $variable, "<br>";
$variable++;
}
while ($variable < 10)
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 2-15, where the do...while loop has done its thing.
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 75

Figure 2-15 Using the do...while loop in PHP

Here's another example that points out the difference between the while loop and the
do...while loop, phpdoornot.php. Here, even though its condition evaluates to false, you'll
see that the do...while loop executes its body once—but the while loop does not:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the do...while loop
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using the do...while loop
</hl>
<?php
$variable = 20;

do {
echo "The do...while loop says \$variable = ", $variable, "<br>";

}
while ($variable < 10);

while ($variable < 10){

echo "The while loop says \$variable = ", $variable, "<br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>
76 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 2-16 The do...while loop vs. the while loop in PHP

You can see the results in Figure 2-16—the do...while loop executed once, but the while
loop didn't.

Using the foreach Loop

There's a special loop designed to work with PHP collections, such as the arrays you're
going to see in the next chapter. Collections are made up of multiple items, and the
foreach loop is designed to handle collections. It's useful to have a loop like foreach
around, because it automatically loops over all the items in the collection—in particular,
you don't have to worry about getting the loop counters just right. Here's what the
foreach loop looks like:

foreach {collection_expression as $value) statement

foreach (collection_expression as $key => $value) statement

And here's an example, phpforeach.php, putting the foreach loop to work. This example
loops over all the items in an array—types of sandwiches (see the next chapter for more on
arrays)—and displays each item:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the foreach loop
</title>
</head>
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 77

Figure 2-17 The foreach loop in PHP

<body>
<hl>Using the foreach loop</hl>
<?php
$arr = array("turkey", "ham", "beef");
foreach ($arr as $value) {
echo "Current sandwich: $value<br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 2-17, where the foreach loop has looped over the
array. Nice.

Terminating Loops Early

You can stop a loop or switch statement at any time with the break statement. You've already
seen the break statement in the switch statement:

switch ($temperature) {
case 70:
case 71:
case 72:
echo "Nice day outside.";
break;
78 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 2-18 Using the break statement in PHP

But you can also use break in loops. Here's an example, phpbreak.php, that stops a loop
when the loop counter reaches a value of 5:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the break statement
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the break statement</hl>
<?php
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < 1000; $loop_counter++){
echo "I’m going to do this a thousand times unless you stop me!<BR>";
if ($loop counter == 5) {
echo "Alright, I'm quitting.<BR>";
break;

}
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see this example at work in Figure 2-18.

Skipping Iterations
Sometimes, you might want to skip an iteration of a loop to avoid some kind of problem,
such as a division by zero—and you can do that with the continue statement, which makes
the loop move on to the next iteration.
 Chapter 2: Operators and Flow Control 79

Here s an example, phpcontinue.php, which finds the reciprocals (that is, 1 divided by
the number) of various integers—note that it checks to see if it's being asked to divide by
zero, and if so, it skips to the next iteration:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the continue statement
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using the continue statement</hl>
<?php
$number =1;
for ($number = -2; $number < 3; $number++){
if($number == 0){
continue;
}
echo "1/$number = ", 1 / $number, "<br>";
$number++;

}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 2-19, where, as you can see, the script skipped the
step where it was supposed to divide by zero. Cool.

Figure 2-19 Using the continue statement in PHP

80 PHP: The Complete Reference

PH P Alternate Syntax
PHP also supports an alternative syntax for if, while, for, foreach, and switch. In each case,
the form of the alternate syntax changes the opening curly brace to a colon (:) and the
closing brace to endif;, endwhile;, endfor;, endforeach;, or endswitch;, respectively.
Here's an example showing an if statement using alternate syntax:

<?php
$temperature =61; \ *

if ($temperature == 60) :
echo "The temperature is 60";
elseif ({temperature == 70):
echo "The temperature is 70";
else:
echo "The temperature is not 60 or 70";
endif;
?>

This example echoes: "The temperature is not 60 or 70".

Here's an example using a for loop and alternate syntax:

<?php
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < 6; $loop_counter++)
echo "You're going to see this message six times.<BR>";
endfor;

Here's a switch statement that uses alternate syntax:

<?php
$temperature = 65;
switch ({temperature) :
case 60:
echo "The temperature is 60.";
break;
case 70:
echo "The temperature is 70.";
break;
case 80:
echo "The temperature is 80.";
break;
default:
echo "The temperature is not 60, 70, or 80.";
endswitch;

Okay, you've gotten a good grounding in working with PHP operators and control
structures like if statements and for loops. Coming up next: handling arrays and strings.
 I • * __________
CHAPTER
Strings and Arrays
T his chapter represents the next step up in handling your data in PHP: text strings and
arrays. You've seen strings already to some extent, but there's a lot more to the story.
Data on the Internet is usually in text format, and PHP excels in handling strings—
there's a huge library of prebuilt string functions in PHP. From sorting strings to searching
them, from trimming extra spaces to getting the length of a string, we'll master the PHP
string functions in this chapter.
In addition to strings, you're also going to see how to work with arrays in PHP in this
chapter. Arrays represent our first contact with collections in PHP—the storing of more than
one data item under a single name. Arrays are an important part of PHP because, among
other things, you use array notation to read data sent you from the user.
You've already seen simple variables, which hold simple data items like strings or
numbers. Arrays store whole sets of data items in the same way, and you can access those
individual data items with, for example, a numeric array index. That's great from a
programming point of view, because you can use a loop to steadily increment that array
index, letting you loop over, and handle, all the items in an array.
Say you have 12,000 numeric data items and want to find their average value. It would
be a serious chore to write code to handle all those data items individually. But you can
stash them all in a single array, and then loop over that array, handling the data items one
by one, with a simple loop in a couple of lines. No problem.
Okay, we're ready to start. Let's begin by taking a look at the PHP built-in string functions.

The String Functions

PHP is string-oriented, and it comes packed with many string functions. PHP programs are
often text-intensive—the data you get from the user is in text form, for example, and you
might want to strip extra spaces from the beginning and end of such text. Or you might
want to search that text for command words that the user can use. Or you might want to
capitalize that text, or any of a hundred other things.
You can perform all those operations with the PHP string functions. To get us started
with string functions, and to give you an indication of what's available, you can find all the
string functions in Table 3-1.

81
82 PHP: The Complete Reference

Function Does This

addcslashes Quotes a string with slashes (in C style)

addslashes Quotes a string with slashes

bin2hex Converts binary data into hexadecimal representation

chop Alias of the rtrim function

chr Returns a specific character given its ASCII code
chunk split Splits a string into smaller chunks
convert cyr string Converts from one Cyrillic character set to another

count chars Returns information about characters in a string

crc32 Calculates the crc32 polynomial of a string

crypt Supports one-way string encryption (hashing)

echo Displays one or more strings

explode Splits a string on a substring
fprintf Writes a formatted string to a stream
get html translation table Returns the translation table
hebrev Converts Hebrew text to visual text
hebrevc Converts logical Hebrew text to visual text

html entity decode Converts all HTML entities to their applicable characters
htmlentities Converts all applicable characters to HTML entities
htmlspecialchars Converts special characters to HTML entities
implode Joins array elements with a string
join Alias of the implode function
levenshtein Calculates the Levenshtein distance between two strings
localeconv Gets the numeric formatting information
Itrim Strips whitespace from the beginning of a string
md5 file Calculates the md5 hash of a given filename
md5 Calculates the md5 hash of a string
metaphone Calculates the metaphone key of a string
money format Formats a number as a currency string
nljanginfo Queries language and locale information
nl2br Inserts HTML line breaks before all newlines in a string
number format Formats a number with grouped thousand separators
ord Returns the ASCII value of a character

Table 3-1 The String Functions

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 83

Function Does This

parse str Parses the string into variables
print Displays a string
printf Displays a formatted string
quoted printable^ecode Converts a quoted-printable string to an 8-bit string
quotemeta Quotes metacharacters
rtrim Strips whitespace from the end of a string
setlocale Sets locale information
shal file Calculates the shal hash of a file
shal Calculates the shal hash of a string
similar text Calculates the similarity between two strings
soundex Calculates the soundex key of a string
s printf Returns a formatted string
sscanf Parses input from a string according to a format
strjreplace Case-insensitive version of the str replace function
str pad Pads a string with another string
str repeat Repeats a string
str_replace Replaces all occurrences of the search string with the
replacement string
str rotl3 Performs the rotl3 transform on a string
str shuffle Shuffles a string randomly
str split Converts a string to an array
str word count Returns information about words used in a string
strcasecmp Binary case-insensitive string comparison
strchr Alias of the strstr function
strcmp Binary-safe string comparison
strcoll Locale-based string comparison

strcspn Finds the length of the initial segment not matching a mask
strip tags Strips HTML and PHP tags from a string
stripcslashes Un-quotes string quoted with addcsIashesQ

stripos Finds position of first occurrence of a case-insensitive string

stripslashes Un-quotes string quoted with addslashes()

stristr Case-insensitive version of the strstr function

strlen Gets a string’s length

Table 3-1 The String Functions (continued)

84 PHP: The Complete Reference

Function Does This

strnatcasecmp Case insensitive string comparisons

strnatcmp String comparisons using a “natural order” algorithm

strncasecmp Binary case-insensitive string comparison of the first

n characters

strncmp Binary-safe string comparison of the first n characters

- „„ - — ' \ *
strpos Finds position of first occurrence of a string

strrchr Finds the last occurrence of a character in .a string

strrev Reverses a string

strripos Finds the position of last occurrence of a case-insensitive string

strrpos Finds the position of last occurrence of a char in a string

strspn Finds the length of initial segment matching mask

strstr Finds the first occurrence of a string

strtok Tokenizes a string

strtolower Converts a string to lowercase

strtoupper Converts a string to uppercase

strtr Translates certain characters

substr_compare Binary-safe (optionally case-insensitive) comparison of two

strings from an offset

substr count Counts the number of substring occurrences

substr replace Replaces text within part of a string

substr Returns part of a string

trim Strips whitespace from the beginning and end of a string

ucfirst Makes a string’s first character uppercase

ucwords Uppercases the first character of each word in a string

vprintf Outputs a formatted string

vsprintf Returns a formatted string

wordwrap Wraps a string to a given number of characters

Table 3-1 The String Functions (continued)

As you can see, there are plenty of string functions. Let's put some of them to work in
an example called phpstrings.php. You might start with the string "No problem":

echo "The test string is 'No problem'.<br>";

You can use the strlen function to find the string's length:

echo "’No problem' is ", strlen("No problem"), " characters long<br>";

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 85

And you can extract substrings with substr:

echo "The substring substr('No problem', 3, 7) is substr("No problem",

3 / r7) , * " 1 <br>" ;

You can search strings with the strpos:

echo "The wor$ ^problem' is at position ", strpos("No problem", "problem"),

"<br>";

And you can replace substrings with substr_replace:

echo "Replacing 'problem' with 'problems' gives: ", substr_replace(

"No problem", "problems", 3, 9), "<br>";

The chr function converts ASCII numeric codes into their corresponding characters—
here's ABC in ASCII:

echo "Using ASCII codes: ", chr(65), chr(66), chr(67), "<br>";

You can uppercase the first letter of the string with ucfirst:

echo "Uppercasing the first letter gives you: ", ucfirst("no problem"),
"<br>";

Or uppercase the whole string with strtoupper:

echo "In upper case: ", strtoupper("No problem"), "<br>";

And you can lowercase the whole string with strtolower:

echo "In lower case: ", strtolower("No problem"), "<br>";

You can trim excess spaces with the trim function (the &nbsp; codes you see here are to
create nonbreaking spaces in the browser so that the browser doesn't collapse the four
spaces here into one space):

echo " ’ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp,-No problem' trimmed is: '", trim(
" No problem"), "'<br>";

You can reverse strings with strrev:

echo "Reversed: ", strrev("No problem"), "<br>";

And you can count the number of occurrences of a substring with the substr_count
function like this in phpstrings.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using string functions

</title>
</head>
86 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
<hl>
Using string functions
</hl>
<?php
echo "The test string is 'No problem1.<br>";
echo "'No problem' is ", strlenC'No problem"), " characters long<br>";
echo "The substring substr('No problem', 3, 7) is '", substr("No problem",
3, 7), "1<br>";
echo "The word 'problem' is at position ", strposC'N© prbblem",
problem") ,
"<br>";
echo "Replacing 'problem' with 'problems' gives: ", substr_replace(
"No problem", "problems", 3, 9), "<br>";
echo "Using ASCII codes: ", chr(65), chr(66), chr(67), "<br>";
echo "Uppercasing the first letter gives you: ", ucfirstC'no problem"),
"<br>";
echo "In upper case: ", strtoupper("No problem"), "<br>";
echo "In lower case: ", strtolower("No problem"), "<br>";
echo "'&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No problem' trimmed is: '", trim(
" No problem"), "'<br>";
echo "Reversed: ", strrev("No problem"), "<br>";
echo "There are ", substrcount("No problem", "o"), " o's in 'No problem'.";
?>
</body>
</html>

How will all this look in a browser? Take a look at Figure 3-1, where you can see the results.
As you can see, there's plenty of string-handling power that comes with PHP.

Figure 3-1 Using string functions

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 87

Converting to and from Strings

Because data is sent to you in string format, and because you'll have to display your data in
string format in the user's browser, converting between strings and numbers is one of the
most important interface tasks in PHP.
Here's an example, phpconvert.php. To convert to a string, you can use the cast (string)
or the strval function, which returns the string value of the item you pass to it (using the cast
and strval here isn't technically necessary, since echo converts numbers to strings itself):

<?php
$float = 3.1415;
echo (string) $float, "<br>";
echo strval($float), "<br>";
?>

How do the (string) cast and the strval function work when converting other values?
A boolean TRUE value is converted to the string "1"; the FALSE value is represented as ""
(empty string). An integer or a floating-point number (float) is converted to a string
representing the number with its digits (including the exponent part for floating-point
numbers). The value NULL is always converted to an empty string.
You can also go the other way, and convert a string into a number. The string will be
treated as a float if it contains any of the characters 7, e', or 'E'. Otherwise, it will be
treated as an integer. The numeric value of a string is given by the initial part of the string.
If the string starts with numeric data, that will be the value used. Otherwise, the value
will be 0 (zero). Valid numeric data consists of an optional sign (+ or -), followed by one
or more digits (including, if you use it, a decimal point), followed by an optional exponent
(the exponent part is an 'e' or 'E' followed by one or more digits).
For example, you can add a number and a quoted number (that is, a number in a string)
and PHP will do the right thing:

$value = 1 + "19.2";
echo "$value <br>";

Here's another example, showing a number with a power of 10:

$value = 1 + "2.5e4";
echo "$value <br>";

You can also explicitly convert text to floats with the (float) cast, for example:

$text = "3.0";
$value = (float) $text;
echo $value / 2.0, "<br>";

Here's what phpformat.php looks like, putting this all together:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Converting from strings and numbers
</title>
</head>
88 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 3-2 Converting between strings and numbers

<body>
<hl>
Converting from strings and numbers
</hl>
<?php
$float = 3.1415;
echo (string) $float, "<br>";
echo strval($float), "<br>";
$value = 1 + "19.2";
echo "$value <br>";
$value = 1 + "2.5e4";
echo "$value <br>";
$text = "3.0";
$value = (float) $text;
echo $value / 2.0, "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see phpconvert.php at work in Figure 3-2.

Formatting Text Strings

Because all the data sent to your PHP scripts and the data you send back to the browser is in
text form, formatting that data is one of the most important things you'll be doing in PHP.
For example, what if you want to make sure that price you're displaying has exactly two
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 89

places after the decimal point? It turns out that there are two PHP functions that specifically
handle formatting of text strings, and here they are—printf and sprintf:

prinf£ (format [, args])

sprintf (format [, args])

The printf function prints a string (much like echo), and the sprintf function also "prints" its
data, but in this case, the output is a string-—that is, it returns a string.
The format string is a little complex here. It's made up of zero or more directives, which
are characters copied to the result, and conversion specifiers, which are made up of a percent
sign (%) followed by one or more of these items (in this order):

• An optional padding specifier that indicates which character should be used to pad
the results to the correct string size. This may be a space character or a 0 (zero character).
The default is to pad with spaces.

• An optional alignment specifier that indicates if the results should be left-justified or

right-justified. The default is right-justified (a - character here will make it left-justified).

• An optional number, the width specifier, specifying how many characters (minimum)
this conversion should result in.

• An optional precision specifier that indicates how many decimal digits should be
displayed for floating-point numbers. (There is no effect for other types than float.)

• A type specifier that says what type the argument data should be treated as.

Here are the possible type specifiers:

• % A literal percent character. No argument is required.

• b The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a binary number.

• c The argument is treated as an integer and presented as the character with that
ASCII value.
• d The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a (signed) decimal
number.
• u The argument is treated as an integer and presented as an unsigned decimal
number.
• f The argument is treated as a float and presented as a floating-point number.

• - The argument is treated as an integer and presented as an octal number.

• s The argument is treated as and presented as a string.

• x The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number

(with lowercase letters).
• X The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number
(with uppercase letters).

Getting formats to work can be tricky. Here's an example, phpformat.php. You might
start with the %s format, which just inserts a string, with printf:

printf ("I have %s pants and %s shirts. <brxbr>", 4, 12);

90 PHP: The Complete Reference

This will display "I have 4 pants and 12 shirts.". That's the way it works—you put the format
into a string template, and then the data to be formatted follows.
Here's how to use sprintf, which returns a string:

$string = sprintf("After the sale I have %s pants and %s shirts.<br>", 6,

21) ;
echo $string, "<br>";

Here's a more involved use of formatting, using the format %01.2f, which results in two
places after the decimal point:

$price = 2789.992;
echo "The price is
printf (" \ $%01.2f <brxbr>", $price) ;

This will display "The price is 2789.99". Here are some more uses of format strings for
formatting floating-point numbers:

echo "printf(\"%6.2f\", 3.1) gives you

printf("%6.2f<br>", 3.1);
echo "printf(\"%6.2f\", 30.1) gives you ";
printf("%6,2f<br>", 30.1);
echo "printf(\"%6.3f\", 300.1) gives you ";
printf ( " %6.2f <brxbr>" , 3 00.1);

Here's an example using the d format specifier, for formatting integers:

$year = 2007;
$month = 9;
$day = 2;
echo "The date is ";
printf("%04d-%02d-%02d<br>", $year, $month, $day);

Here's the whole thing in phpformat.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using string formatting
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using string formatting
</hl>
<?php
printf ("I have %s pants and %s shirts. <brxbr>", 4, 12);

$string = sprintf("After the sale I have %s pants and %s shirts.<br>", 6,

21) ;
echo $string, "<br>";
 /
Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 91

$price = 2789.992;
echo "The price is
printf ("\$%01.2f<brxbr>", $price) ;

echo "printf(\"%6.2f\", 3.1) gives you

printf("%6.2f<br>", 3.1);
echo "printf(\"%6,2f\", 30.1) gives you ";
printf("%6.2f<br>", 30.1);
echo "printf (\'"%6.3f\", 300.1) gives you " ;
printf ( "%6.2f<brxbr>", 300.1);

$year = 2007;
$month = 9;
$day = 2;
echo "The date is ";
printf("%04d-%02d-%02d<br>", $year, $month, $day);

?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see phpformat.php in Figure 3-3.

TlP Incidentally, there's another function for formatting numbers in PHP: number_format().

Figure 3-3 Formatting strings in PHP

92 PHP: The Complete Reference

Building Yourself Some Arrays

Now we're going to plunge into a new topic: arrays. Arrays are integral to PHP, more so than
in other languages—for example, you communicate with the user of your Web application
using arrays in PPIP. You also use arrays when you have a set of data—multiple data items.
Arrays are collections of data items stored under a single name. You might be keeping
track of the grades of 500 students in that PHP class you're teaching, for example, and
arrays are perfect for that.
You can create arrays the same way you can create variables—just assign values to a
variable name. For example, you might create an array named $actors;and assign the name
"Cary Grant" to the first place in that array, element 0:

$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";

This statement creates a new array named $actors, and stores "Cary Grant" in the first
element, element 0. As in other programming languages, arrays start with element 0 in PHP.
Now when you echo $actors like this:

echo $actors[0];

you'll see "Cary Grant".

You can also add other actors to the $actors array, like this in phpactors.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating an array
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Creating an array
</hl>
<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [2] = "Lome Green";

echo "\$actors[0] = ", $actors[0], "<br>

echo "\$actors[l] = ", $actors[1], "<br>
echo "\$actors[2] = ", $actors[2], "<br>
?>
</body>
</html>

Now $actors[0] holds "Cary Grant", $actors[l] holds "Myrna Loy", and $actors[2] holds
"Lome Green", as you can see in Figure 3-4.
So far, these array examples have all used numeric indexes, which is useful when you
want to loop over an array—coming up soon—because you can use the loop counter as the
array index. However, PHP also lets you use a string array index, and that can be useful too,
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 93

Figure 3-4 Creating arrays in PHP

because you might forget that the amount cousin Jill owes you is stored in $debts[342]/ but
you won't forget $debts["Jill"]:

$debts["Jill"] = 2493.77;

Now $debts["Jill"] holds 2493.77. And you can store other debts in that array as well:

$debts["Jill"] = 2493.77;
$debts["Bob"] = 4930.33;
$debts["Sam"] = 5493.22;

In fact, even though you are using string indexes for these array elements, it turns out that
you can loop over this array using PHP—more on that later.
There's a shortcut for creating arrays—you can simply use the array name followed by
empty square brackets like this, and PHP will fill in the numbers:

$actors[] = "Cary Grant";

$actors[] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [] = "Lome Green";

After you execute this code, $actors[0] will hold "Cary Grant", $actors[l] will hold "Myrna
Loy", and $actors[2] will hold "Lome Green".
In fact, there's even a shorter shortcut in PHP for creating an array: you can use the
array function, which returns an array. That looks like this:

$actors = array ("Cary Grant", "Myrna Loy", "Lome Green");

This also creates an array such that $actors[0] will hold "Cary Grant”, $actors[l] will hold
"Myrna Loy", and $actors[2] will hold "Lome Green .
94 PHP: The Complete Reference

By default, arrays start with index 0. What if you wanted to start with index 1 instead?
You could use the PHP => operator like this:

$actors = array(l => "Cary Grant", "Myrna Loy", "Lome Green");

This would leave you with

$actors[1] = "Cary Grant";

$actors[2] = "Myrna Loy"; ^ . ,
$actors[3] = "Lome Green";

The => operator lets you create key/value pairs in arrays—the item on the left of the =>
is the key, and the item on the right is the value. For example, you could do this in
phparray function.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the array function
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using the array function
</hl>
<?php
$debts = array("Jill" => 2493.77, "Bob" => 4930.33, "Sam" => 5493.22);

echo "\$debts[1 Jill1] = ", $debts["Jill"], "<br>";

echo "\$debts[1 Bob1] = ", $debts["Bob"], "<br>";
echo "\$debts[1 Sam1] = ", $debts["Sam"], "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

As you can see in Figure 3-5, this leaves you with

$debts["Jill"] = 2493.77;
$debts["Bob"] = 4930.33;
$debts["Sam"] = 5493.22;

As you can see, the => operator is a useful one. For example, you can put it to work in
case you don't want to fill consecutive values, like this:

$actors = array(1 => "Cary Grant", 5 => "Myrna Loy", 7 => "Lome Green");

This would leave you with

$actors[l] = "Cary Grant";

$actors[5] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [7] = "Lome Green";
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 95

Figure 3-5 Creating arrays using the array function in PHP

Here's one more shortcut: if you have a specific range of data, such as the numbers 1 to 10
or the characters a to z, you can use the PHP range function to create arrays. Here's an example:

$data = ranged, 4) ;

This gives you

$data[0] = 1
$data[l] = 2
$data[2] = 3
$data[3] = 4

Modifying the Data in Arrays

Now that you've seen how to create arrays, how about modifying the data in those arrays?
No worries here—you can modify the values inside an array as easily as you can modify the
value held by a variable.
For example, say that you've created this array:

<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [2] = "Lome Green";
?>

Now say that you wanted to change $actors[2] from "Lome Green" to "Jimmy Stewart”.
No trouble, just do this:

<?php
$actors [0] = "Cary Grant";
96 PHP: The Complete Reference

$actors [1] = "Myrna Loy";

$actors[2] =4 "Lome Green";

$actors[2] = "Jimmy Stewart";

?>

Now say you wanted to add a new actor, "Julie Andrews" to this list. No problem, you
could just do this in phpmodify.php:
V ' ‘
<html>
<head>
<title> \
Modifying arrays
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Modifying arrays
</hl>
<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy" ;
$actors[2] = "Lome Green";

$actors[2] = "Jimmy Stewart";

$actors [] = "Julie Andrews";

echo "\$actors[0] = ", $actors[0] , "<br>"

echo "\$actors[l] = ", $actors[1] , "<br>"
echo "\$actors[2] = ", $actors [2], "<br>"
echo "\$actors[3] = ", $actors [3] , "<br>"
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 3-6, where you've been able to successfully modify the
values in the array.
You can copy entire arrays with a single assignment statement—for example, you might
copy the array Sactors over to a new array named $creative_staff like this—note that you
refer to the array with its name alone, no square brackets needed:

<?php
$actors [0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors [1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [2] = "Lome Green" ;

$actors [2] = "Jimmy Stewart";

$actors [] Julie Andrews";

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 97

Figure 3-6 Modifying arrays in PHP

echo "\$actors[0] ", $actors[0], "<br>";

echo "\$actors[1] ", $actors[1], "<br>";
echo "\$actors[2] ", $actors[2], "<br>";
echo "\$actors[3] ", $actors[3], "<br>";

$creative_staff = $actors;

echo $creative_staff[1] ;
?>

At the end of this script, then, the statement echo $creative_staff[l]; will display "Myma
Loy". Not bad.

Deleting Array Elements

You can delete the elements in arrays if you do it right. You might be tempted to do something
like this, just setting an array element to an empty string:

<?php
$actors [0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [2] = "Lome Green";

II II .
$actors[1] =
?>
98 PHP: The Complete Reference

But that doesn't delete the element—it just sets it to an empty string, so if you display
the array elements:

<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors[2] = "Lome Green";

$actors[1] = "";

echo "\$actors[0] = ", $actors[0], "<br>";

echo "\$actors[l] = ", $actors [1] , "<br>";
echo "\$actors[2] = ", $actors[2], "<br>";
?>

you'll get this display:

$actors[0] = Cary Grant

$actors[1] =
$actors [2] = Lome Green

So how do you actually remove an element from an array? You use the unset function
like this in phpunset.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Deleting an array element
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Deleting an array element
</hl>
<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors[2] = "Lome Green";

unset($actors[1]);

echo "\$actors[0] = ", $actors[0], "<br>";

echo "\$actors[l] = ", $actors [1] , "<br>";
echo "\$actors[2] = ", $actors [2], "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 3-7.

Note in particular that you get a warning here because $actors[l] is undefined:

PHP Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ch03\phpunset.php on line 19

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 99

Figure 3-7 Deleting an array element in PHP

Handling Arrays with Loops

As already mentioned, arrays and loops are a natural combination—arrays are indexed
using an array index, and loops use a loop counter—by using the loop counter as the array
index, you can increment through an entire array in a few lines. For example, you might
store student scores in an array and want to find the average score—and loops provide a
great way of looping over the entire array, letting you add all the scores together and then
dividing by the total number of elements to find the average score.

The for Loop

A handy function that you can use when using loops with arrays is the count function. This
function returns the number of elements in an array, and that's useful when you want to set,
say, the number of times to loop in a for loop like this, in phparrayfor.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using a for loop to loop over an array
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using a for loop to loop over an array
</hl>
<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [2] = "Lome Green";
100 PHP: The Complete Reference

for ($loop index = 0; $loop index < count($actors); $loop_index++){

echo "\$astors[$loop_index] = ", $actors[$loop_index], "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 3-8. As you see, the for loop looped over all the
elements in the array. Beautiful.

The print_r Function

In fact, there's a simple function for displaying the contents of an array—the print_r function:

print_r ($array [, bool return])

For example, if you wanted to print out the $actors array, you could use print_r like this:

<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[l] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors[2] = "Lome Green";

print_r($actors);
?>

This function uses newlines to print, not HTML <br> elements, so run this at the command
line to give

%php phpprint_r.php
Array
(
[0] => Cary Grant
[1] => Myrna Loy
[2] => Lome Green
)

Figure 3-8 Looping over an array element in PHP

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 101

Note that this gives you the result in key => value form. Try this one:

<?php
$debts["Jill"] = 2493.77;
$debts["Bob"] = 4930.33;
$debts["Sam"] = 5493.22;

print_r ($del»ts) ;
?>

Running this new version shows how print_r gives you key /value pairs:

%php phpprint_r.php
Array
(
[Jill] => 2493.77
[Bob] => 4930.33
[Sam] => 5493.22

You can also pass a value of true to the print_r function to make it return its text as a
string, which you can assign to a variable:

$output = print_r($debts, true);

The foreach Loop

The foreach loop is designed to work with collections such as arrays, and it's a handy one
because you don't have to set up initialization and termination conditions, as you do with
for loops. Here's how to use the foreach loop formally:

foreach (array as $value) statement

foreach (array as $key => $value) statement

This next example, phpforeachl.php, puts the foreach loop to work, looping over the
Sactors array like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using a foreach loop to loop over an array
</title>
</head.>
<body>
<hl>
Using a foreach loop to loop over an array
</hl>
<?php
$actors[0] = "Cary Grant";
$actors[1] = "Myrna Loy";
$actors [2] = "Lome Green";
102 PHP: The Complete Reference

foreach ($actors as $value) {

echo "Value: $value <br>";
} ?>
</body>
</html>

The foreach loop here fills the variable $value with a new element from the $actors array
each time through. You can see the results in Figure 3-9.
You can use the second form of the foreach loop—the version that lets you work with
keys as well as values—in an example named phpforeach2.php. That looks like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using a foreach loop with keys and values in an array
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using a foreach loop with keys and values in an array
</hl>
<?php
$debts["Jill"] = 2493.77;
$debts["Bob"] = 4930.33;
$debts["Sam"] = 5493.22;

foreach ($debts as $key => $value) {

echo "Key: $key; Value: $value <br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 3-10.

Figure 3-9 Using the foreach loop on an arrays in PHP

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 103

Figure 3-10 Using the foreach loop with keys and values on an array in PHP

The while Loop

You can use a while loop to iterate over an array in PHP as well, if you use a new function, each.
The each function is meant to be used in loops over collections like arrays; each time through
the array, it returns the current element's key and value. To handle a multiple-item return value
from the each function, you can use the PHP list function, which will assign the two return
values from each to separate variables. Here's what it looks like in phparraywhile.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using a while loop with keys and values in an array
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using a while loop with keys and values in an array
</hl>
<?php
$debts["Jill"] = 2493.77;
$debts["Bob"] = 4930.33;
$debts["Sam"] = 5493.22;

while (list($key, $value) = each ($debts)) {

echo "Key: $key; Value: $value <br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

The results appear in Figure 3-11.

104 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 3-11 Using the while loop with keys and values on an array in PHP

The PHP Array Functions

PHP has a great deal of support for working with arrays built in. There are many string
functions built into PHP—and there are plenty of array functions as well. You can see them
in Table 3-2.

Function Does This

array_change_key_case Returns an array with all string keys converted to lowercase or
uppercase

array chunk Splits an array into chunks

array_combine Creates an array by using one array for the keys and another for
the values

array count values Counts the values in an array

array diff assoc Computes the difference of two arrays with additional index check

array_diff_uassoc Computes the difference of two arrays with additional index check,
performed by a user-supplied callback function
array diff Computes the difference of arrays
array fill Fills an array with values
array filter Filters elements of an array using a callback function
array flip Exchanges all keys with their associated values in an array
array intersect assoc Computes the intersection of arrays with additional index check
arrayjntersect Computes the intersection of arrays

Table 3-2 The Array Functions

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 105

Function Does This

array^ey exists Checks if the given key or index exists in the array
array_keys Returns the keys in an array
array jmap Applies the callback to the elements of the given arrays
array merge recursiye Merges two or more arrays recursively
array merge Merges two or more arrays
array muitisort Sorts multiple or multidimensional arrays
array pad Pads array to the specified length with a value
array_pop Pops the element off the end of array
array push Pushes one or more elements onto the end of array
array rand Picks one or more random elements out of an array
array reduce Reduces the array to a single value with a callback function
array_reverse Returns an array with elements in reverse order
array_search Searches the array for a given value and returns the
corresponding key
array shift Shifts an element off the beginning of an array
array slice Extracts a slice of the array
array splice Removes part of the array and replaces it with something else
array sum Calculates the sum of values in an array
array_udiff_assoc Computes the difference of arrays with an additional index check.
Here, the data is compared by using a callback function
array_udiff_uassoc Computes the difference of arrays with an index check. Here, the
data is compared by using a callback function, and the index check
is also performed by callback function
array udiff Computes the difference between arrays by using a callback function
array unique Removes duplicate elements from an array
array unshift Adds one or more elements to the beginning of an array
array values Returns all the values of an array
array walk Calls a user-supplied function on every member of an array
array Creates an array
arsort Sorts an array in reverse order, preserving index association
asort Sorts an array and maintains index association
compact Creates array containing variables and their values
count Counts the elements in an array
current Returns the current element in an array

Table 3-2 The Array Functions (continued)

106 PHP: The Complete Reference

---■
..■.■
Function Does This .1
each Returns the current key and value pair from an array and advance
the array cursor

end Sets the array pointer to the last element

extract Imports variables into the current symbol table from an array

in array Checks if a value exists in an array t . ,

key Gets a key from an associative array

krsort Sorts an array by key in reverse order

ksort Sorts an array by key

list Assigns variables as if they were an array

natcasesort Sorts an array using a case-insensitive “natural order” algorithm

natsort Sorts an array using a "natural order” algorithm

next Advances the array pointer of an array

pos Alias of the current function

prev Moves the array pointer back on element

range Creates an array containing a range of elements

reset Sets the pointer of an array to its first element

rsort Sorts an array in reverse order

shuffle Shuffles an array’s elements

sizeof Alias of the count function

sort Sorts an array

uasort Sorts an array with a user-defined comparison function,

maintaining indexes

uksort Sorts an array by keys; uses a user-defined comparison function

usort Sorts an array by values; uses a user-defined comparison function

Table 3-2 The Array Functions (continued)

There are many array functions here—a great deal of array power. The rest of the
chapter shows you the kinds of things these functions can do, such as "imploding" and
"exploding" arrays.

Converting Between Strings and Arrays Using implode and explode

The implode function implodes an array into a string, and the explode function explodes a
string into an array. That's useful if you've stored your data in strings in files and want to
convert those strings into array elements when your Web application runs.
Here's an example in which an array is "imploded" into a text string and displayed:
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 107

<?php
$ice_cream[0] = "chocolate";
$ice_cream[1] = "pecan";
$ice_cteam[2] = "strawberry";

$text = implode(", ", $ice_cream);

echo $text;

This gives you

chocolate, pecan, strawberry

As you can see, you specify the string that separates the array items yourself—in this
case, that's ",
How about exploding a string into an array? To do that, you indicate which text you
want to split the string on, such as ",", and pass that to explode. Here's an example:

<?php
$text = "chocolate, pecan, strawberry";
$ice_cream = explode(", ", $text);
print_r($ice_cream);
?>

And here are the results—you exploded the string into an array:

Array
(
[0] => chocolate
[1] => pecan
[2] => strawberry

Extracting Data from Arrays

You can use the extract function to extract data from arrays and store it in variables. Say you
have this array:

<?php
$ice_cream["good"] = "orange";
$ice_cream["better"] = "vanilla";
$ice_cream["best"] = "rum raisin";

Now you can use extract to create variables whose names will be taken from the keys in
the array, and those variables will be assigned the values in the array. Here's how that
works in phpextract.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Extracting variables from arrays
</title>
</head>
108 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
<hl>Extracting variables from arrays</hl>
<?php
$ice_cream["good"] = "orange";
$ice_cream["better"] = "vanilla";
$ice_cream["best"] = "rum raisin";

extract($ice_cream);

echo "\$good = $good<BR>";

echo "\$better = $better<BR>";
echo "\$best = $best<BR>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page at work in Figure 3-12.

In fact, you can also use the list function to extract variables from an array, and you can
name those variables as you like; here's an example:

<?php
$ice_cream[0] = "chocolate";
$ice_cream[1] = "pecan";
$ice_cream[2] = "strawberry";
list($one, $two) = $ice_cream;
echo $one, "<br>";
echo $two;
?>

Here's what you get:

chocolate
pecan

Figure 3-12 Using the extract function with arrays in PHP

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 109

Sorting Arrays
There's a bunch of array sorting power built into PHP, starting with the sort function, which
sorts arrays in ascending order. Here's an example, phpsortarray.php:

<?php
$ice_cream[0] = "orange";
$ice_cream [G.]' = "vanilla";
$ice_cream[2] = "rum raisin";

print_r ($ice_creain) ;

sort($ice_cream);

print_r($ice_cream);
?>

Here is the result of phpsortarray.php:

%php phpsortarray.php
Array
(
[0] => orange
[1] => vanilla
[2] => rum raisin
)
Array
(
[0] => orange
[1] => rum raisin
[2] => vanilla

How about a reverse sort? You can do that with rsort:

<?php
$ice_cream[0] = "orange";
$ice_cream[1] = "vanilla";
$ice_cream[2] = "rum raisin";

print_r($ice_cream);

rsort($ice_cream);

print_r($ice_cream);
?>

which gives you

Array
(
[0] => orange
[1] => vanilla
[2] => rum raisin
)
110 PHP: The Complete Reference

Array
(
[0] => vanilla
[1] => rum raisin
[2] => orange

This doesn't work so well if you're using text string keys in your arrays instead of
numeric index values—the text string keys will just be replaced witf} numbers. Use asort
instead, as in phpasortarray.php:

<?php
$ice_cream["good"] = "orange";
$ice_cream["better"] = "vanilla";
$ice_cream["best"] = "rum raisin";

print_r($ice_cream);

asort($ice_cream);

print_r($ice_cream);
?>

Here's what you get:

%php phpasortarray.php
Array
(
[good] => orange
[better] => vanilla
[best] => rum raisin
)
Array
(
[good] => orange
[best] => rum raisin
[better] => vanilla
)

And you can use arsort to sort arrays in reverse order.

You might ask: what if you wanted to sort an array based on keys, not values? Use ksort
instead. To sort by reverse by keys, use krsort. You can even define your own sorting
operations with a custom sorting function you use with PHP's usort. And natsort performs
"natural" sorts on mixed string/number data. For example, natsort would sort "optionl",
"option2", "optionl5" as "optionl", "option2", "optionl5" (not "optionl", "optionl5",
"option2" which is what you'd get with sort).

Using PHP’s Array Operators

PHP also lets you operate on arrays with operators, which can be very handy. Here are the
array-handling operators:
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays HI

• $a + $b yields the union of $a and $b.

• $a == $b yields TRUE if $a and $b have the same elements.
• ^a =-= $b yields TRUE if $a and $b have the same elements in the same order.
• $a != $b yields TRUE if $a is not equal to $b.
• $a <> $b yields TRUE if $a is not equal to $b.
• $a !== $b yields TRUE if $a is not identical to $b.

Here's an example, phparrayoperators.php, which puts the addition and equality

operators to work:

<?php
$pudding["raspberry"] = 333;
$pudding["peach"] = 222;
$ice_cream["pecan"] = 111;
$ice_cream["chocolate"] = 999;
echo "\$ice_cream: ";
print_r($ice_cream);
echo "\n";
echo "\$pudding: ";
print__r ($pudding) ;
echo "\n";
$desserts = $pudding + $ice_cream;
echo "\$desserts: ";
print_r($desserts);
echo "\n";
if ($pudding == $ice_cream){
echo "\$pudding has the same elements as \$ice_cream";

}
else {
echo "\$pudding does not have the same elements as \$ice_cream";

Here's what you get when you run this code:

%php phparrayoperators.php
$ice_cream: Array
(
[pecan] => 111
[chocolate] => 999

$pudding: Array
(
[raspberry] => 333
[peach] => 222
112 PHP: The Complete Reference

$desserts: Array
(
[raspberry] => 333
[peach] => 222
[pecan] => 111
[chocolate] => 999
)

$pudding does not have the same elements as $ice_creanj ,

Comparing Arrays to Each Other

You can find the difference between two arrays using the array_diff function; here's an
example, phparraydiff.php:

<?php
$ice_cream = array("vanilla", "chocolate", "strawberry");
$ice_cream2 = array("vanilla", "chocolate", "papaya");

$difference = arraydiff($ice_cream, $tice_cream2);

foreach ($difference as $key => $value) {

echo "Key: $key; Value: $value\n";

This example compares two arrays and displays the elements that are different. Here's
what you get in this case:

%php phparraydiff.php
Key: 2; Value: strawberry

If you're using text string keys, use the array_diff_assoc function (arrays with text string
keys are also called associative arrays). If you want to find all the elements that two arrays
have in common, just use array_intersect or array_intersect_assoc.

Handling Multidimensional Arrays

PHP can also work with multidimensional arrays. For example, say that you're keeping
track of student scores on an exam:

$scores["Sam"] = 79;
$scores ["Ellen"] = 69;

Now say that you gave a second exam. You could just add another index—for exam
number—to each student:

<?php
$scores["Sam"][1] = 79;
$scores["Sam"][2] = 74;
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays U3

$scores["Ellen"][1] = 69;
$scores["Ellen"][2] = 84;
print_r($scores);
?> *r- '

At this point, $scores["Sam"][l] is Sam's test score on the first test, $scores["Sam"][2] is
his score on the second test, and so on. This script displays the new, multidimensional array
with print_r, giving ybu this:

[Sam] => Array

(
[1] => 79
[2] => 74
)

[Ellen] => Array

(
[1] => 69
[2] => 84
)

In addition, you can access elements using both indexes, like this:

echo "Sam’s first test score was ", $scores["Sam"][1], "\n";

If you want to interpolate an array item in double quotes, it takes a little more work—
you have to enclose it in curly braces:

echo "Sam’s first test score was {$scores[1 Sam’] [l]}\n";

As you might expect, you can also create multidimensional arrays this way (note that
this will start the arrays off at an index value of 0):

<?php
$scores["Sam"][] = 79;
$scores["Sam"][] = 74;
$scores["Ellen"][] = 69;
$scores["Ellen"][] = 84;
print_r($scores);
?>

You can also think of multidimensional arrays as arrays of arrays. For instance, you can
think of a two-dimensional array as a one-dimensional array (the rows of the two-
dimensional array) of one-dimensional arrays (the columns of the two-dimensional array).
That means that this syntax is legal:

<?php
$scores = array("Sam" => array(79, 74), "Ellen" => array(69, 84));
print_r($scores);
?>
114 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's what you get from this code:

[Sam] => Array

(
[0] => 79
[1] => 74

[Ellen] => Array

(
[0] => 69
[1] => 84

You could even start the array indexes at 1 instead of 0 like this:

<?php
$scores = array("Sam" => array(l => 79, 2 => 74),
"Ellen" => array(l => 69, 2 => 84));
print_r($scores) ;
?>

And here's what you get:

[Sam] => Array

(
[1] => 79
[2] => 74

[Ellen] => Array

(
[1] => 69
[2] => 84
)

Using Multidimensional Arrays in Loops

Working with multidimensional arrays in loops takes a little extra thought. For example,
say that you have a two-dimensional array called $scores, and you want to loop over that
array, displaying each element in it. You could start with a loop over the outer index, which
goes from 0 to 1:

<?php
$ scores [0] [] = 79 ;
$scores [0] [] = 74 ;
$scores [1] [] = 69 ;
$scores [1] [] = 84 ;
for ($outer = 0; $outer < count($scores); $outer++){

}
?>
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 115

Now you can loop over the inner index like this in phpmultiloop.php:

<html>
/ '■
<head>
<title>
Looping over multidimensional arrays
</title>
</head> *

<body>
<hl>
Looping over multidimensional arrays
</hl>
<?php
$scores [0] [] = 79;
$scores [0] [] = 74 ;
$scores [1] [] = 69;
$ scores [1] [] = 84 ;
for ($outer = 0; $outer < c'ount ($scores) ; $outer+ + ) {
for($inner = 0; $inner < count($scores[$outer] ) ; $inner++){
echo "\$scores[$outer] [$inner] = ",
$scores[$outer] [$inner], "<br>";
}
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results, where the two-dimensional array has indeed been looped over.
in Figure 3-13.

Figure 3-13 Looping over a multidimensional array in PHP

116 PHP: The Complete Reference

Moving Through Arrays

PHP supports a number of functions that you can use to move through arrays. Such
navigation is done with an array pointer, which keeps track of your location in the array
between calls to the navigation functions. Say you have this array:

$ice_cream[0] = "chocolate";
$ice_cream[1] = "pecan";
$ice_cream[2] = "strawberry";

You can access the current element in the array with the current function:

echo "Current: ", current($ice_cream), "<BR>";

You can move the array pointer to the next element with the next function:

echo "Next: ", next($ice_cream), "<BR>";

The prev function moves the pointer back to the previous element:

echo "Prev: ", prev($ice_cream), "<BR>";

The end function moves the pointer to the last element in the array:

echo "End: ", end($ice_cream), "<BR>";

If you want to move back to the beginning of the array, use the reset function:

reset($ice_cream);

Here's an example, phpnavigatearray.php, putting these functions to work:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Navigating through arrays
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Navigating through arrays
</hl>
<?php
$ice_cream[0] = "chocolate";
$ice_cream[1] = "pecan";
$ice_cream[2] = "strawberry";

echo "Current element: ", current($ice_cream), "<br>";

echo "Next element: ", next($ice_cream), "<br>";
echo "Previous element: ", prev($ice cream), "<br>";
echo "End element: ", end($ice_cream), "<br>";
echo "Resetting the array...<br>";
 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 117

Figure 3-14 Navigating through an array in PHP

reset($ice cream);
echo "Current element: ", current($ice_cream) , "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results, where you've navigated through the array, in Figure 3-14.

Splitting and Merging Arrays

You can get sections of arrays with the array_slice function, passing it the array you want to
get a section of, the offset at which to start, and the length of the array you want to create.
Here's an example, phparraysplit.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Splitting arrays
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Splitting arrays
</hl>
<?php
$ice_cream["good") = "orange";
$ice_cream["better"] = "vanilla";
$ice cream["best"] = "rum raisin";
$ice_cream["bestest"] = "lime";
$subarray = array_slice($ice_cream, 1, 2);
118 PHP: The Complete Reference

foreach ($subarray as $value) {

echo “$value <br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see what this gives you in Figure 3-15—you've been able to extract a
section of an array. v • >
You can also merge arrays with the arrayjmerge function, like this in phpmergearrays.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Merging arrays
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Merging arrays
</hl>
<?php
$pudding = array("vanilla", "rum raisin", "orange");
$ice_cream = array("chocolate", "pecan", "strawberry");

$desserts = arrayjmerge($pudding, $ice cream);

foreach ($desserts as $value) {

echo "$value <br>";

Figure 3-15 Getting a section of an array in PHP

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 119

Figure 3-16 Merging arrays in PHP

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 3-16, where the two arrays have been merged.

Other Array Functions

There are a couple of other array functions we'll take a look at as well, such as the array_
sum function, which sums the numeric elements in an array. For example, here's how to
find the average score of a set of students:

<?php
$scores = array(65, 61, 70, 64, 65);

echo "The average score is ", array_sum($scores) / count($scores);

?>

Here's what you see:

The average score is 65

In addition, the array_flip function will flip an array's keys and values. You can see that
at work in phparrayflip.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Flipping keys and values in arrays
</title>
</head>
120 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
<hl>
Flipping keys and values in arrays
</hl>
<?php
$ice cream = array (" flavor__l" => "vanilla", "flavor_2" => "rum raisin",
"flavor_3" => "orange");

foreach ($ice_cream as $key => $value) { ^ . t

echo "Key: $key; Value: $value<br>";

} :
echo "<br>";

$ice_cream = array_flip($ice_cream);

foreach ($ice_cream as $key => $value) {

echo "Key: $key; Value: $value<br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 3-17.

Finally, the array_unique function will eliminate duplicates from an array. Take a look at
this example, phparrayunique.php:

<?php
$scores = array(65, 61, 70, 64, 65);
print_r($scores);
$scores = array_unique($scores);
printer ($score.s) ;
?>

Figure 3-17 Flipping arrays in PHP

 Chapter 3: Strings and Arrays 121

Here's what you get when you run this script:

%php phparrayunique.php
Array / r'
(
[0] => 65
[1] => 61
[2] => 70 ,
[3] => 64
[4] => 65
)
Array
(
[0] => 65
[1] => 61
[2] => 70
[3] => 64

As you can see, the duplicate array element has been removed.
 *s

.
 !H*i»iiaaiJ«H88a»«88S8ggai838^lttM]IMIIirj»MliMfc8aa8aS»8388%88£8gil8i«
CHAPTER
Creating Functions
I t s time to take the next step in programming power, and that means creating your own
functions. You've seen many built-in PHP functions already—functions are those
callable sections of code that you can pass data to, and that can return data to you.
Functions let you break your code up, following that old programming dictum: Divide
and Conquer. Got some code that needs to be run multiple times in your application? Put it
into a function. Got some code that shouldn't be run automatically when the page loads
(as all the code up to now has)? Put it into a function. Got code that's just getting too long to
effectively debug and maintain? Put it in a function.
By putting code into a function, you get it out of the way—out of sight, out of mind is
the idea. You pass data to that function, and the function can pass data back to you. You
may have seen functions in other languages, but as you're going to see, PHP functions
support many unique features.
Restricting code to functions breaks up your code in an especially useful way: the
variables you use inside a function are, by default, not visible outside that function. That
means you don't have to worry about conflicts with variables names; using a $account
variable in two different parts of your code may conflict, but not if you wrap code inside
a function.
Using functions is only the beginning of dividing up your code—using object-oriented
programming is going to let you wrap both functions and data into classes and objects. That
is, functions were vital to letting programmers section their code, but in time, developers'
needs outgrew simple functions, and combining functions and data into objects was the
next step. It all starts with functions, however, and that's coming up now.

tlll(i|<WIIWililiiiriliiiWiii>*i»>iiiiwiiiii[iiiiMi<^Miwiiiiiii«M><iiWMWliiiiiiiiiiiin»i'Wi][iiii 'inn<M»«»iir»oil—■woiiiiiiinTi¥'ii »i—r »iiiii^iii>w>iiti«>>r~ri^iV8iwww«iawrirrirrii^irii>^i>mvrrrirwiiTir~r~iniiiw>nirrinmrrir^iim:irr":iinw»ri~nrrrriiiiM'~HTwirMWMW'y~iirnrriipiitrT««t*WMrri~'irrrriit~nT~-iTt*'MM«inir~ii[ri~'iiM~ ima&mmsf X*

Creating Functions in PHP

How do you build functions in PHP? That's easy enough—here's how you do that,
formally speaking:

function function_name([argument_list...] )
{
[statements]
[return return_value;]

123
124 PHP: The Complete Reference

Time for an example. You might create a function named display that displays some text
in the browser in an example named phpdisplay.php. You might have phpdisplay.php
display some text indicating it's about to call the function:

<?php
echo "About to call the function...<br>";
echo "Calling the function...<br>";

?>

Next, add the code for the display function; that looks like this:

<?php
echo "About to call the function...<br>";
echo "Calling the function ...<br>";

function display()

{
echo "This text was displayed by the function.";

}
?>

There are a couple of things to note here. First, the code inside a PHP function isn't
executed until that function is called. That's different from the scripts you've seen up to
now—if you simply place code in a script, outside a function, that code is executed when
the page loads.
Note also the syntax of the function definition; that definition starts with the keyword
function, followed by the name of the function, which is followed by parentheses (empty at
this point, because you're not passing any data to the function). The body of the function—
that is, the statements that will be executed when the function is called—are enclosed in
curly braces.
Alright, that creates the function; how do you call it? You can call the display function
as you'd call it in any other programming language—by using its name as a statement,
followed by parentheses (empty parentheses in this example, because you're not passing
any data to the display function):

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Creating functions
</hl>
<?php
echo "About to call the function...<br>";
echo "Calling the function...<br>";
display();
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 125

Figure 4-1 Calling the display function

function display()

{
echo "This text was displayed by the function.";

}
?>

</body>
</html>

You can see this example at work in Figure 4-1—note that the display function was
called and did its thing, displaying text. Not bad.

Passing Functions Some Data

Flow do you pass data to functions so those functions can operate on that data? As in other
languages, that's what the argumentJist part of the function syntax is about:

function function_name([argument_list...] )
{
[statements]
[return return_value;]

Here's an example, phppassdata.php. Say you wanted to pass the text data to the
display function that the function should display. You can do that by adding a function
argument to the argument list, like this in the display function:

function display($greeting)

}
126 PHP: The Complete Reference

Now you can refer to the passed data by name, Sgreeting, like this in the display
function's code:

function display($greeting)

{
echo $greeting;
}

That's how to let a function accept passed data—you list the napae you want to give to the
passed data in the function's argument list, and then you can refer to that data in the code
for the function.
You pass data to a function by placing that data inside the parentheses that follow the
function's name when you call that function. For example, if you wanted to pass the text
"Hello!" to the display function to make that function display that text, you could do so
like this:

display("Hello!");

function display($greeting)
{
echo $greeting;

Now when the display function is called like this, the Sgreeting argument—also called a
parameter—is assigned the value "Hello!”, when the line echo Sgreeting is executed, "Hello!"
will appear in the browser.
What if you wanted to pass two data items to a function? You can list them in the
argument list of the function, separated by commas. For example, to make the display
function accept two arguments, you simply list them by name, say Sgreeting and Smessage:

function display($greeting, $message)

{
echo $greeting;
}

Now you can refer to Sgreeting and Smessage by name in your function's code:

function display($greeting, $message)

{
echo $greeting;
echo $message;
}

When you call the display function, you list the arguments you want to pass to that
function, separated by commas like this in phppassdata.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 127

Figure 4-2 Passing data to functions

Passing data to functions

</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Passing data to functions
</hl>
<?php
echo "About to call the function..,<br>";
echo "Passing data to the function...<br>";
display("Hello", " there!");

function display($greeting, $raessage)

{
echo $greeting;
echo $message;

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 4-2, where the data has indeed been passed to the
display function.

Passing Arrays to Functions

You can also pass arrays to functions as easily as simple data items like strings or numbers.
For example, you might want a function that averages a set of students' test scores and
displays that average, called averager. And you might want to pass an array to the
averager function.
128 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's what the test scores array might look like:

<?php
$scores = array(65, 32, 78, 98, 66);

?>

^ • ‘

And here's how you might pass the Sscores array to the averager function:

<?php
$scores = array(65, 32, 78, 98, 66);

averager($scores);

?>

In the averager function, you specify the name of the array, which we'll call simply
$array here:

<?php
$scores = array(65, 32, 78, 98, 66);

averager($scores);

function averager($array)
{
}
?>

In the averager function, you can use a foreach statement to loop over the array:

<?php
$SCores = array(65, 32, 78, 98, 66);

averager($scores);

function averager($array)
{
foreach ($array as $value) {

}
}
?>
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 129

Then you might add up all the elements in the array in a variable named $total:

<?php
$scofes = array(65, 32, 78, 98, 66);

averager($scores);

i • *

function averager($array)
{
$total =0;
foreach ($array as $value) {
$total += $value;
}
}
?>

And finally, you can determine the average value of the array elements and display it in
phppassarray. php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Passing arrays to functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Passing arrays to functions
</hl>
<?php
$scores = array(65, 32, 78, 98, 66);
averager($scores);

function averager($array)

{
$total = 0;
foreach ($array as $value) {
$total += $value;

if(count($array) > 0){

echo "The average was ", $total/count($array);
} else {
echo "No elements to average!";

}
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the result—the average was 67.8, as you see in Figure 4-3.
130 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 4-3 Passing arrays to functions

Passing by Reference
When you pass data to a function, what's really passed is a copy of that data. So, for
example, if you pass a variable, a copy is made of that variable, and that copy is actually
passed to the function.
What if you wanted to actually pass the real thing to the function? Say for example that
you wanted a function to alter the value in a variable? For example, say that you had a
variable $value:

<?php
$value = 4;

?>

and you wanted a function to square the value in Svalue. You might try that by passing
Svalue to a function named, say, squarer, which squares the number passed to it:

function squarer($number)
{
$number *= $number;
}

However, that's not going to work, because the arguments passed to the squarer
function are passed by value. You can change that by prefacing the argument you want
passed by reference with an ampersand (&)—which will make PHP pass that argument
by reference. When you pass an argument by reference, that gives the code in the function
direct access to that argument back in the calling code, so to square the value in $value.
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 131

all you have to do is to preface the argument with & in the argument list like this in
phpreference.php:

<head>
<title>
Passing data to functions by reference
</title> ,,,
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Passing data to functions by reference
</hl>
<?php
$value = 4;

echo "Before the call, \$value holds $value <br>";

squarer($value);
echo "After the call, \$value holds $value <br>";

function squarer(&$number)
{
$number *= $nuraber;
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 4-4, where, as you can see, the data in $value back
in the calling code was squared. Very cool.

Figure 4-4 Passing data to functions by reference

132 PHP: The Complete Reference

Using Default Arguments

What happens if you have a function named display that takes two arguments like this:

function display($greeting, $message)

{
echo $greeting;
echo $message;

and call it like this, with one argument:

v

display("No worries");

PHP isn't going to like that; here's the kind of warning you get:

PHP Warning: Missing argument 2 for display() in phpdisplay.php on line 5

On the other hand, you can fix this problem by supplying a default argument here.
Here's the way it works: you add the default argument in the argument list, using an
equal sign, as you see here:

function display($greeting, $message = "Hello there!")

{
echo $greeting;
echo $message;

}
Now if you don't pass anything for the second argument to the display function, the
default argument is automatically used. Here's the way you might call the display function
in an example, phpdefaultarguments.php

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using default function arguments
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using default function arguments
</hl>
<?php
echo "About to call the function...<br>";
echo "Passing data to the function...<br>";
display("The default argument is: ");

function display($greeting, $message = "Hello there!")

{
echo $greeting;
echo $message;
}
?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 133

Figure 4-5 Using default arguments

And you can see the result in Figure 4-5, where the default argument was indeed used.
Want to provide multiple default arguments? No problem:

function display($greeting, $message = "Hello there!", $message2 = "No worries.")

{
echo $greeting;
echo $message;
echo $message2;

You can give default values to more than one argument, but once you start assigning
default values, you have to give them to all arguments that follow as well so that PHP won't
get confused if more than one argument is missing.

Passing Variable Numbers of Arguments

While discussing passing arguments to functions, it's worth noting that you can set up
functions so that they can take a variable number of arguments. In other words, say you
have a function named connector, which connects words into a text string. You could call it
like this:

connector("Hello");

or like this:

connector("Hello", "there");

or like this:

connector("Hello", "there", "again");

134 PHP: The Complete Reference

How do you handle variable number of arguments like this in a function? You can
handle them with these functions:

• func_num_args Returns the number of arguments passed

• func_get_arg Returns a single argument
• func_get_args Returns all arguments in an array

For example, here's how you start the connector function—by getting an array of the
arguments passed to the function:

function connector()

{
$arguments = func_get_args();

Then you can loop over the arguments like this—note that you can get the number of
arguments from the func_num_args function:

function connector()

{
$data = "";
$arguments = func_get_args();

for ($loop_index = 0; $loop_index < func num_args(); $loop_index++) {

$data .= $arguments[$loop_index] . 11 ";

}
echo $data;

Note that the final, resulting string is echoed. Here's how you might put the connector
function to work in an example, phpvariableargs.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Passing variable arguments to functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Passing variable arguments to functions
</hl>
<?php
echo "Passing ’How1 'are1 'things?' to connector...<br>";
echo "Getting this result:
connector("How", "are", "things?");
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 135
/

Figure 4-6 Passing a variable number of arguments to functions

function connector()

{
$data = "";
$arguments = func_get_args();

for ($loop_index = 0; $loop_index < func_num_args() ; $loop_index+ + ) {

$data .= $arguments[$loop_index] . "

}
echo $data;

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 4-6, where the connector function was able to handle
the arguments passed to it.
Now say that you didn't want the connector function to display the connected string,
but wanted to have that string returned to your code so that you could put it to work
yourself. That's a very common thing for functions to do—return values that give you their
results. And it's coming up next.

Returning Data from Functions

Say you've got a simple function named adder that returns the sum of the two numbers
passed to it. You might start writing adder like this:

<?php
function adder(operand_l, operand_2)

{
$sum = $operand_l + $operand_2;
136 PHP: The Complete Reference

}
?>

Now that you've got the sum in the variable named $sum, how do you return that value
to the calling code? You can use the PHP return statement:
v ‘ ‘
<?php
function adder(operand_l, operand_2) •

{
$sutn = $operand_l + $operand_2;

return $sum;

?>

This returns the value in $sum to the calling code. Here's how you can put adder to
work—the expression adder($value_l, $value_2) here is replaced by the value returned by
the adder function, which is 5:

<?php
$value_l = 2;
$value_2 = 3;

echo "The sum of $value_l + $value_2 is ", adder($value_l, $value_2);

function adder(operand_l, operand_2)

{
$sum = $operand_l + $operand_2;

return $sum;

?>

This script produces

The sum of 2 + 3 is 5

Here's another example using the connector function from the preceding topic. You just
have to modify the connector function to return its data like this in phpreturndata.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Returning values from functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Returning values from functions
</hl>
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 137
/

Figure 4-7 Returning data from functions

<?php
echo "Passing 'How' 'are' 'things?1 to connector...<br>";
echo "Getting this result: ", connector("How", "are", "things?");

function connector()

{
$data = "" ;
$arguments = func_get_args();

for ($loop_index = 0; $loop_index < func_num_args(); $loop_index++) {

$data .= $arguments[$loop_index] . "

}
return $data;

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 4-7, where the connector function returned its result
string, which was then displayed by the calling code.
That's how to return simple values like strings from functions. How about arrays?
Coming up next.

Returning Arrays
You can return arrays from functions as easily as you return simple values. Say you have a
function, create_array, that creates arrays of the length you specify by passing a number to
the create_array function. This function stores 0 in the zeroth element, 1 in the first element,
2 in the second element, and so on.
138 PHP: The Complete Reference

So if you passed a 3 to create_array, you should get the array [0,1, 2] back. If you passed
a 4, you should get [0,1, 2, 3] back, and so on. Here's how you start the create_array
function:

function create_array ($nuniber)

Here's how you can create the array, $array, to return from this function:

function create_array($number)

{
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < $number; $loop_counter++){
$array[] = $loop_counter;

That creates the array named $array. Now you can return it from the create_array
function just as you would return any simple value—with the return statement:

function create_array($number)

{
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < $number; $loop_counter++){
$array[] = $loop_counter;
}

return $array;

Here's how you can put the create_array function to work in an example named
phpreturnarray.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Returning arrays from functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Returning arrays from functions
</hl>
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 139

Figure 4-8 Returning arrays from functions

<?php
$data = create array(3);
echo "Here's the first array:<br>";
print_r($data);
echo "<br>";

$data 2 = create array(4);

echo "Here's the second array:<br>";
printr($data 2);

function create_array($number)

{
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < $number; $loop_counter++){
$array[] = $loop_counter;

return $array;

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 4-8, where the create_array function created the array it
was asked to create and returned it. Very nice.

Returning Lists
You may recall the list function from Chapter 3, which converted arrays into lists of
variables. That's the key to letting your functions return multiple values as well.
140 PHP: The Complete Reference

Normally, functions can only return single values, but if you return an array and
handle that array as a list in the calling code, you'll find that you can return as many
values as you like from PHP functions. For example, say that you wanted to convert the
create_array function from the preceding topic into a function create_list:

function create list($number)

{
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < $number; $loop_counter++)(
$array[] = $loop_counter; '

} ;
return $array;

Now you can handle the returned array as a list in the calling code in phpreturnlist.php
like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Returning lists from functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Returning lists from functions
</hl>
<?php
list($first, $second, $third) = createlist(3);
echo "Here's the first list:<br>";
echo "$first, $second, $third<br>";

list($first, $second, $third, $fourth) = createlist (4);

echo "Here's the second list:<br>";
echo "$first, $second, $third, $fourth<br>";

function create_list($number)

{
for ($loop_counter = 0; $loop_counter < $number; $loop_counter++){
$array[] = $loop_counter;

return $array;

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 4-9, where the create_list function returned an array
that was properly handled as a list. Cool.
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 141

Figure 4-9 Returning lists from functions

Returning References
Functions can also return references in PHP. That's not something you're going to do all the
time, so feel free to move on to the next topic if you want. But if you want the complete
story, keep reading.
References are interesting items in PHP. For example, say that you had a variable named
$value; you could get a reference to that variable with the reference operator, &:

$value = 4;
$ref = & $value;

Now $ref is a reference to $value, and it will point to the same data in memory as
$value—changing one changes the other:

$value = 4;
$ref = & $value;
$ref = 6;

Now $value will hold 6.

Let's take a look at passing and returning a reference to and from a function, return^
reference. First, let's create the function return_reference:

function &return_reference(& $ref)

{
return $ref;

Note that this function takes a reference as its argument, as the & in the argument list indicates.
And it also returns a reference, as is indicated by the & in front of the function's name.
142 PHP: The Complete Reference

So you pass the return_reference function a reference to a variable, and it returns the
same reference. Now let's pass a reference to a variable to the retum_reference function, and
get that reference back:

<?php
$value = 4;
echo "Current value: ", $value, "\n";

$re£ = &return_reference($value); . ,

Then you might increment the reference $ref:

<?php
$value = 4;
echo "Current value: ", $value, "\n";

$ref = &return_reference($value);

$ref++;

And you can confirm that the original variable was incremented like this in
phpreturnreference.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Returning references from functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Returning references from functions
</hl>
<?php
$value = 4;
echo "Current value: ", $value, "\n";

$ref = &return_reference($value);

$ref++;

echo "New value: ", $value, "\n";

function &return_reference(& $ref)

{
return $ref;
}
?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 143

Figure 4-10 Returning references from functions

You can see the results in Figure 4-10, where the reference was created and passed to the
retum_reference function, which returned the same reference. And then that reference was
used to increment the variable it points to.

...
.....IB
f|-rr--i----Bonr-"riiarT-it-trii-n-]irii>ir-irMnMTror-|-[i-inir-rmn»iini.iT.ini] ■ . _

Introducing Variable Scope in PHP

Part of the whole idea behind using functions is that you can wrap your variables up in a
function, hiding them from the rest of your code. Doing so makes your whole application
easier to write, because you don't need to worry about conflict between variables.
Flere's an example showing how variables of the same name don't conflict with each
other inside functions and out. This example uses two variables named $value, one outside
any function, and the other inside a function named scoper. As you're going to see, those
variables are independent of each other.
This example starts by creating $value and setting it to 4, and then echoing that value in
the browser:

<?php
$value =4;

echo "In the calling code, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

Next, it calls the scoper function, which also has a variable named $value, which is set
to 8000000, and echoes that variable from inside the function. Then it goes back to script
144 PHP: The Complete Reference

scope again and echoes the script-level $value again—which is still 4. You can see it all in
phpscope.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Handling scope in functions
</title>
</head> * • »
<body>
<hl> f
Handling scope in functions
</hl>
<?php
$value = 4;

echo "In the calling code, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

scoper();

echo "In the calling code again, \$value still = ", $value, "<br>";

function scoper()

{
$value = 8000000;
echo "In the function, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 4-11, where you can see the scope of the $value variable
both inside and outside the scoper function.

Figure 4-11 Function scope

 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 145

Accessing Global Data

What ifyou actually wanted to access data outside a function from code inside a function?
For example, say that in the function scoper, you really did want to access the script-level
variable named $value, not just the local version of that variable:

<?php
$value = 4;

function scoper()

{
$value = 8000000;
echo "In the function, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

}
?>

How would you do that? In PHP, script-level data is called global data, and you can
access that data from inside a function with the global keyword. You can see how this
works in a new example, phpglobalscope.php, which modifies the preceding example to
also call a function named global_scoper:

<?php
$value = 4 ;

echo "In the calling code, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

scoper();
global scoper ();

echo "In the calling code again, \$value still = ", $value, "<br>";

function scoper()

{
$value = 8000000;
echo "In the scoper function, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

function global scoper()

}
?>

To access the global variable $value from inside global_scoper, you can declare that
variable using the global keyword:

<?php
$value = 4;
146 PHP: The Complete Reference

echo "In the calling code, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

scoper();
global_scoper();

echo "In the calling code again, \$value still = ", $value, "<br>";

function scoper()

{ $value = 8000000;
echo "In the scoper function, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

function global_scoper()

{
global $value;

}
?>

Now you can echo the $value variable inside the global_scoper function to verify that
you're really dealing with the global $value variable like this in phpglobaldata.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Handling local and global scope in functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Handling local and global scope in functions
</hl>
<?php
$value = 4;

echo "In the calling code, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

scoper();
global_scoper();

echo "In the calling code again, \$value still = ", $value, "<br>";

function scoper()

{
$value = 8000000;
echo "In the scoper function, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

}
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 147

Figure 4-12 Local and global scope

function global_scoper()
{
global $value,-
echo "In the global scoper function, \$value = ", $value, "<br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 4-12, where you can see you can indeed access global
data from inside a function if you use the global keyword.

Working with Static Variables

One issue with functions is that the variables inside them are reset every time you call
them—that is, those variables' values aren't preserved between function calls. That's a
problem if you want those variables to retain their values.
For example, say that you wanted to keep track of the number of times a function has
been called with a variable named Scounter. You might try that something like this in
phpcounter.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Keeping a count of function calls
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Keeping a count of function calls
</hl>
148 PHP: The Complete Reference

php
count is: ii count function(), "<br>";
echo "Now the /
echo "Now the count is: / count function(), "<br:>";
"Now the count is: ii count function(), "<br>";
echo /
"Now the count is: ii countfunction(), "<br>";
echo #
"Now the count is: ii count function(), "<br>";
echo §

function count_function()

{
$counter = 0;
$counter++;
return $counter;

}
?>
</body>
</html>

But you get the results shown in Figure 4-13, where the count is always 1. That's
because $counter is reset to 0 every time you call the count_function.
How do you fix this?
There are two easy ways to fix this issue. First, you can make $counter a global variable,
and access it as such in the count_function like this:

<?php
{counter =: 0;
echo "Now the count is : n count functionO, "<br>";
ii
echo "Now the count is : count functionO, "<br>";
ti
echo "Now the count is : count functionO, "<br>";
ii
echo "Now the count is : / count functionO, "<br>";
ii
echo "Now the count is : / count functionO, " <br>";

Figure 4-13 Problems with function variables

 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 149

function count_function()
{
global $counter;
* '-$counter++ ;
return $counter;

}
?>

i - *
That works, and you get:

Now the count is: 1

Now the count is: 2
Now the count is: 3
Now the count is: 4
Now the count is: 5

There's another way as well, and it doesn't compromise by insisting you use global
variables. You can also declare the $counter variable in the counter_function as static, which
means that it will preserve its value between function calls. Here's how you do that with the
static keyword:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Keeping a count of function calls
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl >
Keeping a count of function calls
</hl>
<?php
count is : n count_ function() , "<br>";
echo "Now the /
count is : ii count _function(), "<br>";
echo "Now the !

count is : II count function(), "<br>";

echo "Now the /
count is : II count_ function(), "<br>";
echo "Now the !

count is : II count_ function(), "<br>";

echo "Now the /

function count function )

{
static $counter = 0;
$counter++;
return $counter;

}
?>
</body>
</html>

Now you can see the results in Figure 4-14—as you see there, the static keyword did the
trick, because the number of times the function was called is indeed reported correctly.
150 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 4-14 Keeping count of function calls

PHP Conditional Functions

PHP is an interpreted language, which means that code isn't accessible until it's actually
handled by the interpreter. That's not a problem with normal functions, but you can define
functions in conditional statements like if statements—and your function doesn't exist, as
far as PHP is concerned, until the code defining it is executed.
Here's an example. You might have a normal function like this:

<?php
echo "normal_function() is ready to go as soon as the script starts.<br>";

normal_function();

function normal_function()
{
echo "Hello from the normal function.<br>";
}

This code will call and execute normal_function as soon as the page loads, and there's
no problem with that. However, now say that you have another function, conditional,
function, whose code is inside an if statement. That function isn't available until the code
inside the if statement is executed, so you're going to have problems calling conditional,
function before the if statement is run, as here:

<?php
echo "normal_function() is ready to go as soon as the script starts.<br>";

normal_function();
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 151

Figure 4-15 Trying to call a function before it exists

$create_function = TRUE;

echo "conditional function() is not ready until the if statement

echo "executes.<br>";

conditionalfunction();

if ($create_function) {
function conditionalfunction()

{
echo "Hello from the conditional function.<br>";

}
}
function normal_function()

{
echo "Hello from the normal function.<br>";

You can see the results in Figure 4-15—as you see, the conditional_function doesn't exist
before the if statement containing it executes, and you get a fatal error.
So let's change this to make sure that conditional_function is called only after it exists,
which you can keep track of with a variable named $function_created:

<?php
echo "normal function() is ready to go as soon as the script starts.<br>";

normal function();
152 PHP: The Complete Reference

$create_function = TRUE;

echo "conditional_function() is not ready until the if statement

echo "executes.<br>";

$function_created = FALSE;

if ($create_function) {
function conditional function() , .

{
echo "Hello from the conditional function.<br>";

}
$function_created = TRUE;

}
function normal_function()
{
echo "Hello from the normal function.<br>";
}

And you can call conditional_function after it has been created, like this in
phpconditionalfunction.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating conditional functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Creating conditional functions
</hl>
<?php
echo "normal_function() is ready to go as soon as the script starts.<br>"

normal_function();

$create_function = TRUE;

echo "conditional_function() is not ready until the if statement ";

echo "executes.<br>";

$function_created = FALSE;

if ($create_function) {
function conditional_function()
{
echo "Hello from the conditional function.<br>";
}
$function_created = TRUE;
}
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 153

Figure 4-16 Executing a conditional function

if ($function created){
conditional_function();

}
function normal_function()
{
echo "Hello from the normal function.<br>" ;
}
?>
</body>
</html>

Now you can see the results in Figure 4-16—as you see there, the conditional function
was accessible after the if statement was executed. Cool.

PHP Variable Functions

You may recall that in PHP variable variables, you only had to load the name of a variable
into another variable to be able to access the first variable. Well, you can do the same thing
with functions in PHP—assign a variable the name of a function, and then treat that
variable as though it's the name of a function.
Here's an example, phpvariablefunctions.php. This example starts with three functions,
red, white, and blue:

<?php
function red()
{
echo "In red() now.<br>";
}
154 PHP: The Complete Reference

function white($argument)
{
echo "$argument <br>";
}

function blue($argument)
{
echo "$argument <br>";
}
?>
v ' ‘

Now you can assign the name of the red function to a variable that we'll call Sfunction
variable in this example—and then you can treat $function_variable' as though it is the
name of a function, and call it like this:

<?php
$function_variable = "red";
$function_variable();

function red()
{
echo "In red() now.<br>";
}
function white($argument)
{
echo "$argument <br>";
}
function blue($argument)
{
echo "$argument <br>";
}
?>

Similarly, you can use the same technique to call the white and blue functions (note that
the functions called this way can have different argument lists):

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating variable functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Creating variable functions
</hl>
<?php
$function_variable = "red";
$function_variable();
 \

Chapter 4: Creating Functions 155

Figure 4-17 Executing variable functions

$function_variable = "white";
$function_variable("In whiteO now.");

$function_variable = "blue";
$function_variable("In blue() now.");

function red()
{
echo "In red() now.<br>";
}

function white($argument)
{
echo "$argument <br>";
}

function blue($argument)
{
echo "$argument <br>";
}
?>
</body>
</httnl>

The results appear in Figure 4-17.

Being able to assign functions to variables this way is a powerful technique. You can write
extensive code and tailor it at the last minute to call the functions you want—depending on
run-time conditions—without having to edit that code.
 \
156 PHP: The Complete Reference

•f«~wn«fr<i~'""'—v nwim n.i.tnwrrrwrir.w—.n'fmfffrr[iriiifli»fiiiwriim"triwiHiinamwwitii[i’Mwi»iiiriiifWirni>iitmr"'in^rvj^Tmtri‘T

Nesting Functions
You can also nest function definitions in PHP. Note that you can't call the nested function until
its enclosing function has been run—the nested function won't be accessible until that time.
Here's an example, phpnestedfunctions.php. This example starts by defining a function,
outer_function, which encloses another function, inner_function:

<?php
function outer_function()
{
echo "In the outer function.<br>";
function inner_function()
{
echo "In the inner function.<br>";

}
?>

Now you can call outer_function and inner_function—but only in that order, because
calling outer_function makes PHP define inner_function—like this in phpnestedfunctions.
php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Nesting functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Nesting functions
</hl>
<?php
outerfunction();
inner_function();

function outer_function()
{
echo "In the outer function.<br>";
function inner_function()
{
echo "In the inner function.<br>";
}
}
?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 157

Figure 4-18 Nesting functions

The results appear in Figure 4-18, where you can see the calls to both outer Jhnction and
inner_function were successful.

Creating Include Files

PHP also lets you create include files whose contents will be inserted into you code file. For
example, say that you want to keep track of some constants, such as your health insurance
premium. You could do that by defining a constant in a file named, say, premium.inc:

<?php
define("premium", 176.53);
?>

Now you can include premium.inc in your code with the PHP include statement
this way:

<?php
echo "Including constants.inc....<br>";
include("premium.inc");

?>
158 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 4-19 Using include files

After you include premium.inc, the contents of that file are available to your code. In
this case, that means the constant named premium is now accessible to your code, so you
can make use of that constant like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using include files
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Using include files
</hl>
<?php
echo "Including premium.inc....<br>";
include("premium.inc");

echo "You pay \$", premium, " per month.<br>";

?>
</body>
</html>

The results appear in Figure 4-19, where you can see that the constant from the include
file has indeed been included.

Returning Errors from Functions

It's common for the built-in PHP functions to return FALSE if there's been an error, and you
can use the same technique in your own functions. When a function returns FALSE, you can
use the die function in PHP to print an error message.
 Chapter 4: Creating Functions 159

Here's an example—say you have a function named reciprocal that calculates reciprocals
(one divided by a number). But you don't want to try to calculate one divided by zero, so
return FALSE if you're asked to like this in the reciprocal function, and TRUE if things
worked,, out okay: j

<?php
function reciprocal($value)
{
if ($val'ue != 0) {
echo 1 / $value, "<br>";
return TRUE;
}
else {
return FALSE;
}
}
?>

Now you can call the reciprocal function and add the clause "or die (message)", where
message is a message that will be displayed if the reciprocal function returned a value of
FALSE. It looks like this in code—when you call the die function, the application quits:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Handling errors from functions
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Handling errors from functions
</hl>
<?php
echo "The reciprocal of 2 is:
reciprocal(2) or die ("Cannot take the reciprocal of zero.");
echo "The reciprocal of 0 is:
reciprocal(0) or die ("Cannot take the reciprocal of zero.");

function reciprocal($value)
{
if ($value != 0) {
echo 1 / $value, "<br>";
return TRUE;
}
else {
return FALSE;
}
}
?>
</body>
</html>
 v
160 PHP: The Complete Reference

The results appear in Figure 4-20, where you can see that the reciprocal of 2 appears
fine, but then when you ask the reciprocal function to calculate the reciprocal of zero, it
choked and returned FALSE, which ended the application.

Figure 4-20 Handling error results from functions

 /

CHAPTER
Reading Data in Web Pages
T his is the chapter a lot of developers have been waiting for—the chapter that covers
connecting HTML controls in Web pages like text fields, radio buttons, check boxes
and so on, to PHP back on the server.
You have the basics of PHP down at this point, which means you can handle the code
necessary to work with PHP and HTML controls. So we're going to get connected to HTML
in this chapter, seeing how to read data that the user has entered into HTML controls in
Web pages.

Setting Up Web Pages to Communicate with PHP

To connect to PHP on the server, or any code on the server, you've got to set up your Web
pages a particular way. You have to enclose all your HTML controls in an HTML form, and
you have to indicate in that form where the data in those controls will be sent. For example,
the user might enter their name in a text field, and you have to let the browser know where
to send that name when the user clicks the Submit button.
Here's what an HTML form might look like:

<form>

</form>

You need to specify the method with which your data will be sent—the two most
common methods are "get" and "post" (more on the difference between them later—
both methods will get your data to your PHP script), and you might choose the get
method here:

<form method=Mget">

</form>

161
162 PHP: The Complete Reference

Alright, this tells the browser how it's supposed to send the data in the Web page—and
you also have to tell the browser where to send that data with an URL. You assign that URL
to the <form> element's action attribute, like this:

<form method="get" action="http://www.phpisgreat.com/phpreader.php">

</form>
v • ‘

This <form> element will send its data to the URL http://www.phpisgreat.com/phpreader.
php when the Submit button (coming up in a moment) is clicked.
You can also assign relative URLs to the action attribute. If, for example, this HTML
page resided on the server in a specific directory, and the PHP script phpreader.php resided
in the same directory on the server, you could shorten the URL to this:

<form methods"get" actions"phpreader.php">

</form>

This version of the <form> element assumes that the HTML page currently in the browser
came from the same directory as the PHP script is in. For example, if this HTML page was
http://www.phpisgreat.com/input.html, then the PHP script specified by simply assigning
"phpreader.php" to the action attribute would send the data in the HTML page to the PHP
script at http://www.phpisgreat.com/phpreader.php.
There's even another version—you can omit the action element altogether:

<form methods"get">

</form>

In this case, the form s data is sent back to the same URL that the current document is at.
For example, if you have a PHP script that can display HTML controls, phpcomplete.php,
then when you navigate to that script in your browser, you'll see those HTML controls. If
there's no action attribute, the data in the form will be sent back to the exact same script
when the user clicks the Submit button.
That's a common thing to do—have a PHP script handle both the display of the HTML
controls, and then read the data in those HTML controls when the user clicks the Submit
button. You'll see how this works in this book.
Besides the HTML controls like text fields and check boxes, you'll also need a submit
button in your form, because the data in the form is sent to your PHP script when that
submit button is clicked. The submit button need not have the caption "Submit"—you
can set its caption to anything you like by assigning that caption to the submit button's
value attribute.
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 163

Here's how to create a submit button—note it has to be inside the HTML <form>
element with the caption Send, and that you use an <input> element with the type
attribute set to "submit" to create a submit button:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Connecting to PHP
</title> < • 4

</head>
<body>
<hl>
Connecting to PHP
</hl>
<form method="get" action="phpreader.php">

<input type="submit" value="Send">

<input type="reset" value="Reset">
</form>
</body>
</html>

Note that there's also a (optional) reset button here; when clicked, this button resets the data
in all the HTML controls in the form back to their default values.
Say you wanted to use a text field (that is, a <input type = "text"> HTML control) to ask
for the user's name; you could do that like this in the HTML form:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Connecting to PHP
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Connecting to PHP
</hl>
<form method="get" action="phpreader.php">
What’s your name?

<input name="data" type="text">

<input type="submit" value="Send">

<input type="reset" value="Reset">
</form>
</body>
</html>

Note that this HTML gives the name "data" to the text field. How can you access the name
entered into this text field on the server, in your PHP script?
164 PHP: The Complete Reference

If you've used the POST method, you can find that data in the $_POST array, as we're
going to start seeing in the next chunk on retrieving data from text fields. If you've used the
GET method, you use the $_GET array These arrays are "superglobal" arrays, which means
that they're available to you without having to use the global keyword. Also, the $_REQUEST
array holds data from both $_GET and $_POST.
That means that to recover the name the user entered into the text field named "data",
you can use the expression $_REQUEST["data"] in your PE1P script.
Let's put all this into practice with real text fields, coming up next.

Handling Text Fields

Say you've put together a Web page, phptext.html, that has a text field and a submit button
in a form, as you see here:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data into text fields
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data into text fields
</hl>
<form method="get" actions"phptext.php">
What's your name?

<input names"data" types"text">

<input type="submit" value="Send">

</form>
</body>
</html>

You can see this HTML page in Figure 5-1, waiting for you to enter your name.
Okay, so how do you read the data the user entered in this Web page—that is, their
name in a text field we've named "data"—from PHP on the server?
This HTML page is set up to send its data to the PHP script phptext.php (note that
because you've assigned a relative URL to the action attribute—just the name of the
PHP script that PHP script must be stored in the same directory on the server as
phptext.html):

<form method="get" actions"phptext.php">

What's your name?

<input name="data" type="text">

cinput type="submit" value="Send">

</form>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 165

Figure 5-1 Using a text field in an HTML page

In phptext.php, you can access the text in the text field named "data" as $_REQUEST["data"].
So here's phptext.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading data from text fields
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from text fields
</hl>
Thanks for answering,
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["data"];
?>
</body>
</html>

All this PHP script, phptext.php, does is to echo the name the user entered into the
data text field. Make sure that phptext.php goes in the same directory as phptext.html on
your server, and give this example a try. When you click the submit button in phptext.
html, you see the results, something like what you see in Figure 5-2, where the user's
name appears.
Note the URL in Figure 5-2: http://localhost/ch05/phptext.php?data=Steve. That URL
includes the data the user entered into the text field, placed there following a question
mark (?). The data sent with the "get" method is always URL-encoded (spaces are replaced
with + signs, different controls name/data pairs are separated with an &), and placed into
the URL.
166 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 5-2 Reading text from a text field in PHP

The get method works, but as you can see, it can create less-than-professional results. If
you don't want the user's data to appear in the URL they access the server with, use the
"post" method instead, like this in phptext.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data into text fields
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data into text fields
</hl>
<form method="post" action="phptext.php">
What's your name?

<input name="data" type="text">

<input type="submit" value="Send">

</form>
</body>
</html>

When you use this new version of phptext.html, the user's data is sent in the HTTP
headers that the browser sends to the server, instead of the URL. That results in a cleaner
URL, as you can see in the URL text area in the browser in Figure 5-3. Because posted data is
sent in HTTP headers and not in the URL, data that you send with the post method is
slightly more secure.
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 167

Figure 5-3 Reading text from a text field without visible URL-encoding

Excellent, you've been able to read data from a text field. A similar HTML control, text
areas, is coming up next.

Handling Text Areas

Text fields are fine if you only want a single line of text, but if you want multiline text input,
you have to go with text areas.
Here's an example, phptextarea.html, that presents the user with a text area, and asks
what pizza toppings they want. It starts like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data into text areas
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data into text areas
</hl>
<form method="post" action="phptextarea.php">
Enter the pizza toppings you want: <br>

<br>
cinput type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body>
</html>
168 PHP: The Complete Reference

Then it adds a text area like this, where the numbers 1-4 will appear in the text area:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data into text areas
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl> v ■ >
Entering data into text areas
</hl>
<forra method="post" action="phptextarea.php">
Enter the pizza toppings you want: <br>
<textarea name="data" cols="50" rows="5">
1.
2 .
3 .
4.
</textarea>
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 5-4, waiting for you to enter your pizza toppings.

Figure 5-4 Using a text area in an HTML page

 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 169

So how do you read the data the user entered in this Web page—in the text area named
data from PHP on the server? The data the user entered will be sent to phptextarea.php on
the server, and you can access the text from the text area as $_REQUEST["data"] in that script:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading data from text areas
</title> ' *
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from text areas
</hl>
You ordered a pizza with: <br>
<?php
$text = $ REQUEST["data"];

?>
</body>
</html>

Note that because you're dealing with a text area, multiline text will be filled with
newline characters, \n. When you display that text, the browser is going to ignore the
newlines, so you might replace them with <br> elements instead, like this, where we
display the user's pizza toppings in phptextarea.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading data from text areas
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from text areas
</hl>
You ordered a pizza with: <br>
<?php
$text = $_REQUEST["data"];
echo str_replace("\n", "<br>", $text);
?>
</body>
</htmi>

And you can see the results in Figure 5-5, where the application has not only echoed the
text the user entered, but also preserved the multiline nature of that text. Nice.
170 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 5-5 Reading text from a text area in PHP

Handling Check Boxes

The next step up in controls are check boxes—those square controls that you can select or
de-select with the mouse.
You create check boxes with the <input> element like this in a Web page, where you're
asking the user if they want fries in phpcheckbox.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data into check boxes
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data into check boxes
</hl>
<form method="post" action="phpcheckbox.php">
Do you want fries with that?
<input name="checkl" types"checkbox" values"yes">
Yes
<input names"check2" type="checkbox" value="no“>
No
<br>
<br>
cinput type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body>
</html>

Note that the value of the first check box is "yes" and the value of the second is "no"—
those are the values that will be sent to your script on the server.
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 171

And you can see the results in Figure 5-6, where the application is asking the user if they
want fries.
How do you read the data from the check boxes, checkl and check2? You might think
you coukhdo that simply like this, where you simply use expressions like $_
REQUEST["checkl"]:

<html>
<head> f4
<title>
Reading data from check boxes
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
You selected:
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["checkl"], "<br>";
echo $_REQUEST["check2"], "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

Unfortunately, that's not right—the user may not have checked a check box, so
attempting to display the data from that check box would give you an error in PHP.
For example, if the user has not check checkl, then echo $_REQUEST["checkl"] will
give you an error (because the array $_REQUEST doesn't have an element with the
index "checkl").
In this case, you have to first check if there is any data waiting for you from a particular
check box before you attempt to display that data. You can check if an array has an element
with a certain index with the isset function, so before echoing $_REQUEST["checkl"], check

Figure 5-6 Setting check boxes

172 PHP: The Complete Reference

if that array element exists with isset($_REQUEST["checkl"]). Here's how that works in
phpcheckbox.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading data from text fields
</title>
</head>
<body> '
<hl>
Reading data from check boxes
</hl>
You selected:
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["checkl"])) {
echo $_REQUEST["checkl"], "<br>";
}
if (isset($_REQUEST["check2"])) {
echo $_REQUEST["check2"], »<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 5-7, where you're reading what check boxes the
user selected.
Note that the user could click both check boxes here—which would mean that they both
wanted fries and didn't want fries. A better choice for the controls here are radio buttons,
where only one can be selected at a time, and they're coming up next.

Figure 5-7 Reading check box data in PHP

 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 173

Handling Radio Buttons

Check boxes are good if you want the user to be able to select multiple items from a number
of choices. But if you want to let the tiser select only one item from a number of choices, you
should use radio buttons instead, because they only allow the user to make one selection at
a time.
Here s an example, phpradiobutton.html, that, like the preceding example, asks the user
if they want fries—bu$ unlike the previous example, this time, the user can only select yes
or no, not both (note that we're giving both radiobuttons the same name here, "radios"):

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data with radio buttons
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data with radio buttons
</hl>
<form method="post" action="phpradiobutton.php">
Do you want fries with that?
cinput name="radios" type="radio" value="yes">
Yes
cinput name="radios" type="radio" value="no">
No
<br>
<br>
cinput type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
c/body>
c/html>

You can see this page in Figure 5-8, waiting for your answer.

Figure 5-8 Using radio buttons in an HTML page

174 PHP: The Complete Reference

How do you read data from radio buttons? You can use $_REQUEST like this in
phpradiobutton.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading data from radio buttons
</title>
</head>
<body> \ ' ‘
<hl>
Reading data from radio buttons
</hl>
You selected
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["radios"];
?>
</body>
</html>

But you'd run into the same problem as with the check boxes—the user may not
have selected either radio button. On the other hand, there will only be one entry in the
$_REQUEST array under the index "radios", so you only need one statement like this in
phpradiobutton.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading data from radio buttons
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from radio buttons
</hl>
You selected
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["radios"])) {
echo $ REQUEST["radios"];
}
?>
</body>
</html>

In fact, you can indicate that no radio button was selected if that was the case:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from radio buttons
</title>
</head>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 175

Figure 5-9 Reading radio buttons in PHP

<body>
<hl>
Reading data from radio buttons
</hl>
You selected
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["radios"])) {
echo $_REQUEST["radios"];
}
else {
echo "No radio button was selected. <br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 5-9, where the application has accurately determined
which radio button was clicked.

Handling List Boxes

List boxes are also a common HTML, control, and they take a little special handling. Say that
you wanted to let the user select their favorite flavors of ice cream; you might start like this
in phplistbox.html, where you're creating the list box with a <select> HTML control:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data with list boxes
</title>
</head>
176 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
<hl>
Entering data with list boxes
</hl>
Select your favorite ice cream flavors:
<form method="post" action="phplistbox.php">
<select>

</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body>
</html>

To let the user select multiple ice cream flavors, we're going to make this a multiple
select control, which you do in HTML with the stand-alone attribute multiple in the
<select> element. And here's the trick that will let this multiple-selection control work with
PHP—you give the control the name of an array, not just a name. For example, if this control
were a single-selection control, you might call it "ice_cream"—but because it's a multiple-
selection control, you call it "ice_cream[]", which tips PHP off that this is a control that
allows multiple selections:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data with list boxes
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data with list boxes
</hl>
Select your favorite ice cream flavors:
<form method="post" action="phplistbox.php">
<select name=" ice cream [] " multiple:*

</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 177

Now you re free to add the ice cream flavors as <option> elements inside the <select>
control (the items in <select> controls are given as <option> elements in HTML):

<html> , /
/ - ' '
<head>
<title>
Entering data with list boxes
</title>
</head> < ‘ 4

<body>
<hl>
Entering data with list boxes
</hl>
Select your favorite ice cream flavors:
<form method="post" action="phplistbox.php">
<select name="ice_cream[]" multiple>
<option>vanilla</option>
<option>strawberry</option>
<option>chocolate</option>
<option>herring</option>
</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 5-10, waiting for your ice cream selections.

Figure 5-10 Using list boxes in an HTML page

178 PHP: The Complete Reference

Alright, what about reading the selections the user made? Up until now, you would
have handled their selections like this, simply echoing $_REQUEST["ice_cream"] to
the browser:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from list boxes
</title>
</head>
<body> '
<hl>
Reading data from list boxes
</hl>
Your ice cream flavors:
<BR>
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["ice_cream"];
?>
</body>
</html>

But that won't work here, because ice_cream is an array, not a single variable. So
you might use a foreach loop to display the user's ice cream selections like this in
phplistbox.php:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from list boxes
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from list boxes
</hl>
Your ice cream flavors:
<BR>
<?php
foreach($_REQUEST["icecream"] as $flavor){
echo $flavor, "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 5-11, where the PHP page has accurately reported the
user's ice cream selections.
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 179

Figure 5-11 Reading list boxes in an HTML page

Handling Password Controls

A common use of PHP is to check passwords on the server, giving the user access to a
resource if they have the right password, and you can use password controls for that.
Here's an example that asks the user for their password, phppassword.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data with password controls
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data with password controls
</hl>
<form method="post" action="phppassword.php">
Enter your password:

cinput name="password" type="password">

<br>
<br>
cinput type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 5-12, where the user has entered their password.
180 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 5-12 Using password controls in an HTML page

You can store the password on the server—which is the charm of using PHP for
password verification. In this case, you check $_REQUEST["password"] against the
password, which is "letmein" in this case, and if it matches, display a welcome page to
the user in phppassword.php:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from password controls
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from password controls
</hl>
<?php
if ($_REQUEST["password"] == "letmein"){
?>
<h2>
Password accepted
</h2>
OK, you're in.<br>
Please act responsibly.

?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 181

Figure 5-13 Gaining access with a password

You can see this result in Figure 5-13.

On the other hand, if the password the user entered is not right, you can display an
error page—note how this page mixes HTML and PHP:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from password controls
</title>
</'head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from password controls
</hl>
<?php
if ($_REQUEST["password"] == "letmein"){
?>
<h2>
Password accepted
</h2 >
OK, you're in.<br>
Please act responsibly.
<?php
}
else {
?>
<h2 >
Password denied
</h2>
182 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 5-14 Denying access for the wrong password

You did not enter the correct password.<br>

What are you, some kind of hacker?
<?php
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the error result in Figure 5-14.

Handling Hidden Controls

HTML hidden controls are a good match for PHP scripts, because they let you store data in
Web pages that the user doesn't usually see, and that you can make use of on the server
(the user can see hidden data if they look at a Web page's source).
Here's an example that uses a hidden control named customer_type to store what we
think of the customer, behind the scenes. In this case, phphidden.php, customerjype is set
to "good":

<html>
<head>
<title>
Storing data with hidden controls
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Storing data with hidden controls
</hl>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 183

What kind of customer do we think you are? <br>

Click the button to find out. <br>
<form method="post" action="phphidden.php">
<input naxne="customer_type" type="hidden" value="good">
<br>
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body> •* 4
</html>

The customer type is not apparent by just looking at the Web page, however, as you can
see in Figure 5-15.
However, you can read the data in the customer_type hidden control in PHP on the
server. That looks like this:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from password controls
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from password controls
</hl>
We think you are a
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["customer_type"];
?>
customer.
</body>
</html>

Figure 5-15 Using hidden controls in an HTML page

184 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 5-16 Reading hidden controls in an HTML page

And you can see the result in Figure 5-16—the customer is a good customer.
Hidden controls like this are popular for storing information about the user for use with
PHP—another popular way of storing information about the user is to use cookies, also
coming up in this book.

Handling Image Maps

You can also handle image maps—those clickable images you see in browsers—with PHP,
although doing so takes a little extra effort.
You can see an image map example in phpimagemap.html, which uses an <input
type="image"> element to display an image map:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data with image maps
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data with image maps
</hl>
<form method="post" action="phpimagemap.php">
Click the image:
<br>

<input name="imap" type="image" src="map.jpg">

</form>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 185

Figure 5-17 Using hidden controls in an HTML page

And you can see the image map in Figure 5-17. Note that no Submit button is needed
here—clicking the image itself sends that location of that click in the image to the server.
So how do you handle image clicks in PHP? You might try something like this in
phpimagemap.php—the image map was given the name imap, so you might make a first
attempt by simply using $_REQUEST["imap"]:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from image maps
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from image maps
</hl>
You clicked the image map at
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["imap"];
?>
</body>
</html>

However, that's not going to work, because the mouse location in the image map consists
of two coordinates, an x coordinate and a y coordinate. In PHP, those coordinates are stored
under the name of the image map with _x and _y appended. That means you can display the
186 PHP: The Complete Reference

location at which the user clicked the image (in image coordinates, (0, 0) is the upper-left
comer of the image, positive x is to the right, positive y is downward, and all measurements
are in pixels) like this in phpimagemap.php:

<head>
<title>
Reading data from image maps
</title>
</head> _
<body>
<hl>
Reading data from image maps
</hl>
You clicked the image map at location (
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["imapx"], ", ", $_REQUEST["imap_y"];
?>
) .
</body>
</html>

And you can see the result in Figure 5-18—the location at which the user clicked the
image map is displayed.

Tip Image maps are good for all kinds of things in PHP—with them, you can let the user make
selections or jump to other URLs.

Figure 5-18 Reading hidden controls in an HTML page

 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 187

Handling File Uploads

You can also use Web pages to upload files, not an infrequent thing to see on the Web. Very
few PHPbooks cover this topic, however—but we will.
You have to set up the form as a multipart form if you want to use file upload controls.
In this example, that means you set the <form> element's enctype (encoding type) attribute
to "multipart/form-data". You can also set the action attribute to the URL where you want
the file data to be senf—that's phpfile.php here—and the method to "post":

<html>
<head>
<title>
Entering data with file uploads
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data with file uploads
</hl> ►
<form method="post" action="phpimagemap.php"

enctype="multipart/form-data"
action="phpfile.php" methods"post">

cinput type="submit" values"Send File" />

</form>
</body>
</html>

To actually upload the file, you use a file upload control, cinput type="file">. In this
case, you might give the upload control the name userfile like this in phpfile.html:

chtml>
<head>
<title>
Entering data with file uploads
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Entering data with file uploads
</hl>
<form methods"post" action="phpimagemap.php"

enctype="multipart/form-data"
actions"phpfile.php" methods"post">
Upload file: cinput name="userfile" type="file" />
<br>
<br>
cinput type="submit" value="Send File" />
c/form>
c/body>
c/html>
188 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's the file we're going to test uploading: file.text:

Here
are
the
file's
contents.

You can see what this looks like in Figure 5-19, where the user has browsed to the file
to upload. '
Okay, that takes care of the HTML side of things—how about the PHP side? You use the
$_FILES array in PHP to handle uploaded files; here are the array elements that are available:

• $_FILES['userfile']['name'] The name of the file on the user's machine.

• $_FILES['userfile']['type'] The MIME type of the file. For example, this could be
"image/jpeg" or "text/plain".
• $_FILES['userfile']['size'] The size of the uploaded file (in bytes).
• $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'] The temporary filename of the file in which the
uploaded file was stored on the server.
• $_FILES['userfile']['error'] The error code associated with this file upload.

As you can see, there's a lot of power here. To actually read the uploaded file, we're
going to use come techniques that will be introduced later in this book, under the topic of
file handling.

Figure 5-19 Uploading a file

 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 189

You start by getting a file handle corresponding to the file. This value corresponds to the
file as far as PHP is concerned, and you get a file handle when you open a file. The file¬
handling functions in PHP often start with "f," and opening a file is no exception—you open
a file with the fopen function. Openihg a file gives you access to the data in that file; the
name of the file to open, as you see in the preceding list, is $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name']/
so here's how you open the uploaded file—note the final "r" argument, which opens the file
for reading (as opposed to opening it for writing, which would allow you to overwrite the
data in the file): /•*

<html>
<head>
<title>Reading file data</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Reading file data</hl>
<br>
The file contained:
<br>
<?php
$handle fopen($_FILES[1userfile' ] [1tmpname '], "r") ;

?>
</body>
</html>

Okay, that's great—now you have opened the uploaded file and have a file handle
corresponding to it. You can now read the data from the file. This example assumes that the
data in the file is text data, and we're going to read strings of text from the file repeatedly
until we've reached the end of the file. You can check when you've reached the end of the
file with the feof function, which returns true when you're at the end of a file and there's no
more data to read.
The way the file-reading process usually works is to use a while loop that keeps looping
while you're not at the end of the file. That looks like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Reading file data</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Reading file data</hl>
<br>
The file contained:
<br>
<?php
$handle = fopen($_FILES[1userfile1][1tmp_name1], "r");
while (!feof($handle)){

} ’

?>
</body>
</html>
190 PHP: The Complete Reference

Each time through the loop, we can read another line of text from the file using the fgets
function, which reads a string from the file:

<html>
<head>
<title>Reading file data</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Reading file data</hl>
<br> * • '
The file contained:
<br>
<?php
$handle = fopen($_FILES['userfile1]['tmp_name'], "r");
while (!feof($handle)){
$text = fgets($handle);

}
?>
</body>
</html>

This code reads a line of text from the file and stores it in the variable $text. Now you
can display that line of text in the browser:

<html>
<head>
<title>Reading file data</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Reading file data</hl>
<br>
The file contained:
<br>
<?php
$handle = fopen($_FILESt'userfile1]['tmp_name'], "r");
while (!feof($handle)){
$text = fgets($handle);
echo $text, "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

Okay, that loops over the file's contents, echoing it line by line to the browser. When
you're done with a file, you should close it, and that works like this, where you pass the file
handle to the fclose function:

<html>
<head>
<title>Reading file data</title>
</head>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 191

Figure 5-20 Displaying an uploaded file’s contents

<body>
<hl>Reading file data</hl>
<br>
The file contained:
<br>
<?php
$handle = fopen($_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'], "r");
while (!feof($handle)){
$text = fgets($handle);
echo $text, "<br>";
}
fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see all this at work in Figure 5-20, where the uploaded file's contents are
displayed.
Although this example worked with a text file, you can also upload binary files, of
course. All you have to do is to use the techniques for handling binary files coming up in
the general discussion of file-handling in this book.
So now you've been able to upload files that the user passes to you. Cool.

Handling Buttons
There's still one popular HTML control that we haven't covered—buttons. Although you
often see buttons in Web pages, they are more difficult to work with using server-side
scripts for one reason—they pop back. That is, there's no data that's stored that will be sent
to the server when a Submit button is clicked.
192 PHP: The Complete Reference

So how do you handle buttons in Web pages with PHP? There are a couple of solutions
here, and the remainder of this chapter is dedicated to them—if you have little interest in
buttons in your Web pages, feel free to skip on to the next chapter.

Making Button Data Persist

One obvious solution to the fleeting nature of button data is to make that data persist. You
might do that by storing text data in a hidden control, for example:

<html> ' ' 1

<head>
<title>Handling buttons</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Handling buttons</Hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpbuttons.php" method="post">
cinput type="hidden" name="button">

</form>
</body>
</html>

Then you can add, say, three standard HTML buttons to the page:

<html>
<head>
<title>Handling buttons</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Handling buttons</Hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpbuttons.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="button">
cinput type="button" value="Button 1" onclick="setbuttonl()">
cinput type="button" value="Button 2" onclick="setbutton2()">
cinput type="button" value="Button 3" onclick="setbutton3()">
</form>
c/body>
c/html>

So how do you store data in the hidden control when the user clicks a button? Since
these are standard HTML buttons, all the action has to take place in the browser_so that
means using a browser-side scripting language like JavaScript; there's no other choice.
Here's how you can store the name of the button that was clicked in the hidden control:

chtml>
chead>
ctitle>Handling buttonsc/title>
cscript language="JavaScript">
function setbuttonl()
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 193

{
document.forml.button.value = "button 1"

function setbutton2()
{
document.forml.button.value "button 2"

function setbutton3()
{
document.forml.button.value "button 3"

}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Handling buttons</Hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpbuttons.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="button">
<input type="button" value="Button 1" onclick="setbuttonl()">
<input type="button" value="Button 2" onclick="setbutton2()">
<input type="button" value="Button 3" onclick="setbutton3()">
</form>
</body>
</html>

After the name of the button has been stored in the hidden field, you can complete the
process by submitting the form from JavaScript:

<html>
<head>
<title>Handling buttons</title>
<script language="JavaScript">
function setbuttonl()
{
document.forml.button.value = "button 1"
forml.submit()

function setbutton2()
{
document.forml.button.value = "button 2"
forml.submit()

}
194 PHP: The Complete Reference

function setbutton3()
{
document.forml.button.value = "button 3"
forml.submit()

}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Handling buttons</Hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpbuttons.php" methvod=*post">
<input type="hidden" name="button">
cinput type="button" value="Button 1" onclick="setbuttonl()">
cinput type="button" value="Button 2" onclick="setbutton2()">
cinput type="button" value="Button 3" onclick="setbutton3()">
</form>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page, phpbuttons.php, in Figure 5-21.

Reading the data now that you've stored it in a hidden field is easy using PHR Here's
what the script that reads the button you've clicked, phpbuttons.php, looks like:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading buttons
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>Reading buttons</hl>

Figure 5-21 Buttons in a Web page

 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 195

Figure 5-22 Displaying the clicked button

You clicked
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["button"])) {
echo $_REQUEST["button"], "<br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 5-22, where the PHP script has correctly identified the
clicked button.
However, this is a book on PHP, not on JavaScript. Isn't there a better way to handle
buttons in Web pages?

Using Submit Buttons as HTML Buttons

Since the action in PHP takes place on the server, you can also use submit buttons in place
of standard HTML buttons. Submit buttons look the same as HTML buttons, so the user
won't be any wiser.
Here's a way you might use Submit buttons to mimic HTML buttons—create three
forms for three buttons:

<html>
<head>
<title>Reading submit buttons</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Reading submit buttons</hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpsubmit.php" method="post">
196 PHP: The Complete Reference

cinput type="submit" value="Button 1">

</form>

<form name="form2" action="phpsubmit.php" method="post">

<input type="submit" value="Button 2">

’ i 1 *

</form>

<form name="form3" action="phpsubmit.php" method="post">

<input type="submit" value="Button 3">

</form>
</body>
</html>

Then give each form its own hidden control with the button's name like this in
phpsubmit.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>Reading submit buttons</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Reading submit buttons</hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpsubmit.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="button" value="button 1">
<input type="submit" value="Button 1">
</form>

<form name="form2" action="phpsubmit.php" method="post">

cinput type="hidden" name="button" value="button 2">
cinput type="submit" value="Button 2">
c/form>

cform name="form3" action="phpsubmit.php" method="post">

cinput type="hidden" name="button" value="button 3">
cinput type="submit" value="Button 3">
c/form>
c/body>
c/html>

You can see the result in Figure 5-23, where the three apparent "buttons" are really
Submit buttons.
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 197

Figure 5-23 Using Submit buttons as HTML buttons

Now all you need to do is to read the value stored in the hidden control in your PHP
script to determine which button was clicked, like this in phpsubmit.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading submit buttons
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading submit buttons
</hl>
You clicked
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["button"] ) ) {
echo $_REQUEST["button"] , "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 5-24, where the PHP script has correctly identified the
clicked button. Not bad.
In fact, there's an easier way to use Submit buttons as standard HTML buttons—you
can actually read the values (that is, the captions) of Submit buttons in PHP. So you don't
need any hidden controls to hold the name of each button, like this in phpsubmit2.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using submit buttons with values
</title>
</head>
198 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 5-24 Identifying a clicked button

<body>
<hl>
Using submit buttons with values
</hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpsubmit2.php" method="post">
<input type="submit" name="button" value="button 1">
</form>

<form name="form2" action="phpbuttons2.php" method="post">

<input type="submit" name="button" value="button 2">
</form>

<form name="form3" action="phpbuttons2.php" method="post">

<input type="submit" name="button" value="button 3">
</form>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page, phpsubmit2.html, in Figure 5-25.

Now you can simply read the value of each Submit button in phpsubmit2.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading submit buttons
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Reading submit buttons
</hl>
 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 199

Figure 5-25 Using Submit buttons with values

You clicked \
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["button"])) {
echo $_REQX7EST ["button"] , "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results from phpsubmit2.php in Figure 5-26, where the correct
button was identified.

3 Reading submit buttons - Microsoft Internet Explorer □

Fie Ed* View Favortes Tools Help

QBack * O jj * P Search Favorites £3’ ■# Hi ii, ^ 4

1 http: . php v El Go Links J>

Reading submit buttons

You clicked button 1

43 Dor«e 'nJ Local intranet

Figure 5-26 Reading Submit buttons with values

200 PHP: The Complete Reference

In fact, you can make this even simpler—you don t need three separate forms here,
you can use three'different Submit buttons in the same form. That looks like this in
phpsubmit3.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using submit buttons in the same form
</title> v . ,
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using submit buttons in the same form
</hl>
<form name="forml" action="phpsubmit3.php" method="post">
<input type="submit" name="button" value="button 1">

<input type="submit" name="button" value="button 2">

cinput type="submit" name="button" value="button 3">

</form>
</body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 5-27.

Figure 5-27 Multiple Submit buttons in the same form

 Chapter 5: Reading Data in Web Pages 201

Then you can simply read the value of the clicked Submit button in phpsubmit3.php:

<html>
<heac^>-. . /
<title>
Reading submit buttons
</title>
</head>
<body> '' -
<hl>
Reading submit buttons
</hl>
You clicked
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST["button"])) {
echo $_REQUEST["button"], "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the result in Figure 5-28, where phpsubmit3.php did its thing correctly—
determined which button was clicked.

Figure 5-28 Reading multiple Submit buttons in the same form

\

'
 /

in'll—...»» !■ i) in i—mwsis^winwiiwuciiiiii).Mt;...i^aiitw«i«cmiwwMwmii—
CHAPTER
PHP Browser-Handling Power
T his chapter gets us into the power of PHP when it comes to working with browsers—
using server variables to gain control of the browser, determining browser type,
reading Web page data using custom arrays, and so on. The preceding chapter got us
started on handling the browser/server connection in PHP, and this chapter takes it from
there, introducing many new and powerful tools.
Also, you're going to see a discussion of how to validate user-supplied data in this
chapter. Knowing how to check and validate data—has the user entered data in a required
field? has the user entered a number where a number is required?—is a big part of creating
Web applications. And how to implement data validation is coming up in this chapter.

Using PHP’s Server Variables

It turns out that there's a superglobal (that is, accessible from anywhere) array, $_SERVER,
that contains a great deal of information about what's going on with your Web application.
You can use $_SERVER[’PHP_SELF'] to get the name of the current script, for example;
$_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] holds the request method that was used ("GET", "POST",
and so on), $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] holds the type of the user's browser, and so on.
You can see a sampling of the most useful server variables available in $_SERVER in Table 6-1.
Here's an example—this script, phpserver.php, displays the script name and the port
used to access it on the server:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Welcome to my script
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Welcome to my script</hl>
<?php
echo "You have accessed ", $_SERVER["PHPSELF"], " on port ",
$ SERVER["SERVERPORT"];
?>
</body>
</html>

203
204 PHP: The Complete Reference

Server Variable Description

'AUTH_TYPE' When running under Apache as module doing HTTP authenticated,
this variable holds the authentication type.
'DOCUMENT_ROOT' The document root directory under which the script is executing, as
defined in the server’s configuration file.
'GATEWAYJNTERFACE' What revision of the CGI specification the server is using; such as
'CGI/1.1'.
'PATH TRANSLATED' File system-based path to the current script.
'PHP_AUTH_PW' When running under Apache as module doing HTTP authentication,
this variable holds the password provided by the user.
'PHP_AUTH_USER' When running under Apache as module doing HTTP authentication
this variable holds the username provided by the user.
'PHP_SELF' The filename of the currently executing script, relative to the
document root.
'QUERY STRING' The query string, if there was any, with which the page was accessed.
'REMOTE ADDR' The IP address from which the user is viewing the current page.
'REMOTE HOST' The Host name from which the user is viewing the current page.
'REMOTE_PORT' The port being used on the user’s machine to communicate with the
Web server.
'REQUEST_METHOD' Specifies which request method was used to access the page; such
as 'GET', 'HEAD', 'POST', 'PUT'.
'REQUEST_URr The URI which was given in order to access this page, such as ’/
index.html'.
'SCRIPT FILENAME' The absolute pathname of the currently executing script.
'SCRIPT_NAME' Contains the current script’s path. This is useful for pages that need
to point to themselves.
'SERVER_ADMIN' The value given to the SERVER_ADMIN (for Apache) directive in the
Web server configuration file.
'SERVER NAME' The name of the server host under which the script is executing.
'SERVER_PORT' The port on the server machine being used by the Web server for
communication. By default setup, this is '80'.
'SERVER_PROTOCOL' Name and revision of the information protocol via which the page
was requested; such as 'HTTP/1.0'.
'SERVER_SIGNATURE' String containing the server version and virtual host name, which
are added to server-generated pages.
'SERVER_SOFTWARE' The server identification string.

Table 6-1 The PHP Server Variables

You can see the results of this script in Figure 6-1, where the script has correctly
identified itself.
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 205

Figure 6-1 A self-identifying PHP script

Using HTTP Headers

In addition to the server variables you see in Table 6-1, you also have access to some good
HTTP headers in the $_SERVER array as well. These headers are sent by the browser and
contain information about the browser.
One useful HTTP header is HTTP_USER_AGENT, which refers to the user's browser
type: that is, $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] holds the user's type of browser. Because
you have to connect to the user through their browser in Web applications, knowing their
browser type can be invaluable in some cases.
You can see the HTTP headers accessible to you in Table 6-2.

HTTP Variable Description

'HTTP_ACCEPT' Text in the Accept: header from the current request, if there is one.
'HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET' Text in the Accept-Charset: header from the current request, if there
is one, such as: utf-8'.

'HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING' Text in the Accept-Encoding: header from the current request, if there
is one, such as: 'zip'.

'HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE' Text in the Accept-Language: header from the current request, if there
is one, such as 'en' for English.

'HTTP_CONNECTION' Text in the Connection: header from the current request, if there is
one, such as: 'Keep-Alive'.

'HTTPJHOST' Text in the Host: header from the current request, if there is one.

’HTTP_REFERER' The address of the page (if any) that referred the user agent to the
current page. This is set by the browser.

'HTTP_USER_AGENT' Text in the User-Agent: header from the current request, if there is
one. This is a string denoting the browser that is accessing the page.

Table 6-2 The HTTP Server Variables

206 PHP: The Complete Reference

One of the most popular HTTP headers for use with PHP is HTTP_USER_AGENT, and
that's coming up next.

Getting the User’s Browser Type

Sometimes, it's important to know the user's browser type. For example, you might want to
use a scrolling <marquee> element—-only available in the Internet Explorer. Checking if the
user has the Internet Explorer is crucial in such cases.
You can use the HTTP header HTTP_USER_AGENT to determine the type of browser
the user has. Here's an example, phpbrowser.html, that connects to a PHP page, phpbrowser
.php, that will tell you what type of browser you're using:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Getting the user's browser type
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Getting the user's browser type</hl>

<form method="post" action="phpbrowser.php">

Click the button to determine your browser type....
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

</body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 6-2.

Figure 6-2 First page in the browser-checking application

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 207

When the user clicks the button in Figure 6-2, the browser contacts phpbrowser.php on
the server, sending all the usual HTTP headers—including HTTP_USER_AGENT. The string
returned by $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] will include the text "MSIE" if the user has
MicrosoftTnternet Explorer, and you tan acknowledge that fact with a <marquee> element:

<html>
<head>
<title>Determin^ng Browser Type</title>
</head>

<body>
<hldetermining Browser Type</hl>
<br>
<?php
if(strpos($_SERVER["HTTPUSERAGENT"], "MSIE")){
echo ( "<marqueexhl>You' re using the Internet Explorer</hlx/marquee>") ;
}

?>
</body>
</html>

On the other hand, you can check if the user has Firefox by searching $_SERVER["HTTP_
USER_AGENT"] for "Firefox" this way:

<html>
<head>
<title>Determining Browser Type</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Determining Browser Type</hl>
<br>
<?php
if(strpos($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT" ], "MSIE")){
echo ("<marqueexhl>You' re using the Internet Explorer</hlx/marquee>") ;

elseif (strpos($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"], "Firefox")) {

echo("<hl>You are using Firefox</hl>");
}

?>
</body>
</html>
208 PHP: The Complete Reference

If the user has neither of these two browsers, you can also indicate that fact:

<html>
<head>
<title>Determining Browser Type</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Determining Browser Type</hl>
<br> ( • i
<?php
if(strpos($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"], "MSIE")){
echo("<marqueexhl>You're using the Internet Explorer</hl></marquee>");
}
elseif (strpos($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"], "Firefox")) {
echo("<hl>You are using Firefox</hl>");
}
else {
echo("<hl>You are not using Internet Explorer or Firefox</hl>");
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in the Internet Explorer in Figure 6-3, in a scrolling
marquee element.
And you can see the results in Firefox in Figure 6-4.

Figure 6-3 Identifying the Internet Explorer

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 209

Figure 6-4 Identifying Firefox

Redirecting Browsers with HTTP Headers

You can also create your own HTTP headers and send them back to the browser; you create
your own HTTP headers in PHP with the header function. Probably the most common
HTTP header to create and send back to the browser are redirection headers that redirect
the browser to a new URL.
Here's an example; say that you have two HTML pages you want to redirect users to—
welcome.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Welcome</hl>
Welcome to this application.
</body>
</html>

and hello.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>Hello</title>
</head>
210 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
< hi >He 11 o </'111 >
Hello from this application.
</body>
</html>

Here's phpredirect.html, which passes the name of the page to redirect to using the
value—that is, the caption—of the Submit button in two forms, one for welcome.html, and
the other for hello.html:
V 1
<html>
<head>
<title>Redirecting the browser</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Redirecting the browser</hl>

Which page would you like to see?

<form name="forml" action="phpredirect.php" method="post">

<input type="submit" name="button" value="welcome">
</form>

<form name="form2" action="phpredirect.php" method="post">

<input type="submit" name="button" value="hello">
</form>
</body>
</html>

And you can see this page, phpredirect.html, in Figure 6-5.

Figure 6-5 phpredirect.html

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 211

The redirection script, phpredirection.php, takes the name of the script to redirect to
from the value of the Submit button that was clicked ($_REQUEST[/button']) like this:
<?php ff- . I
$redirect = "Location: " . $_REQUEST[1 button1 ] . ".html";

?> )■ *

Now the Sredirect variable holds the text for a new redirect header: "Location: welcome,
html or Location: hello.html". You can create the actual HTTP header and send it back to
the browser using the PHP header function like this:

<?php
$redirect = "Location: " . $_REQUEST['button'] . ".html";
echo header($redirect);
?>

You can see this script, phpredirect.php, at work in Figure 6-6, where the person has
clicked the welcome button and so was redirected to welcome.html.
As you can see, you can easily make, the browser do what you want from your PHP
code, making it navigate where you want.
Another use for redirection headers is with image maps, the clickable images discussed in
the preceding chapter. For example, in PHP, you might check if the user clicked a particular
"hotspot" in an image map:

<?php
if($REQUEST["map_x"] > 20 && $REQUEST["map_x"] < 80){
if($REQUEST["map_y"] > 10 && $REQUEST["map_y"] < 40){

i
}

[ f! Welcome - Microsoft Internet Explorer 0(1®

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help
ft
Q Back - 0 jc) ^ p Search Favorites ^3 0- & ^ ’ □ & <9 ■%

Address http://localhost/ch06/welcome.html V Q Go Links ”

Welcome
Welcome to this application.

•g3°°ne S Local intranet

Figure 6-6 welcome.html

212 PHP: The Complete Reference

And, if the user did indeed click a hotspot, you can make their browser navigate to a
new URL simply by redirecting it like this:

<?php
if($REQUEST["map_x"] > 20 && $REQUEST["map_x"] < 80){
if($REQUEST["map_y"] > 10 && $REQUEST["map_y"] < ' 40){
$redirect = "Location: www.php.net";
echo header($redirect);

Very cool.

Dumping a Form’s Data All at Once

While on the topic of handling data sent your PHP scripts from the browser, it's useful to
have a script around that will dump all the data from an HTML form. Such a script is useful
for debugging your Web applications.
For example, take a look at phpform.html, which displays a form with several controls:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Dumping form data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Dumping form data</hl>

<form method="post" action="phpform.php">

How old are you?<input name="age" type="text">
<br>
<br>
How many siblings do you have?<input name="number_siblings" type="text">
<br>
<br>
Select your favorite ice cream flavor(s):
<select name="ice_cream[]" multiple>
<option>Vanilla</option>
<option>Chocolate</option>
<option>Strawberry</option>
<option>Sardine</option>
</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 213

You can see this page, phpform.html, at work in Figure 6-7, where the user has entered
data into the form.
It s easy enough to create a script that will dump all the form data from phpform.html.
You can sfart by looping over all the key/value pairs in the $_REQUEST array:

<html>
<head>
<title> ,, t
Dumping form data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Dumping form data</hl>
Here is the data from the form:
<br>
<?php
foreach($_REQUEST as $key => $value){

} *

?>
</body>
</html>

If the form data item you're working with is an array—such as the array that holds ice
cream flavors in phpform.html, you can loop over that array, displaying all the elements

Figure 6-7 Entering data into a form

214 PHP: The Complete Reference

in it this way—note that we're checking if the data item is an array with the PHP is_array
function:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Dumping form data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Dumping form data</hl>
Here is the data from the form:
<br>
<?php
foreach($_REQUEST as $key => $value){
if(isarray($value)){
foreach($value as $item){
echo $key, " => ", $item, "<br>";

}
}

}
?>
</body>
</html>

If the data item from the form is not an array, it's a simple data item, and you can echo it
to the browser like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Dumping form data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Dumping form data</hl>
Here is the data from the form:
<br>
<?php
foreach($_REQUEST as $key => $value){
if(is_array($value)){
foreach($value as $item){
echo $key, " => ", $item, "<br>";
}
}
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 215

Figure 6-8 Dumping a form’s data

else {
echo $key, " => ", $value, "<br>";

}
}
?>
</body>
</html>

Okay, that's the script phpform.php, a general-purpose script for dumping form data. You
can see this script at work, dumping the data passed to it from phpform.html, in Figure 6-8.

Handling Form Data with Custom Arrays

You may recall from the preceding chapter that PHP handles data from multiple-select
controls like list boxes by using arrays. That looked like this:

Select your favorite ice cream flavors:

<form method="post" action="phplistbox.php">
<select name="ice_cream[]" multiple>
<option>vanilla</option>
<option>strawberry</option>
<option>chocolate</option>
<option>herring</option>
</select>

You can also tell PHP to group together data into custom arrays with similar syntax. For
example, say that you wanted to group a form's data sent to you into an array named data.
216 PHP: The Complete Reference

You might have a text field that will take the user's name, and whose data you wanted to
refer to as data['n<lme']. You could set up that control in a Web page like this:

chtml>
<head>
<title>
Using custom form arrays
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using custom form arrays</hl>

<form method="post" action="phparray.php">

What's your name?
cinput name="data[name]" type="text">
<br>
<br>

cinput type="submit" value="Submit">

</form>
</body>
</html>

Similarly, you might ask the user their favorite ice cream flavor, storing that text in the
array element dataf'flavor'] this way:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using custom form arrays
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using custom form arrays</hl>

cform method="post" action="phparray.php">

What's your name?
cinput name="data[name]" type="text">
cbr>
cbr>
What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
cinput name="data[flavor]" type="text">
cbr>
cbr>
cinput type="submit" value="Submit">
c/form>
c/body>
c/html>
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 217

You can see this Web page, phparray.html, in Figure 6-9.

Now you can get an array holding your data from the $_REQUEST array, and refer to
your data using the keys you've already specified. That looks like this in phparray.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using form arrays
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using form arrays</hl>
Your name is
<?php
$data = $_REQUEST[1 data 1 ] ;
echo $data[1 name 1], "<br>";
?>

Your favorite flavor is

<?php
$data = $_REQUEST[1 data1]; -
echo $data[1 flavor 1], "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 6-10, where the application was successful in
retrieving the data from a custom array.

Figure 6-9 Storing a form’s data in a custom array

218 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 6-10 Getting form data from custom arrays

Putting It Ail in One Page

So far, the applications we've developed have relied on an HTML start page that connects to
a PHP page. However, it's more usual to handle everything with one PHP page.
Here's an example, which asks the user their favorite ice cream flavor. Bear in mind that
this example is meant to handle everything with one page; in this case, the data that the
user enters—their ice cream flavor—will be stored in the $_REQUEST array under the name
"flavor". That means that if data is waiting for you in the $_REQUEST array under the name
"flavor", you should display that data. If data is not waiting for you, you should display the
welcome page that asks for the user's favorite flavor.
You can check if data is waiting for you with the PHP isset function, which returns
TRUE if an array element exists:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using one page to accept and process data</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using one page to accept and process data</hl>
<?php
if(isset($_REQUEST["flavor"])){
?>

<?php

}
?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 219

If there is data waiting for you, you can display that data like this:

<html>
<head^. , f
<title>Using one page to accept and process data</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using onfe' £>age to accept and process data</hl>
<?php
if(isset($_REQUEST["flavor"] )){
?>
Your favorite ice cream flavor is
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["flavor"] ;
}
?>

</body>
</html>

If, on the other hand, there is no data waiting for you, the user hasn't entered anything
yet, so it's time to ask them for their favorite flavor. That looks like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Using one page to accept and process data</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using one page to accept and process data</hl>
<?php
if(isset($_REQUEST["flavor"] )){
?>
Your favorite ice cream flavor is
<?php
echo $_REQUEST["flavor"] ;

}
else {
?>
<form method="post" action="phpone.php">
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
cinput name="flavor" types"text">
<br>
<br>
<input typessubmit valuesSubmit>
</form>
<?php

}
?>
</body>
</html>
220 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 6-11 What is your favorite flavor?

You can see this example, phpone.php, in Figure 6-11—there's no data waiting for the
application to display yet, so it displays the welcome page, asking for your favorite flavor.
After you enter a flavor and click the Submit button, the application displays your
selection, as you see in Figure 6-12.
Not bad—you've handled this entire application with one PHP page, no HTML page
needed. The whole application turned on one point: checking to see whether or not some
data was ready for you to read. If that data was ready, it was processed; if not, the welcome
page was displayed, and the data was entered by the user. In this way, you can create entire
Web applications that use only a single PHP page.

Figure 6-12 Your favorite flavor

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 221

Performing Data Validation

In the next couple of topics, we'll develop examples to show how to work with data
validation in-PHP. Did the user entef an integer for their age? If not, you can tell them so
with a red error message, giving them another chance. Did they enter a text string for their
name? If not, you can tell them about it.
In the preceding topic, you checked to see if data was waiting by checking the data
stored for a particularHata-entry control, but that's not a very general technique—you might
not require the user to enter data into your controls, for example. For that reason, these
examples will use a hidden field, welcome_already_seen, to determine if the welcome page
has already been seen. If this item is present in $_REQUEST, the user has already seen the
welcome page, and it's time to start processing the data they've entered; if that item is not
present, we should display the welcome page. In code, that might look like this:

if(isset($_REQUEST["welcome_already_seen"] ) ) {

}
else {
show_welcome () ;

If the user has seen the welcome page, they've presumably entered their data (that's
what we're about to check) and you should start processing that data. You can check
whether the entered data is in the format you want with a function named, say, check_data,
which will store any errors found in a global array named $errors_array:

$errors_array = array();

if(isset($_REQUEST["welcome_already_seen"])){

check data();

}
else {
show_welcome();

Now you can check if there were any errors—the $errors_array array will be empty if
not, so you might check on errors this way— show the errors with a function named show_
errors, and then show the welcome page again:

$errors_array = array();

if(isset($_REQUEST["welcome_already_seen"])){

check_data();
if(count($errors_array) != 0){
show errors();
222 PHP: The Complete Reference

show welcome ();

}
else {
show_welcome();

}
1\ '

If there were no errors, you can handle the data the user entered in another function,
named, say, handle_data:
v

$errors_array = array();

if(isset($_REQUEST["welcome_already_seen"])){

check_data();
if(count($errors_array) != 0){
show_errors();
show_welcome();

else {
handledata();

}
}
else {
show_welcome();

So the idea is to check the data the user entered in a function named check_data:

function check_data()

The array $errors_array will be filled with any errors by the check_data function, and
the show_errors function will display those errors:

function show_errors()
{
global $errors_array;
foreach ($errors_array as $err){
echo $err, "<br>";
}
}

The show_welcome function depends on what data you want to ask from the user, of
course. This function displays the controls the user should use. One thing that will be the
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 223

same in all cases is that we want to make sure to create the hidden field "welcome_already.
seen" here:

function show_welcdme()
{
echo "<form method='post' action=phpvalidate.php1>";

i ■ *

echo "cinput type='submit' value='Submit1>";

echo "<input type='hidden' name=1welcome_already_seen'
value='already_seen';
echo "</form>"; }

That's how our example data-validation framework works. Now let's put it to work.

Checking if the User Entered Required Data

Alright, let's put our validation framework to work in an example that requires the user to
enter some data. This next example will ask for the user's favorite ice cream flavor, and if
the user doesn't enter any text, the application will complain.
We start this example, phprequireddata.php, with the code we've already developed for
handling validation:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Checking required data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Checking required data</hl>
<?php
$errors_array = array();

if(isset($_REQUEST["welcome_already_seen"])){

check_data();
if(count($errors_array) != 0){
show_errors();
show_welcome();

}
else {
handle data();

}
else {
show_welcome();

Now you've got to write the functions called by this code. You might start with the
show_welcome page, which displays the welcome page that asks the user for their favorite
224 PHP: The Complete Reference

flavor and sends it back to the same page under the key "flavor"—note that the form doesn't
need an action attribute, because you want the browser to send its data back to the same
PHP page:

function show_welcome()

{
echo "<form method='post'> II /•
echo "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
echo "<br>";
echo "<input name='flavor' type=1 text'; '
echo "<br>";
echo "<br>";
echo "cinput type=1 submit1 value='Submit'>";

echo "</form>";

}
Also, don't forget to create the hidden field welcome_already_seen here—if this hidden
field exists, the application knows that the user has already seen the welcome page:

function show_welcome()

{
echo "<form method='post1> M /.
echo "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?";
echo "<br>";
echo "<input name =1 flavor' type='text'>" ;
echo "<br>";
tr

echo
A

echo "<input type='submit' value='Submit' > " ;

echo "<input type='hidden‘ name='welcome already seen
value=1 already seen1>";
echo "</form>";
}

Next, the check_data function will check if the user has entered anything for their
favorite ice cream flavor. That flavor will be stored in the $_REQUEST array with the key
'flavor', so you might check if the user has left the corresponding text field blank like this
in check_data:

function check_data()
{
if($_REQUEST["flavor"] == "") {

}
}
If the user has not entered any text, you can add an entry to the global $errors_array
array like this—note that this error is going to display its message in red, "Please enter
your flavor":
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 225

function check_data()
{
global $errors_array;
if ($ REQUEST ["flavor"] == " "/) {
$errors_array[] = "<font color='red1>Please enter your flavor</font>";
}
}

The show_errorsl function simply displays the errors in the browser, using the echo
statement. All this function has to do is to loop over the $errors_array array and display
each error:

function show_errors()
{
global $errors_array;

foreach ($errors_array as $err){

echo $err, "<br>";

}
}

If everything is okay—if there were no data validation errors—the application will call
the handle_data function, and in this example, that function displays the user's favorite ice
cream flavor:

function handle_data()
{
echo "Your favorite ice cream flavor is ";
echo $_REQUEST["flavor"];
}

You can see this application at work in Figure 6-13, where it's waiting for the user to
enter their favorite ice cream flavor.

Figure 6-13 Not entering required data

226 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 6-14 A required data error

If the user doesn't enter anything but just clicks the Submit button, they'll see the error
that appears in Figure 6-14, asking them to enter their flavor.
If the user then enters a flavor and clicks Submit, that flavor is displayed by the application,
as you see in Figure 6-15. Very nice.
Okay, that handles the case where you want to check that the user entered some data.
But there are other things you can check for—for example, whether the user entered a
text string.

Figure 6-15 Fixing a required data error

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 227

Requiring Numbers
How about requiring that the user enter integer data? Here's an example, phprequirednumber
.php, that does that. It starts off with the boilerplate code for validation checking:

<html>
<head>
<title> (,4
Requiring integer input
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Requiring integer input</hl>
<?php
$errors_array = array();
if (isset ($_REQUEST [ "welcoine_already_seen" ] ) ) {
check_data();
if(count($errors_array) »!= 0){
show_errors();
show_welcome();
}
else {
handle_data();
}
}
else {
show_welcome();
}

Okay, now it's time to write the functions called by this code, starting with the show_
welcome function, which asks the user their age, passing that age under the key "number"
back to the server:

function show_welcome()
{
echo "cform method= 1 post1 >11;
echo "Please enter your age as an integer.";
echo "<br>";
echo "cinput name=1 number 1 type=1 text'>";
echo "<br>";
echo "<br>";
echo "<input type='submit' value='Submit'>";
echo "cinput type=hidden name=1welcomealreadyseen'
value='alreadyseen'>";
echo "</form>";

}
228 PHP: The Complete Reference

Next is the check_data function, where you're supposed to check if the age the user
entered is in the correct form. So how do you check if the string $_REQUEST["number"]
holds an integer in string format? One way of checking that is to convert the string into an
integer using the PHP intval function, then convert it back to a string using the strval
function—and then compare that to the original string. If the two strings are equal, the
string represents an integer. Here's what that looks like in code:

function check_data()

{
if(strcmp($_REQUEST["number"], strval(intval($_REQUEST["number"])))) {

}
}

If the strings are equal, strcmp returns 0, which is interpreted as FALSE. On the other
hand, if the strings are not equal, strcmp will return a non-zero result, which is interpreted
as TRUE. If the result is TRUE, you should add a new error to the global array $errors_
array, indicating that the user should enter an integer:

function check_data()
{
global $errors_array;

if(strcmp($_REQUEST["number"], strval(intval($_REQUEST["number"])))) {
$errors_array[] = "<font color=1 red1>Please enter an integer</font>";
}
}
And in the show_errors function, you can display the errors, if there were any:

function show_errors()
{
global $errors_array;

foreach ($errors_array as $err){

echo $err, "<br>";
}
}

The handle_data function displays the user's age in case the user indeed entered an
integer:

function handle_data()
{
echo "Your age is ";
echo $ REQUEST["number"];
}
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 229

Figure 6-16 Spelling out the user’s age

Okay, that's it. You can see this application, phprequirednumber.php, in Figure 6-16.
The user has, unaccountably, decided to enter their age by spelling it out, rather than
entering an integer.
And you can see the results in Figure 6-17—an error was indeed reported.
Fixing the error by actually entering a number gives you the result you see in Figure 6-18—
everything's okay.

Figure 6-17 Fixing a required data error

230 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 6-18 The corrected required data

Requiring Text
You can also write applications that require the user to enter text, or even specific text. For
example, you may want to ask the user's favorite ice cream flavor—and then make sure they
enter your own favorite flavor, pistachio. You can start this application, phprequiredtext.php,
like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Requiring text input
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Requiring text input</hl>
<?php
$errors_array = array();
if(isset($_REQUEST["welcome_already_seen"])){
check_data();
if(count($errors_array) != 0){
show_errors();
show_welcome();
}
else {
handle_data();
}
}
else {
show_welcome();
}
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 231

You can ask the user their favorite flavor this way in the show_welcome function:

function show_welcome()

l* ■ <
echo "<form method=1 post';
echo "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?";
echo "<br>";

echo "cinput type='submit' value='Submit;

echo "cinput type=hidden name=1welcome_already_seen'
value='already_seen';
echo "</form>";
}

And you can make sure the flavor gets sent to the server under the key 'flavor' like this
in show_welcome:
*

function show welcome()

echo "<form method= 1 post’,' >" ;

echo "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?";
echo "<br>";
echo "cinput name=1 flavor 1 type='text';
echo "<br>";
echo "<br>";
echo "cinput type='submit' value='Submit';
echo "cinput type='hidden' name='welcome already seen
value=1already_seen'>";
echo "c/form>";

On the server, you can check the flavor the user entered in the check_data function. This
function handles text using regular expressions. Regular expressions (the complete specification
is at www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html) let you match text in your PHP code. For
example, if you want to insist that the user's text entry includes the word "pistachio", you can
use the PHP preg_match function like this (the "I" here makes the search case-insensitive):

function check_data()

{
global $errors_array;

if(!preg_match(1/pistachio/i1 , $_REQUEST["flavor"] ) ) {

}
}
232 PHP: The Complete Reference

Although this regular expression check was to make sure a particular word appeared in
the user's text entry, you can also use regular expressions to make sure their data entry is in a
particular format-for example, you might want the person to enter a social security number,
with the format xxx-xx-xxxx, where each "x" is a digit. You could do that by matching their
text to the regular expression "\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d\d\d", where "\d" is the regular-
expression way of specifying a single digit. Or you might want the person to enter a social
security number, with the format xxx-xx-xxxx, where each x is a digit.
If the user's response doesn't include the word "pistachio", you can complain with an
error message like this: '

function check_data()
{
global $errors_array;

if(!preg_match(1/pistachio/i1, $_REQUEST["flavor"])){
$errors_array[] = "<font color='red1>Your favorite flavor should be
\"pistachio\".</font>";

}
}
In the show_errors function, you can show any errors that have been placed into the
global $errors_array array:

function show_errors()
{
global $errors_array;

foreach ($errors array as $err){

echo $err, "<br>";
}
}
And in the handle_data function, you can display the person's favorite flavor (which
better be pistachio):

function handle_data()
{
echo "Your favorite flavor is
echo $_REQUEST["flavor"];
}
You can see this application, phprequiredtext.php, in Figure 6-19. There, the user is
attempting to indicate that their favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry.
You can see the results in Figure 6-20—an error was reported, because their flavor was
not pistachio.
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 233

Figure 6-19 Entering incorrect data

Entering pistachio as the user's favorite flavor gives you the results you see in Figure 6-21—
everything's okay now.

Figure 6-20 Fixing a required data error

234 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 6-21 The corrected data

Persisting User Data

Sometimes, you might have multiple controls for the user to enter data in, and if they enter
incorrect data in one control, you might want to still display the correct data they've entered
in the other controls so that they don't have to start all over. That's what this next example,
phppersist.php, is all about.
This example starts with our data validation framework:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Persisting user data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Persisting user data</hl>
<?php
$errors_array = array();

if(isset($_REQUEST["welcome_already_seen"])){
check_data();
if(count($errors_array) != 0){
show_errors();
show_welcome();
} else {
handle_data() ;
}
}
else {
show_welcome();
}
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 235

The show_welcome function has to check if the user already entered data into any
controls, and if so, you can display that data. Here's how that works—you fill the
variables $first_name and $last_name with either what the user has already entered,
or an empty string, /

function show_welcome()
{
$first_nam% = isset($_REQUEST["first"]) ? $ REQUEST["first"] : "";
$last_name = isset($_REQUEST["last"]) ? $_REQUEST["last"] : "";

}
Then when you display the text fields in the welcome page, you can use $first_name
and $last_name as the values of those controls:

function show_welcome()
{
$first_name = isset($_REQUEST["first"]) ? $_REQUEST["first"] : "";
$last_name = isset($_REQUEST["last"]) ? $_REQUEST["last"] :
echo "<form method='post'>";
echo "Enter your first name:
echo "<input name=1 first' type='text' value='", $first name, ";
echo "<br>";
echo "<br>";
echo "Enter your last name:
echo "cinput name='last' type='text' value='", $last_name, ;
echo "<br>";
echo "<br>";
echo "<input type='submit' value='Submit'>";
echo "<input type=hidden name='welcome_already_seen'
value='already_seen'>";
echo "</form>";
}

That'll make what the user has already entered reappear if they have to be notified of an
error. The check_data function checks to see if the user has left any text field blank, and if
so, it generates an error:

function check_data()
{
global $errors_array;

if($_REQUEST["first"] == "") {
$errors_array[] = "<font color='red'>Enter your first name</font>";
}
if($_REQUEST["last"] == "") {
$errors_array[] = "<font color='red1>Enter your last name</font>";
}
}
236 PHP: The Complete Reference

The show_errors function displays any errors:

function show_errors()
{
global $errors_array;

foreach ($errors_array as $err){

echo $err, "<br>";
}
}

And the handle_data function displays the data the user entered:

function handle_data()
{
echo "Here is your first name:
echo $_REQUEST["first"] ;
echo "<br>Here is your first name:
echo $_REQUEST["last"] ;
}

You can see this application in Figure 6-22, where the user has only entered their
first name.
When the user clicks the Submit button, the application indicates their error—and
also redisplays the correctly entered data ("Edward"), saving the user the effort of
retyping that as in Figure 6-23.

Figure 6-22 Entering only the first name

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 237

Figure 6-23 Catching the error

Client-Side Data Validation

Performing your data validation in PHP does have one drawback: you need a round trip to
the server to check the data the user entered. There are some advantages to doing data
validation in the browser, without sending anything to the server at all.
Here's a short example that performs client-side—that is, browser-side—validation
using JavaScript. This example, phpclientside.html, asks the user for their birthday using
a text field in an HTML form:

<body>
<hl>
Client-side data validation
</hl>
<form name="forml" action="script.php" method="post">
Please enter your birthday (mm/dd/yyyy):
<input type="text" name="date">
<br>
cinput type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>

Note that this example posts its data to a (non-existent) script named script.php. To
check the user's data before submitting the form, you can connect the form's onsubmit
attribute to a JavaScript function, check_data. If that function returns a value of false, the
form won't be submitted:

<body>
<hl>
Client-side data validation
</hl>
238 PHP: The Complete Reference

<form name="forml" action="script.php" method="post"

onsubmit^"javascript:return check_data()">
Please enter your birthday (mm/dd/yyyy):
<input type="text" name="date">
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>

You create the JavaScript function check_data like this in fhe page's <head> section,
inside a <script> element:

<head>
<title>
Client-side data validation
</title>

<script language="javascript">

function check_data()

}
</script>
</head>

JavaScript supports regular expressions, so you can create a regular expression to check
for dates using the format dd/mm/yyyy like this:

<head>
<title>
Client-side data validation
</title>

<script language="javascript">

function check_data()
{
var regexp = /A(\d{l,2})\/(\d{l,2})\/(\d{4})$/

}
</script>
</head>

Then you can check the date the user entered against that regular expression like this:

<head>
<title>
Client-side data validation
</title>
 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 239

<script language="javascript">

function check_data()

U . /
var regexp = /"(\d{1,2})\/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{4})$/
var result = document.forml.date.value.match(regexp);

'■ 4
}
</script>
</head>

If the result of attempting to match the regular expression to what the user entered was
null, the user did not enter the date in the format you want. You can display an error using
a JavaScript alert box, and return false from the function, which means the form will not be
submitted, giving the user a chance to fix the problem:

<head> »
<title>
Client-side data validation
</title>

<script language="javascript">

function check_data()

{
var regexp = (\d{1,2})\/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{4})$/
var result = document.forml.date.value.match(regexp);
if (result == null) {
alert("Please enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format.");
document.forml.date.value =
return false;

}
</script>
</head>

If the data is okay, you can submit the form from JavaScript with the JavaScript
submit function:

<head>
<title>
Client-side data validation
</title>

<script language="javascript">

function check_data()

var regexp = /A(\d{1,2})\/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{4}) $/

var result = document.forml.date.value.match(regexp);
240 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 6-24 Entering a date in an incorrect format

if (result == null) {
alert("Please enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format.");
document.forml.date.value = "";
return false;
} else {
document.forml.submit();
return true;

}
}
</script>
</head>

And you can see this application, phpclientside.html, in Figure 6-24. There, the user has
entered their birth date in the wrong format.
You can see the results in Figure 6-25—the error is displayed in a JavaScript alert
box. Cool.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Please enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format.

Figure 6-25 Catching a date error in JavaScript

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 241

Handling HTML Tags in User Input

Sometimes, users may embed HTML elements in the text they send you, and it pays to
watch oirt for that if you display that text in a Web page, it could include malicious scripts
to make your Web page close, or navigate to another page.
PHP includes functions to deactivate HTML that you don't want. Here's an example,
phphtml.php, which lets the user enter HTML—but deactivates that HTML before it's
displayed in a browser. The way this works is simply by applying the PHP function
htmlentities to the user-supplied data, like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Handling HTML in user input</title>
</head>

<body>
<Hl>Handling HTML in user input</Hl>
<?php
$errors_array = array();

if(isset($_REQUEST["welcomejalready_seen"])){
check_data ();
if(count($errors_array) != 0){
show_errors();
show_welcome();
}
else {
handle_data();
}
}
else {
show_welcome();
}
function check_data()
{
global $errors_array;
if($_REQUEST["flavor"] == "") {
$errors_array[] = "<font color='red'>Enter your favorite
flavor</font>";

}
}

function show_errors()

{
global $errors_array;

foreach ($errors_array as $err){

echo $err, "<br>";

}
}
242 PHP: The Complete Reference

function handle_data()

{
echo "Your favorite flavor is ";
$ok_text = htmlentities($_REQUEST["flavor"]);
echo $ok_text;

}
function show_welcome()

{
echo "<form method='post'; '
echo "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?<br,>" ;
echo "cinput name='flavor' type='text'>"; \
echo "<brxbr>";
echo "<input type='submit' value='Submit’>";
echo "<input type='hidden' name='welcome_already_seen'
VALUE='already_seen'>";
echo "</form>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

Now the user can enter HTML in their data, as you see in Figure 6-26.
Using the htmlentities function escapes any included HTML, so the text
"<b>strawberry</b>" is converted to "&lt;b&gt;strawberry&lt;/b&gt;", and that's what
gets displayed, as you can see in Figure 6-27.

Figure 6-26 Including HTML in user data

 Chapter 6: PHP Browser-Handling Power 243

Figure 6-27 Escaping HTML in user data

You can also use the strip_tags function like this:

function handle_data()

{
echo "Your name is ";
$ok_text = striptags($_REQUEST["flavor"]);
echo $ok_text;

Using the strip_tags function strips any HTML tags from text—and the result appears
in Figure 6-28.

Figure 6-28 Removing HTML in user data

( • t

,
 / . . ..-.-.-.
CHAPTER
....-

Object-Oriented Programming
P HP is not designed to be an object-oriented language from start to finish, but it's
got an incredible number of object-oriented features built into it, including many
that were added in PHP 5. You're going to see those features in this chapter and
the next.
On the other hand, you don't need object-oriented programming (OOP) to create Web
applications in PHP, so don't feel you have to read this material if it doesn't apply to you.
OOP is targeted at larger applications. That's why OOP was created—to let you break up
bigger applications when simply packaging code in functions isn't going to help.
Programming started as a very linear affair—you just wrote your code, line after line.
Then functions were introduced, and that let you break up your code—the code in functions
wouldn't run until called. And that's fine up to a point. But when you get still bigger
applications, you need another solution.
That solution is to use objects. Object-oriented programming might sound daunting if
you've never used it before, but it shouldn't—the whole idea is to make life easier for you.
For example, say that in real life you have all the interconnected parts of a refrigerator in
your kitchen. To refrigerate food, you have to turn on pumps, start fans, circulate the
refrigeration fluid, run the compressor, and so on. That sounds like a lot of work—better to
wrap all that up into an easily conceptualized object—a refrigerator. Now all the internal
workings are hidden from view, and you can think—there's the refrigerator. It refrigerates
food. Easy.
That's the idea behind object-oriented programming. You break your code up into
objects—a database manager, for example, or a screen manager. That's the way
programmers can think of their applications: in terms of objects with specific duties and
responsibilities. All the functions necessary for the internal workings of the object are
wrapped up inside that object, and hidden from exterior view. The data used by the object
is also hidden inside the object, and that's one of the main ways that objects differ from
just using functions—you can wrap not only many functions together into an object, but
also the data those functions use.
So instead of the 200 functions and 500 variables needed to support printing in your
application, you can wrap everything up into an object, named, say, printer. All the
functions and variables are hidden inside that object, not accessible from outside it.
Functions in object-oriented programming are given a new name—methods. And the data
items stored in an object are called properties.

245
246 PHP: The Complete Reference

The printer object might hide nearly all its methods internally, but it will also intentionally
expose some methods for public use, and those methods are the ones that you use to work
with the printer object. For example, the printer object may have a method called print, and
you can pass text to that method to print: printer("This is a test.");.
Okay, let's start getting to the details. To create an object, you first need to create a class.
Classes are to objects what cookie cutters are to cookies—you create objects using classes. In
fact, an object is called an instance of a class. All that's coming up next.

Creating Classes
Everything OOP starts with classes. Classes are the type of objects, ip the same way that
"integer" may be the type of a variable. You have to create the type before you can create
specific objects of that type. That's important to realize—a class is an object's type. And
because you can structure objects as you like, you have to specify their structure when you
create classes. After you've created a class, you can then create objects of that class, as you're
going to see.
The class is the type of the object, and the object is an instance of the class. You normally
create objects using classes, and then use those objects in your code.
Here's an example, a class named Person. In a few pages, we're going to create people
objects from the Person class; the class is the specification of what will be inside those
objects. Here's how you create a class in PHP, with the class keyword:

class Person
{

}
Okay, that creates a class named Person. In PHP, classes are usually given names that
start with a capital letter, and objects are given names that start with a lowercase letter. As
you know, classes can hold data items, called properties, so let's give the person a name,
$name. In the class, you're declaring the properties and methods that will go into the objects
of this class—and that means you use the var statement to declare properties in PHP. Here's
how you add a property named $name to the Person class:

class Person
{
var $name;

You can also add methods (functions in non-OOP speak) to the Person class. For
example, you'll need some way to set the person's name, so you might use a method named
set_name to do that. Here's how you add that method to the Person class—note that it takes
the person's name as an argument named $data:
 Chapter 7 Object-Oriented Programming 247

class Person
{
var $name;

' • t
function set_name($data)
{

»• *

}
}

Now you've got to store the name passed to the set_name function in the Sname variable.
You could do that, by accessing Sname as a global variable:

class Person

{
var $name;

>

function set_name($data)

{
global $name;

}
}

Then you can assign the argument passed to set_name, Sdata, to the internally stored
name, Sname, like this:

class Person

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
global $name;
$name = $data;

}
}
That stores the person's name. You'll also need some way to read the person's name, so
you might add another method called get_name:

class Person

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
global $name;
$name = $data;

}
248 PHP: The Complete Reference

function get_name()

}
}

In the get_name method, you can access the internal name, $name, and return it like this:
i • '

class Person
{ •
var $name;

function set_name($data)
{
global $name;
$name = $data;

function get_name()
{
global $name;
return $name;
}
}
That looks good, and it will work, but there's one change to make. You won't normally see
OOP done using the global keyword. Instead, you usually refer to the properties of the class
using the $this keyword. The $this keyword points to the current object. In PHP terms, this:

global $name;
$name = $data;

can be replaced by this:

$this->name = $data;

Note the syntax here—you use $this, followed by the -> operator. In addition, you omit the
$ in front of the property you're referring to, like this: $this->name.
Using this syntax, which is the normal syntax you'll see in PHP OOP programming, you
can write the methods in the Person class like this:

class Person
{
var $name;

function set name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;
}
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 249

function get_name()
{
return $this->name;

Here's one thing to know when talking about creating properties: you can't assign a
property a computed value inside a class. For example, this is okay; it assigns the name
"Ralph" to $name: ' ‘ -

class Person

{
var $name = "Ralph";

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

}
P

function get_jiame()

{
return $this->name;

}
}

This means that when you create objects of the Person class, $name will be assigned the
name "Ralph". However, you can't assign anything but a constant value to a property in a
class. For example, you can't even assign the expression "Ralph " . "Kramden", which
concatenates "Ralph " and "Kramden", to the $name property. This won't work:

class Person

{
var $name = "Ralph " . "Kramden"; //NO GOOD.

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}

That's one thing to be careful about when creating properties. Are there similar
restrictions on methods? Not really, except that you shouldn't begin the name of a method
with a double underscore (_)—there are a number of built-in methods that start that way,
and you might conflict with them.
Okay, you've now created a PHP class, the Person class. Now it's time to put it to work,
creating some objects.
250 PHP: The Complete Reference

Creating Objects
To create a new object, you use the new operator in PHP. You just need to define your class,
and then you can use the new operator to create an object of that class. Objects are stored as
variables, so the object-creation process using the new operator looks like this:

class Person

{
var $name; ,
function set_name($data)

{ ;
$this->name = $data;

}
function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}
$ralph = new Person;

Great, that's created a new Person object named $ralph. Easy.

All the methods and properties in the Person class are built into the $ralph object. So
how can you call the set_name method, for example, to set the name stored in the object?
You can call the $ralph object's set_name method like this, using the -> operator again:

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

That's how it works in PHP; you create an object, and then you can call the methods
built into that object using the -> operator. Executing the statement $ralph->set_
name("Ralph”); sets the name stored internally in $ralph to "Ralph".
And you can read that name from the object using the object's get_name method. That
looks like this in phpobject.php, where you can display the object's internal name:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating an object
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Creating an object</hl>
<?php
class Person

{
var $name;
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 251

function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = $data;

>. . /

function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
}
}

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $ralph->get_name() , ".";

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 7-1—this example created a class, then created an object
of that class, configured that object by calling its set_name method—and then called get_
name to get the stored name. Not bad.
You saw that, after you create an object, you can access the methods of that object like this:

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph") ;

By default, you can also access the properties inside an object the same way. For
example, you might want to read the name stored internally (as $name) in the $ralph

Figure 7-1 Creating an object

252 PHP: The Complete Reference

object, without having to call the get_name method. You can indeed access that property
like this:

<?php
class Person

{
var $name;
function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data; < ' 1

function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $ralph->name, ".";

?>

So you can recover the name stored in the using the get_name method:

$ralph->get_name()

or this way, using just the property:

$ralph->name

In OOP programming, you usually call a method to get data from an object, you don't
access the object's properties directly. Methods that return the values of properties are called
accessor methods in OOP, and they're popular because they give you control over the way
the internal data in an object is set. For example, someone may pass an empty string to the
set_name method, and in such a case, you may want to set the object's internal name to a
default value instead:

function set_name($data)

{
if($data != ""){
$this->name = $data;

}
else {
$this->name = "Ralph";

}
}

If you just let code outside the object set the value of the $name property directly, you
wouldn't have this kind of control over the acceptable values of the $name property.
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 253

Okay, you might want to restrict access to an object's internal data and want code to
have to call get_name instead of access the $name property directly But how would you
stop code from accessing that property directly? You can do it.

Setting Access to Properties and Methods

At this point, any code has access to the $name property in your object. That's because, by
default, all the members (properties and methods) of a class or object are declared public.
That means those members are accessible from everywhere in your code. That means that
this code works, which accesses the $name property from outside the object:

<?php
class Person

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

}
function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}
$ralph = new Person;
$ralph->set_narae("Ralph");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $ralph->name, ".";

?>

You can restrict access to the members of a class or object with the PHP access modifiers,
and here they are:

• public Means "Accessible to all"

• private Means "Accessible in the same class"
• protected Means "Accessible in the same class and classes derived from that class"

Public Access
Public access is the most unrestricted access of all, and it's the default. You can explicitly
declare properties and methods to be public with the public keyword:

<?php
class Person

{
public $name;
254 PHP: The Complete Reference

public function setname($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

public function get nameO

{
return $this->name;

}
}

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $ralph->name,

?>

This code works, echoing the name stored internally in the object, because that name
has been stored with public access. Now let's restrict access to that name.

Private Access
You can make a class or object member private with the private keyword. When you make a
member private, you can't access it outside the class or object. Here's an example, phpprivate
.php, where the $name property has been made private to the Person class, and we're trying
to access it from outside the $ralph object:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating an object
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Creating an object</hl>
<?php
class Person
{
private $name;

function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = $data,-
}

function get_name()

{
return $this->name;
}
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 255

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

eoho "The name of your friend is ", $ralph->name, ".";

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see this'example at work in Figure 7-2—as you can see, you get an error because
the property you're trying to access is private:

The name of your friend is PHP Fatal error: Cannot access private property
Person::$name in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ch07\phpprivate.php on line 29

That means you have forced code outside the object to access the name stored in the $ralph
object using the get_name accessor method, instead of directly accessing the $name property:

<?php
class Person
{
private $name;

function set_name ($data)'

{
$this->name = $data;
}

function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
}
}

Figure 7-2 Attempting to access a private property

256 PHP: The Complete Reference

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->get_name("Ralph");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $ralph->get_name(),

?>

Now everything works okay, as you can see in Figure 7-3.

You can also make methods private, as you see here:

<html> '
<head>
<title>
\

Creating an object
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Creating an object</hl>
<?php
class Person
{
var $name;

function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}
private function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
}
}

Figure 7-3 Accessing a private property

 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 257

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

ep>ho "The name of your ffiend is ", $ralph->get_name(),

?>
</body>
</html>

But now this code*isn't going to work, because you're trying to call get_name
outside the object—and the get_name method is private. That means that you can call it
only from code inside the same object. For example, code like this is legal (although not
very useful), because it calls the now-private method get_name from inside the object's
own code:

<?php
class Person

{
var $name;
P

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = get_name();

private function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}
$ralph = new Person;
$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $ralph->get_name(),

?>

We'll take a look at the other access modifier, the protected modifier, after talking about
inheritance, coming up in this chapter.

. ... —- ,. - . - . -

Using Constructors to Initialize Objects

As you have seen, you can create objects with the new operator, and then use methods like
set_name to set the internal data in that object:

function set_na.me ($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

}
258 PHP: The Complete Reference

In this way, you can initialize the data inside an object before you start working with
that object.
Wouldn't it be convenient if you could both create and initialize an object at the same
time? PHP allows you to do that with constructors, which, as in other languages that support
OOP, are special methods automatically run when an object is created.
Constructors have a special name in PHP— construct; that is, "construct" preceded by
two underscores. Here's an example:

function _construct($data) '

As you see, this constructor takes an argument, $data. You can assign that data to the
internal name stored in the object like this:

function _construct($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

How do you use this constructor? You pass data to the constructor when you use the
new operator to create new objects, and you pass data to the constructor by enclosing that
data in parentheses following the class name. Here's an example, phpconstructor, that
initializes an object with the name "Dan":

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using a constructor
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using a constructor</hl>
<?php
class Person
{
var $name;

function _construct($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}

function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 259

function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
,'} ■ I
}

$dan = new Person("Dan");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $dan->get_name(),

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 7-4, where the constructor did indeed initialize
the object.
You can pass as many arguments to constructors as you need—as long as the constructor
is set up to take those arguments:

$dan = new Person("Dan", "brown hair", "blue eyes");

All PHP classes come with a default constructor that takes no arguments—it's the
default constructor that gets called when you execute code like this:

$ralph = new Person;

$ralph->set_name("Ralph");

However, as soon as you create your own constructor, no matter how many arguments it
takes, the default constructor is no longer accessible.

Figure 7-4 Using a constructor

260 PHP: The Complete Reference

You can also give the constructor the name of the class (as in other languages that
support OOP) instead of_construct, like this for the Person class:

class Person

{
var $name;

function Person($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

} \

Using Destructors to Clean Up after Objects

Besides constructors, PHP also supports destructors, which are called when you destroy an
object. You use destructors to clean up after an object—terminating database or Internet
connections, for example. In PHP, destructors are called when you explicitly destroy an
object, or when all references to the object go out of scope.
Destructors are named_destruct in PHP, like this (you don't pass arguments to
destructors):

function _destruct()
{
}
Here's an example, phpdestructor.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using a destructor
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Using a destructor</hl>
<?php
class Person
{
var $name;

function _construct($data)
{
echo "Constructing ", $data, "...<br>";
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 261

$this->name = $data;
}
'''’function set_name ($datci)
{
$this->name = $data;
}
/ • *
function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
}

function _destructO
{
echo "Destructing ", $this->name, "...<br>";
}
}
>

$dan = new Person("Dan");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $dan->get_name() , ".<br>";

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 7-5, where the destructor was run when the $dan object
was destroyed when the script ended.

Figure 7-5 Using a destructor

262 PHP: The Complete Reference

Basing One Class on Another with Inheritance

The Person class is fine as far as it goes, but what if you wanted to customize it for your
friends so that each friend could have their own saying? For example, Dan might say, "Hi,
I'm Dan."; Ralph might say, "Ralph here.", and so on.
You can add functionality to your classes, like the Friend class, through inheritance.
Inheritance in PHP works much the same as it does in other languages, like Java. Here's
how it works; the Person class supports the setjname and get^name methods:

class Person !

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

}
function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}
Now say that you want to create a new class. Friend, that has all the functionality of
the Person class—that is, the set_name and get_name methods—but also supports some
new methods. You can base the Friend class on the Person class with the extends keyword
this way:

class Friend extends Person

Now the Friend class supports the Person methods, set_name and get_name. You can
also add your own methods to the Friend class. If you wanted each Friend object to have
their own personalized messages, you might add a set_message method that lets you set
each object's message, and a speak method that returns that message:

class Friend extends Person

{
var $message;

function setmessage($msg)
{
$this->message = $msg;
}
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 263

function speak()
{
echo $this->message;
- /
}
Now Friend objects will support the set_name, get_name, set_message, and speak
methods. Here's an example, phpinheritcance.php, which shows this in action:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Inheriting with constructors
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Inheriting with constructors</hl>
<?php
class Person

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

}
function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}

class Friend extends Person

{
var $message;

function set_message($msg)

{
$this->message = $msg;

function speak()

{
echo $this->message;

}
}

$tony = new Friend;

$tony->set_name("Tony");
$tony->set message("Hiya from Tony.");
264 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 7-6 Inheriting classes

echo "The name of your friend is ", $tony->get_name(), ".<br>";

echo $tony->get_name(), " says $tony->speak(), "\"<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 7-6, where the code has used all methods: set_name,
get_name, set_message, and speak.
That's how inheritance works—you base one class on another, and the derived class
inherits functionality from the base class. Inheriting properties and methods from the base
class depends on the access modifiers you've used in the base class. Public members are
visible in the derived class (and everywhere else), but members declared private in the base
class won't be accessible in the derived class.
What if you want a member accessible in the base class—and in the derived class—but
not to code outside the base class and derived classes? For that, you use protected access.

Protected Access
Using the protected keyword makes class members accessible only in the class they're
declared in, and any class derived from that class. For example, you can make the set_name
method protected in the Person class:

<?php
class Person

{
var $name;

protected function setname($data)

{
$this->name = $data;
}
 C.hapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 265

function get_name()
{
return $this->name:
. i
)

That means that only code inside Person and classes derived from it can call the set_name
method. For example, this code won't work:

$tony = new Friend;

$tony->set name("Tony");

To make set_name accessible to code outside the object, you might create a new
method, set_name_public, which calls set_name internally, like this in the Friend class
in phpprotected.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Inheriting with constructors
</citle>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Inheriting with constructors</hl>
<?php
class Person

{
var $name;

protected function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}

class Friend extends Person

{
var $message;

function set_message($msg)

{
$this->message = $msg;

function speak()

{
echo $this->message;

}
266 PHP: The Complete Reference

function set_name_public($name)
{
$this->set_name($name);
}
}

$tony = new Friend;

$tony->set_name_public("Tony");
$tony->set_message("Hiya from Tony."); ( • t

echo "The name of your friend is ", $tony->get_name(), ".<br>";

echo $tony->get_name(), " says $tony->speak( Y,
"\"<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

Now this works, because set_name_public has public access—any code can call it.
That's the idea behind the protected access modifier—public access gives all code access to
a member, private restricts access to the current class, and protected restricts access to the
current class and any classes derived from that class.

Constructors and Inheritance

How about using constructors and inheritance? Specifically, how do you pass data back to
the base class's constructor? For example, you saw a constructor for the Person class that
took the person's name:

class Person

{
var $name;

function _construct($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}
How could you call this constructor from the Friend class, which is based on the Person
class? You can do that like this in the Friend class's constructor—parent::_construct calls
the parent class's (the Friend class's ) constructor:

function _construct($data)
{
parent::_construct($data);
}
And you can pass other data to this constructor as well—data targeted for the Friend
class. You can see how this works in phpinherticonstructor.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Inheriting with constructors
</title>
</head>
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 267

<body>
<hl>Inheriting with constructors</hl>
<?php
drass' Person
{
var $name;

function ,,^construct($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}

function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}

function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
}
}
class Friend extends Person
{
var $message;
compost e <1
function _construct($data, $msg)
{ -to
parent::_construct($data);
$this->message = $msg;
}
a^d C
function speak()

{
echo $this->message;

$nancy = new Friend("Nancy", "Hi, Nancy here.");

echo "The name of your friend is ", $nancy->get_name(), ".<br>";

echo $nancy->get_name(), " says \"", $nancy->speak(), "\"<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 7-7, where the Friend constructor passed data back to
the Person constructor.

Calling Base Class Methods

When you've inherited from another class, how do you call the methods in that base class?
Normally, that's not a problem, because those methods are available to you to, simply
268 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 7-7 Using inheritance and constructors

because you've inherited them from the base class. But what if the base class has methods
that are protected—and you want to make them public by letting any code call them?
Just as you saw with constructors, you can call base class methods by appending "parent::"
in front of the base class method's name. Here's an example, phpbasemethods.php. Here, the
methods get_name and set_name have been made protected in the Person class:

<?php
class Person
{
var $name;

protected function setname($data)

. {
$this->name = $data;
}
protected function get name()
{
return $this->name;
}
}

And the friend class has two methods, get_name_public and set_name_public, which
call the protected methods using the parent:: syntax:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Calling base class methods
</title>
</head>
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 269

<body>
<hl>Calling base class methods</hl>
<?php
class Pferson '

{
var $name;

protected function set name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;
}

protected function get_name()

{
return $this->name;
}
}
class Friend extends Person
{
var $message;

function set_message($rasg)
{
$this->message = $msg;
}
function speak()

{
echo $this->message;
}
function set_name public($data)
{
parent::set_name($data);
}
function getnamepublic()
{
return parent::getname();
}
}

$britta = new Friend;

$britta->set_name_public("Britta");
$britta->set_message("Hello from Britta.");
echo "The name of your friend is ", $britta->get_name_public(), " . <br>";
echo $britta->get_name_public(), " says \"", $britta->speak(), "\"<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>
270 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 7-8 Calling base class methods

That's it—the code then creates a friend named Britta and uses get_name_public and
set_name_public to call the protected versions of these methods, which the code does with
the parent:: syntax. You can see the results in Figure 7-8.

NOTE You can also use the parent:: syntax to access base class properties.

What do you do if you've inherited from a class that itself has inherited from another
class? Can you use grandparent:: syntax? No, but you can simply prepend the member you
want to access with the name of the class it's in. That would look like this in this example,
where the member you're looking for is in the Person class:

<?php
class Person
{
var $name;

protected function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;
}

protected function get name()

{
return $this->name;
}
}
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 271

class Friend extends Person

{
var $message;
/ '• f
function set_message($msg)
{
$this->message = $msg;

function speak()

{
echo $this->message;
}

function set_name_public($data)
{
Person::set_name($data);
}
>

function getnamepublic()
{
return Person: :get_naihe () ;
}
}

Overriding Methods
In PHP, as with OOP in many languages, you can override methods. That means that you
can redefine a base class method in a derived class.
Here's an example, phpoverride.php. This example overrides the set_name method in
the Person base class:

<?php
class Person

{
var $name;

function setname($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}
function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}
272 PHP: The Complete Reference

This method is overridden in the Friend class, simply by redefining it. The overriding
version of this method capitalizes the name before storing it:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Overriding methods
</title>
</head> v • t

<body> i
<hl>
Overriding methods
</hl>
<?php
class Person

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

function get_name()
f
return $this->name;

class Friend extends Person

{
var $name;

function speak()

{
echo $this->name, " is speaking<br>";
}
function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = strtoupper($data);
}
}
echo "Creating your new friend...<BR>";
$friend = new Friend;
$friend->set__name ("Susan") ;
$friend->speak();
?>
</body>
</html>
 CJiapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 273

Figure 7-9 Overriding methods

That's it—now when you create a $susan object and give the object a name, that name
is capitalized by the overridden version of the set_name method. You can see the results
in Figure 7-9.

Overloading Methods
Besides overriding methods, you can also overload methods in PHP. Overriding a method
means redefining it, but overloading it means creating an alternate version with a different
argument list. In standard OOP languages, you overload a method by defining a new
version of the method with a different argument list. Here's an example, where you define
two versions of the set _name method, one that takes the person's name, and another that
takes both the person's name and their message:

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

}
function set_name($data, $msg)

{
$this->name = $data;
$this->message = $msg;

Now you could call the set_name method with one or two arguments, and the OOP
language would call the correct version of set_name, depending on how many arguments
were passed:

$friend->set_name("Susan");
$friend->set_name("Ted", "Ted here");

That's how things work in standard OOP languages—but PHP is different.

274 PHP: The Complete Reference

In PHP, you implement method overloading with the_call method. In a class, this is
the method that gets called when you call a method that doesn't exist.
How's that again? Say that you have a class that has a_call method, but no set_
name method. When you call the set_name method on objects of that class, what
actually gets called is the _call method. The_call method is passed the name of the
missing method, as well as an array holding the argument list that was passed to that
missing method:

function _call($method, $arguments)

{ ;

Because the arguments passed to the missing method are passed in an array, you
can implement method overloading using the_call method. For example, if you
wanted to overload the set_name method to be callable as both set_name($name) or
set_name($name, $message), you could leave that method unwritten, and handle it with
a_call method:

function _call($method, $arguments)

{

}
In the_call method, you could first check if the method called (and not found) was
indeed set_name:

function _call($method, $arguments)

{
if($method == "set_name"){

}
}

The set_name method can be called with one or two arguments ($name or $name and
$message), so you can check first if a single argument was passed:

function _call($method, $arguments)

{
if($method == "set_name"){
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 275

if(count($arguments) == 1){

}
}
}
/ - *

If a single argument was passed, that's the person's name, and you can store it like this:

function call($method, $arguments)

{
if($method == "set_name"){

if(count($arguments) == 1){
$this->name = $arguments[0] ;
}
}
}
On the other hand, if two arguments were passed to the function, those arguments are
$name and Smessage:

function call($method, $arguments)

{
if($method == "set_name"){

if(count($arguments) == 1){
$this->name = $arguments[0];

}
if(count($arguments) == 2){
$this->name = $arguments[0];
$this->message = $arguments[1];
}
}
}
That's how you handle overloading—calling the same method name with different
numbers of arguments in PHP OOP Now you can call set_name with one or two arguments,
as you see in phpoverload.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Overloading methods
</title>
</head>
276 PHP: The Complete Reference

<body>
<hl>
Overloading methods
</hl>
<?php
class Friend

{
var $name;
var $message; v - t

function speak()

echo $this->name, " says \"", $this->message, "\"<br>";

function set_message($msg)

{
$this->message = $msg;

function _call($method, $arguments)

{
if($method == "set_name"){

if(count($arguments) == 1){
$this->name = $arguments[0];

if(count($arguments) == 2){
$this->name = $arguments [0] ;
$this->message = $arguments[1];

}
}
}

echo "Creating your new friend...<br>";

$friend = new Friend;
$friend->set_name("Susan");
$friend->set_message("Hello from Susan");
$friend->speak();

$friend->set_name("Ted", "Ted here");

$friend->speak();
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 7-10, where the code was able to call two different
versions of the overloaded set_name method.
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 277

Figure 7-10 Overloading methods

Autoloading Classes
If you're going to create lots of classes, or if your class definitions are long ones, you might
want to store them in separate files. You could explicitly include each such file, but there's
an easier way: you can use the_autoload function.
This function is passed the names of any classes that PHP is looking for and can't find in
the current file. That means you can load the missing class using require or include like this,
where the class class_name is in a file class_name.php:

function _autoload($class_name)

{
require $class_name . '.php';

}
Let's see this in action. You've seen examples with the Person class and the Friend class,
so let's put those classes into external files. Here's Person.php (note that the <?php...?>
markup is required):

<?php
class Person

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;

}
278 PHP: The Complete Reference

function get_name()

{
return $this->name;

}
}
?>

And here's Friend.php:

v • 1

<?php
class Friend extends Person

{
var $message;

function set_message($msg)

{
$this->message = $msg;

}
function speak()

{
echo $this->message;

}
}
?>

Now, in phpautoload.php, you can use the_autoload function to automatically load in

Friend.php and Person.php as needed, like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Autoloading classes
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Autoloading classes
</hl>

<?php
function _autoload($class_name)
{
require $class_name . ■.php1;
}
$tony = new Friend;
$tony->set_name("Tony") ;
$tony->set_message("Hiya from Tony.");
 Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming 279

echo "The name of your friend is ", $tony->get_name(), ".<br>";

echo $tony->get_name(), " says \"", $tony->speak(), "\"<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 7-11, where the Person and Friend classes were
successfully loaded in as PHP needed them. That's a good technique to know, because as
your classes become longer, you'll probably want to put them in separate files.

Figure 7-11 Autoloading classes

,
 /

M^Mwra[ITlMM>l<>)lll^^««B888i«%S8888t<3g8gmttiS8maiSa3i8Siftwaiia^^
CHAPTER
Advanced Object-Oriented
Programming
T he preceding chapter got the ball rolling with OOP. In this chapter, your guided tour
continues, giving you all you need to become a PHP OOP-meister. Here, you're going
to how to handle static class members, abstraction, interfaces, and reflection—all parts
of any modem OOP-supporting language.
Let's get things started by working with static class members.

Creating Static Methods

Say that you wanted to create a Math utility class that you could store useful math
routines in:

<?php
class Math
{

} ’

?>

For example, you might place a method in the Math class named squarer, which
displays the square of numbers you pass to it:

<?php
class Math
{
function squarer($op)
{
echo $op, "² = ", $op * $op, "<br>";
}
}
?>

281
282 PHP: The Complete Reference

Now you can create an object of the Math class and use its squarer method to display
the squares of numbers like this in phpmath.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using the Math class
</title>
</head> , • i

<body>
<hl>
Using the Math class
</hl>
<?php
class Math
{
function squarer($op)
{
echo $op, "² = ", $op * $op, "<br>";
}
}
echo "Using a Math object...<br>";
$math = new Math();
echo $math->squarer(2);
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 8-1.

Figure 8-1 Using a Math object

 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 283

That's fine as far as it goes, but why did you need to create a Math object like this?

echo "Using a Math obj ect;. . . <br>" ;

$itiath'= new Math();
echo $math->sguarer(2);

The Math class is just a utility class—shouldn't it be possible to just use the methods in
it, like the squarer method, directly? Shouldn't you be able to simply call such methods on
the class, not an object of that class?

Creating a Static Method

When you create static methods, you can do that—call the method without having to first
create an object of that class. Static methods are class methods; they're meant to called on
the class, not on an object. Let's see how this works by altering the Math class to support
static methods, creating the Math class over again:

<?php
class Math

}
?>

For example, you might start with a static method named say_hi that displays a message:

<?php
class Math

{
public function say_hi()

{
echo "The Math class says ’Hello there’. <br>";

}
}

To make this method static, you have to use the static keyword in front of the
function keyword:

<?php
class Math

{
public static function say_hi()

{
echo "The Math class says ’Hello there’. <br>";

}
}
284 PHP: The Complete Reference

Now you can.access the say_hi method in the Math class—without needing to first
create an object of that class—as Math::say_hi():

<?php
class Math

{
public static function say_hi()

{
echo "The Math class says 'Hello therev<bn>";

}
} •

echo "Using the Math class ...<br>";

Math::say_hi();
?>

You can see the results in Figure 8-2, where the call to the static method—also called a
class method—worked.
Note the syntax here: Math::say_hi(). You can't use the -> operator here, as you would
when working with an object, because no object is involved. Instead, you use the double¬
colon operator (::) also called the scope resolution operator (also called, very oddly, the
Paamayim Nekudotayim in PHP—which stands for "double colon" in Hebrew).
Here's another tip: You don't actually have to use the static keyword to make a method
static in PHP. If you use a method in a static way—that is, calling it using the class name
instead of calling it as part of an object—PHP will treat the method as static. So this works—
no static keyword:

<?php
class Math

{
public function say_hi()

Figure 8-2 Calling a class method

 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 285

{
echo "The Math class says 'Hello there'. <br>";

echo "Using the Math class ...<br>";

Math::say_hi();

However, it's a good idea to use the static keyword to keep things straight in your own code.

Tip Can you also pass data to a static method? Certainly.

Passing Data to a Static Method

Say that you wanted to write the squarer method and add it to the Math class. You pass that
method the number you want to square:
»

<?php
class Math

{
static $data;

public static function say_hi()

{
echo "The Math class says ’Hello there'. <br>";

function squarer($op)

}
?>

And you can use the data passed to this method in code inside the method:

<?php
class Math

{
static $data;

public static function say_hi()

(
L

echo "The Math class says 'Hello there'. <br>";

function squarer($op)

{
echo $op, "² = ", $op * $op, "<br>";

}
?>
286 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's how to call and pass data to the squarer method in phpstaticmethods.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating static methods
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl> '
Creating static methods
</hl>
<?php
class Math

{
static $data;

public static function say_hi()

{
echo "The Math class says ’Hello there’. <br>";

function squarer($op)

{
echo $op, "² = ", $op * $op, "<br>";

}
}
echo "Using the Math class...<br>";
Math::say_hi();
Math::squarer(2);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 8-3—the squarer method got your data and is
displaying its square.
You can see that you can use static methods with classes—what about static properties?

Using Properties in Static Methods

Sometimes, you want to use properties when you do your work, and that's no problem
when you're using objects. But can you use properties when you're just working with the
class in code, not object? Yes, as long as they're static properties.
For example, say that you had a static method named set_data that's passed an argument:

<?php
class Math

{
public static function set_data($op)

{
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 287

Figure 8-3 Creating an object

}
}
?>

Now say that you want to save the data passed to this static method in a class property.
Turns out that you can do that in PHP, even though no object is involved. You have to declare
the property static this way:

<?php
class Math

{
static $data;

public static function set_data($op)

i
}
?>

Now you're free to store data in that property. But how do you refer to that property in
code? You can't use the $this->data syntax, because $this refers to the current object, and
there is no object here. Instead, you have to use the keyword self when working with static
288 PHP: The Complete Reference

properties in static methods. So here's how you can store the data passed to set_data in the
$data property:

<?php
class Math
{
static $data;

public static function set_data($op)

{
self::$data = $op; '

}
}

And you can echo the value in that property to prove it's being handled correctly:

<?php
class Math
{
static $data;

public static function set data($op)

{
self::$data = $op;
echo "self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";

}
}
?>

And you can do things like increment the value in $data like this:

<?php
class Math
{
static $data;

public static function set_data($op)

self::$data = $op;

echo "self::\$data = ", self:;$data, "<br>";

echo "Adding 1 to self::\$data <br>";
self::$data++;

echo "Now self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";

}
?>
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 289

Here s how you can put the set_data method to work in phpstaticproperty.php, passing
it a value of 5:

<html>
<head>r- • /
<title>
Creating static properties
</title>
</head>
/ • 4
<body>
<hl>
Creating static properties
</hl>
<?php
class Math
{
static $data;

public static function set_data($op)

{
self::$data = $op;
echo "self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";
echo "Adding one to self::\$data <br>";
self::$data++;
echo "Now self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";
}
}

echo "Using the Math class ...<br>";

Math::set_data(5);
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 8-4, where the static property did its thing.
Can you also use plain variables in static methods? Yes, you can. For example, you can
create a new variable named $item, and assign the value in the $data property to it:

<?php
class Math
{
static $data;

public static function set_data($op)

{
self::$data = $op;
echo "self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";
echo "Adding one to self::\$data <br>";
self::$data++;
echo "Now self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";
echo "Assigning self::\$data to \$item. <br>";
$item = self::$data;
290 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 8-4 Creating a static property

}'
}
?>

And you might increment $item and display the results:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating static properties
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Creating static properties
</hl>
<?php
class Math
{
static $data;

public static function set_data($op)

{
self:.-$data = $op;
echo "self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";
echo "Adding one to self::\$data <br>";
self::$data++;
echo "Now self::\$data = ", self::$data, "<br>";
echo "Assigning self::\$data to \$item. <br>";
$item = self::$data;
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 291

Figure 8-5 Using variables in static methods

echo "Adding one more to \$item. <br>";

$item++;
echo "Now \$item = ", $item, "<br>";

}
}
echo "Using the Math class ...<br>";
Math::set_data(5);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 8-5, where you were successful in using variables in
static methods.

Static Members and Inheritance

What happens with static members when inheritance is involved? Can you refer to static
members of a base class from an inherited class? Yes, you can.
Here's an example, phpstaticinheritance.php. Let's add a static property, $message,
containing a reassuring message, to our Math class:

<?php
class Math
{
static $data;
static $message = "No worries.";

public static function say_hi()

{
echo "The Math class says 'Hello there'. <br>";
}
292 PHP: The Complete Reference

public static function squarer($op)

{
echo $op, "² = ", $op * $op, "<br>";

}
}
?>

Now you can extend the Math class in a new class, New_Math:

<?php ,
class Math
{
static $data;
static $message = "No worries.";

}
class New Math extends Math
{

} ’

?>

And you can access the Math class's static Smessage property from a method in New_
Math—the show_message method:

<?php
class Math
{
static $data;
static $message = "No worries.";

class New_Math extends Math

{
public static function show message()
{
echo "In New Math, the message from the Math class is: 1 ",
Math::$message, "'<br>";
}
}
?>

Now you can call New_Math::show_message like this in phpstaticinheritance.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 293

Creating static methods

</title>
</head>

<body^, r. . !
<hl>
Creating static methods
</hl>
<?php
class Math >‘ *
{
static $message = "No worries.";

class NewMath extends Math

{
public static function show_message()
{
echo "In New_Math, the message from the Math class is: '
Math::$message, M,<br>";
}
}
echo "Using the New Math class ...<br>";
New_Math::show message() ;
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 8-6, where the static $message property in the base
class Math was indeed accessible from the static show_message method in the derived
New_Math class. Cool.

Figure 8-6 Using static members with inheritance

294 PHP: The Complete Reference

Creating Abstract Classes

PHP allows you to create abstract classes as well. You can't use abstract classes to created
objects with directly. Instead, you have to inherit a class from the abstract class first. What
use is that? You can mark particular methods in the abstract class as abstract, which
means that the inheriting class has to define them before you can create objects of the
inheriting class.
The idea is to force anyone who wants to use an abstract class to implement their own
methods. For example, say that you're a publisher, and you have,a Novel class that you
send out to authors. That Novel class may have a standard method, get_publisher_info,
that returns information about you as the publisher. It might also have an abstract method,
get_text, that returns the text of the novel the author is going to write. Because get_text is
abstract, the author has to implement the get_text method themselves, which is what you
want—the author to write their own novel.
Let's take a look at this in phpabstract.php. You can start by creating the abstract class
Novel (to contain abstract methods, a class must be abstract) that you, as the publisher, send
out to authors:

<?php
abstract class Novel
{

} '

?>

This class may have a standard method, say get_publisher_info, that returns information
about you, the publisher:

<?php
abstract class Novel
{
function getpublisherinfo()
{
return "SteveCo Publishing <br>";
}

}
?>

In addition, you can support a get_text method, that returns the text of the novel. That's
the method you want the author to implement, so you make this method abstract. To do
that, you don't give it a body, just end its declaration with a semicolon:
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 295

<?php
abstract class Novel
{
function get_publisher .info()
• i
return "SteveCo Publishing <br>";
}

abstract f\*nction get text ();

}
?>

The author can't create an object of the Novel class directly—they have to add code to
the get_text method themselves. They might start by creating a new class, My_Novel,
extending your abstract class Novel:

<?php
abstract class Novel
{
function get_publisher_info()
{
return "SteveCo Publishing <br>";
}
abstract function get_text();
}

class My_Novel extends Novel

}
?>

To avoid complaints from PHP, this code has to implement the get_text function, which
might look like this:

<?php
abstract class Novel

{
function get_jpublisher_info ()

{
return "SteveCo Publishing <br>";

}
abstract function get_text();

}
296 PHP: The Complete Reference

class My_Novel extends Novel

{
public function get_text()

{
return "It was a dark and stormy night...";

}
}
?>

Here's phpabstract.php, which creates and uses an object y>£ the My_Novel class:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating abstract classes
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Creating abstract classes
</hl>
<?php
abstract class Novel

{
function get_publisher_info()

{
return "SteveCo Publishing <br>";

abstract function get_text();

}
class My Novel extends Novel

{
public function get_text()

{
return "It was a dark and stormy night...";

}
}
$mynovel = new My NovelO ;
echo "This novel comes from ", $mynovel->get_publisher_info();
echo "The novel says 1", $mynovel->get text(), "'<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

As you can see in Figure 8-7, the abstract class did its thing—the author needed to
implement the abstract method get_text before creating any objects.
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 297

Figure 8-7 Using abstract classes

Creating Interfaces
In OOP, interfaces are a little like abstract classes—they specify what methods a class has
to implement. However, interfaces are only specifications for methods; they can't include
any code.
For example, you could have an interface named iDatabase that specifies methods a
database class must implement—get_record and set_record, for example. Any database
class that implemented the iDatabase interface would have to also implement the get_
record and set_record methods.
Like most OOP-supporting languages, PHP doesn't support multiple inheritance—that
is, you can't inherit from multiple classes at the same level, because you can't list multiple
classes with the extends keyword. That is, you can do this:

class MyNovel extends Novel

} *

But you can't do this:

class My Novel extends Novel, Novella, Story

}
298 PHP: The Complete Reference

Using interfaces is sometimes touted as letting you use multiple inheritance, because
you can implement multiple interfaces at the same time, like this:

class My_Novel implements Novel, Novella, Story

{

}
v ' ‘

However, don't be fooled—this is not multiple inheritance. Interfaces are simply specifications
for methods, and interfaces don't include any code for those methods. Interfaces are useful
when, for example, you want to create dozens of classes and to standardize the methods in
each class. The names and the argument lists for the methods will be the same across all
classes that implement the interface—although the actual code implementations of the
methods may vary by class.
Here's an example, modifying the abstract Novel class you just saw into an interface,
iNovel. To create an interface, you use the interface keyword:

<?php
interface iNovel

}
?>

Then you list the methods you want any class that implements this interface to contain.
Note that as with abstract methods, you don't include any method body. In this case, you
might add two methods to iNovel: get_dedication, which returns the novel's dedication,
and get_text, which returns the movel's text:

<?php
interface iNovel
{
function getdedication();
function get text();
}
?>

To implement this interface in the MyJNovel class, you use the implements keyword:

<?php
interface iNovel
{
function get_dedication();
function get_text();
}
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 299

class My_Novel implements iNovel

{

Since you've implemented the iNovel interface, you have to implement every method in
that interface. Here, that's get_dedication and get_text, and that looks like this in My_Novel:

<?php
interface iNovel
{
function get_dedication();
function get_ text();
}

class My_Novel implements iNovel

{
public function getdedication()

{
return "To my sweetie.";
}
public function get text()

{
return "It was a dark and stormy night...";

}
}

Here's how you can create an object using My_Novel and put it to work:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using interfaces
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using interfaces
</hl>
<?php
interface iNovel
{
function get_dedication();
function get_text();
}
300 PHP: The Complete Reference

class My Novel implements iNovel

{
public function get_dedication()

{
return "To my sweetie.";

}
public function get_text()

{
return "It was a dark and stormy night...

}
} :

$mynovel = new My_Novel();

echo "The novel is dedicated $mynovel->get_dedication(), "'<br>";
echo "The novel says 1 ", $mynovel->get_text(), '"<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 8-8, where the iNovel interface was implemented in the
My_Novel class. Not bad.
Bear in mind that interfaces don't actually do all that much for you—they just let you
specify the methods that implementing classes must implement. And that's fine if you want
to maintain a consistent set of methods across multiple classes.
Want another interface example? Coming up next.

Figure 8-8 Using interfaces

 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 301

Supporting Object Iteration

Want to allow your objects to contain collection of items so that you can loop over them
using foreach? You can do that if you implement the PHP Iterator interface, which contains
these methods:

• public function currentO Returns the current element in your collection

• public function keyO Returns the current key
• public function nextO Returns the next element
• public function validO Returns true if the current element is valid
• public function rewindO Starts operations over from the beginning

Let s put this to work in a simple example, phpiterator, that creates objects you can use
in foreach loops. The class here is going to be called DataHandler, and to make this a simple
example, it's going to use an array internally, because arrays already support the methods
of the Iterator interface, making our job easier.
First, you create the DataHandler class, implementing the PHP Iterator interface:

<?php
class DataHandler implements Iterator
{

}
?>

This class is going to store an array internally that you pass to its constructor, and let
you iterate over that array. Here's how the constructor stores the array as the private
property $array:

<?php
class DataHandler implements Iterator
{
private $array = array();

public function _construct($arr)

{
if (is array($arr)) {
$this->array = $arr;

}
}

}
?>

Now you can use the PHP array functions to write the Iterator methods—that is, to let
you use arrays in foreach statements, arrays already implement those methods, so we'll
302 PHP: The Complete Reference

make use of that fact here. For example, the DataHandler method current will just use the
array method current on the private array Sarray, the key method uses the array method
key on the private array Sarray and so on. Here's how to implement the Iterator methods
in DataHandler:

<?php
class DataHandler implements Iterator
{
private $array = array();
> • ‘

public function _construct($arr)

{ \
if (is_array($arr)) {
$this->array = $arr;
}
}

public function current))

{
return current($this->array);
}
public function key))
{
return key($this->array);
}
public function next()
{
return next($this->array);
}
public function valid))
{
return $this->current() !== false;
}
public function rewind))
{
reset($this->array);
}
}
?>

All that remains is to create an object of the DataHandler class, initializing it with an
array, and then use a foreach loop to iterate over that object, which looks like this in
phpiterator.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Object iteration
</title>
</head>
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 303

<body>
<hl>
Object iteration
</hl>
<?phjf
class DataHandler implements Iterator
{
private $array = array();
i ■ *

public function_construct($arr)
{
if (is_array($arr)) {
$this->array = $arr;
}
}

}
>

$new_array = arrayC'a", "b", "c", "d", "e");

$object = new DataHandler($new_array);

echo "Iterating over the object: <br>";

foreach ($object as $key => $value) {

echo $key, 1 => ', $value, "<br>";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 8-9, where the foreach loop had no trouble with the
DataHandler object. Cool.

Figure 8-9 Object iteration

304 PHP: The Complete Reference

Comparing Objects
Comparing two objects in PHP takes a little thought. When using the comparison operator
(==), object variables are compared simply—two objects are equal if they have the same
attributes and values, and are objects of the same class. If you use the identity operator
(===), objects are identical if and only if they refer to the same object.
Here's an example, phpcompare.php, that shows how this works. In this example,
$object_l is an instance of Class_l, $object_la is another instance of Class_l, $object_lcopy
is a copy of $object_l, and $object_2 is an instance of Class_2:
» 1
<html>
<head> \
<title>
Comparing objects
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Comparing objects
</hl>
<?php
class Class_l
{
public $data;

function _construct($item)
{
$this->data = $item;
}
}

class Class_2
{
public $data;

function _construct($item)
{
$this->data = $item;
}
}
$object_l = new Class_l("a");
$obj ect_lcopy = $object_l;
$object_la = new Class_l("a");
$object_2 = new Class_2("a");

if($object_l == $object_la){
echo 1$object_l == $object_la is TRUE <br>';
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 305

else {

^ echo '$object_l == $object_la is FALSE <br>1;

if,(i$obj ect_l == $object_2)'{

echo '$object_l == $object_2 is TRUE <br>';
}
else {
echo '$object 1 == $object 2 is FALSE <br>';
1

if($object_l === $object_la){

echo 1$object 1 === $object la is TRUE <br>•
}
else {
echo '$object_l === $object_la is FALSE <br>';

if($object_l === $object_lcopy){

echo '$object_l === $object_lcopy is TRUE <br>';
}
else {
echo '$obj ect_l === $object_lcopy is FALSE <br>1;

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 8-10, where the various comparisons are working as
they should.

Figure 8-10 Comparing objects

306 PHP: The Complete Reference

Creating Class Constants

You can also create class constants in PHP classes. These are constants designed to be used
by classes, not objects. Here's an example: phpconstant.php, which declares a Math class
this way:

<?php
class Math
{

}
?>

And you can define a constant in the Math class, pi:

<?php
class Math
{
const pi = 3.14159;

}
?>

Now you can refer to the constant pi in code inside the Math class as self::pi. You use the
constant with self:: rather than $this-> because for class constants, there's no object involved.
Here's how you might display self::pi using a public method, display_pi:

<?php
class Math

{
const pi = 3.14159;

function display__pi ()
{
echo ’Pi from inside the class (self::pi): 1, self::pi , "<br>";
}
}
?>

Can you access pi outside the class? Yes, you can—as Math::pi. Note that it uses the
class name. Math, not an object name:

<?php
class Math

{
const pi = 3.14159;
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 307

function display_pi()
{
echo 'Pi from inside the class (self::pi): self::pi , "<br>";
}
} • !

echo 'Pi from outside the class (Math::pi): Math::pi , "<br>";

/• *

?>

You can also display pi using objects, if you call the public method display_pi:

<?php
class Math
{
const pi = 3.14159;

function display_pi()
{
echo 'Pi from inside the class (self::pi): ', self::pi , "<br>";
}
}

echo 'Pi from outside the class (Math::pi): ', Math::pi , "<br>";
$object = new MathO ;
$object->display_pi();

■? >

However, you can't access the class constant pi using object expressions like $object::pi
or $object->pi like this in phpconstant.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using class constants
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using class constants
</hl>
<?php
class Math
{
const pi = 3.14159;
308 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 8-11 Using class constants

function display_pi()
{
echo 'Pi from inside the class (self::pi): self::pi , "<br>";
}
}

echo 'Pi from outside the class (Math::pi): ', Math::pi , "<br>";

$object = new Math();

$object->display_pi();

//Neither of these will work:

//echo $obj ect::pi;
//echo $object->pi;
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 8-11, where the value of the constant was indeed
displayed.
So class constants are available for use inside the code in a class, and when prefixed
with the class name and the scope resolution operator—but that's it.

Using the final Keyword

You may recall that you can override classes like this. In this example from the preceding
chapter, the set_name method is being overridden in a new version that capitalizes
the name:
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 309

<html>
<head>
<title>
Final methods
</tifcle>- /
</head>

<body>
<hl>
/ * 4
Final methods
</hl>
<?php
class Person
{
var $name;

function setname($data)
{
$this->name = $data;
}
function get_name()
{
return $this~>name;
}
}
class Friend extends Person
{
var $name;

function speak()
{
echo $this->name, " is speaking<br>";
}

function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = strtoupper($data);
}
}
echo "Creating your new friend...<BR>";
$friend = new Friend;
$friend->set_name("Susan");
$friend->speak();
?>
</body>
</html>

What if you don't want to allow a method to be overridden? You can do that in PHP, as
with other OOP-supporting languages, with the final keyword. All you have to do is to use
310 PHP: The Complete Reference

this keyword when declaring a method you want to restrict, like this in the Person base
class in phpfinal.php:

class Person
{
var $name;

final function setname($data)

{
$this->name = $data; ( • '

}
function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
}
}

Marking set_name as final should give us an error; you can see the results in Figure 8-12,
where PHP is informing us that you can't override set_name, because it's final. Cool.

Tip Using the final keyword is a good idea in classes you're going to give to others that they may
inherit from, if you don't want any methods to be overridden.

In fact, you can declare entire classes to be final, which means you can't extend them.
Here's the way that looks:

Figure 8-12 Disallowing a method override

 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 311

<html>
<head>
<title>
Final classes
</tifcle;> 1
</head>

<body>
<hl> t.4
Final classes
</hl>
<?php
final class Person

{
var $name;

function set_name($data)

{
$this->name = $data;
}
function getname()

{
return $this->name;

}
}
class Friend extends Person
{
var $name;

function speak()
{
echo $this->name, " is speaking<br>";
}
function set_name($data)
{
$this->name = strtoupper($data);
}
}
echo "Creating your new friend...<BR>";
$friend = new Friend;
$friend->set_name("Susan");
$friend->speak();
?>
</body>
</html>
312 PHP: The Complete Reference

Now that the Person class has been declared final, this code will give you an error,
because it attempts to override that class.

Cloning Objects
When you copy over objects, you have to give the process a little thought. You can use the
clone keyword to make a copy of an object in PHP:

$object_copy = close $object_l; * ‘ ‘

This statement makes a copy of $object_l, $object_copy (if you just used the assignment
operator, =, you'd end up with two variable names that pointed at the same object).
However, there's an issue here: if $object_l has some internal properties that themselves
contain subobjects, the properties of the cloned object will also point to the same subobjects.
And that might not be what you want—you might want the copy of the object to contain
new subobjects. You can make that happen by using the_clone method.
Here's an example to make this clear, phpclone.php. You might have a class, BigClass,
that contains two LittleClass objects:

<?php
class BigClass
{
public $little_l;
public $little_2;

public function _construct()

{
$this->little_l = new LittleClass();
$this->little_2 = new LittleClass();
}

}’
?>

You can add a_clone method to the BigClass class that will expressly clone $little_l:

<?php
class BigClass
{
public $little_l;
public $little_2;

public function _construct()

{
$this->little_l = new LittleClass();
$this->little_2 = new LittleClass();
}
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 313

function _clone()
{
$this->little_l = clone $this->little_l;

In LittleClass, you can give each instance a unique number, stored in the $number
property, which is inei^mented each time you create a new LittleClass object:

<?php
class LittleClass
{
static $counter = 0;
public $number;

public function _construct()

{
$this->number = ++self::$counter;
}
public function _clone () {
$ this->number = ++self::$counter;
}
}
?>

And you can add a_clone method in LittleClass that will increment $number when a
LittleClass object is cloned:

<?php
class LittleClass
{
static $counter = 0;
public $number;

public function _construct()

{
$this->number = ++self::$counter;
}
public function _clone() {
$this->number = ++self::$counter;
}
}
?>

Now you can create an object of BigClass and then clone it—then take a look at the first
object's properties and the clone's property like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
314 PHP: The Complete Reference

Cloning objects
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Cloning objects
</hl>
<?php
class BigClass
{
public $little_l;
public $little_2;

public function _construct()

{
$this->little_l = new LittleClass();
$this->little_2 = new LittleClass();
}

function _clone()
{
$this->little_l = clone $this->little_l
}
}

class LittleClass
{
static $counter = 0;
public $number;

public function _construct()

{
$this->number = ++self::$counter;
}

public function _clone() {

$this->number = ++self::$counter;
}
}

$object_l = new BigClass();

$object_2 = clone $object_l;

echo "\$object_l: <br>";

print_r($object_l);

echo "<br><br>";
echo "\$object_2: <br>";
print_r($object_2);

?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 315

Figure 8-13 Cloning objects

You can see the results in Figure 8-13. Note that for $object_l, $little_l's $number = 1,
and $little_2's Snumber = 2. For $object_2, $little_l's $number = 3, while $little_2's Snumber
= 2. That is, $object_l's $little_2 and $object_2's $little_2 point to the same object. On the
other hand, because there was a_clone method that handled $little_l differently, $object_
l's $little_l and $object_2's $little_l point to the different objects. Very nice.

Reflection
Using reflection in OOP means that you can examine your own code at run time. Here's an
example, phpreflection.php, which shows how to get information about a method. The
method in this case is named tracker:

<?php
function tracker()
{
static $counter = 10;
$counter++;
return $counter;
}
?>

To get information about this method, you can use the ReflectionFunction class:

<?php
function tracker()
{
static $counter = 10;
$counter++;
return $counter;
}
316 PHP: The Complete Reference

$method = new Ref lectionFunction (' tracker ') ;

?>

Now you can use this new object, $method, to find the name of the method it represents,
the lines the method spans in code, what happens when you pass data to the method, what
static properties the method has, and more. Here's what it looks like in phpreflection.php:
v • 1
<html>
<head>
<title>
Reflection
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Reflection
</hl>
<?php
function tracker()
{
static $counter = 10;
$counter++;
return $counter;
}
$method = new ReflectionFunction(1 tracker 1);

echo "The method named ", $method->getName();

echo " is ", $method->isInternal() ? "PHP-defined <br>." ;
"user-defined. <br>";
echo "It’s in ", $method->getFileName(), "<br>";
echo "It starts at line ", $method->getStartLine();
echo " and ends at line ", $method->getEndline(), "<br>";

if ($method->getStaticVariables 0){
$statics = $method->getStaticVariables();
echo "It has this static variable; ", var export($statics, 1), "<br>";
}
echo "Invoking the method results in ", vardump($method->invoke()), "<br>";
?>
</body>
</html>
 Chapter 8: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming 317

Figure 8-14 Using reflection

You can see the results in Figure 8-14, where, as you see, there's a lot of information
about the tracker method.

Note You can also perform reflection on classes, objects, properties, and more.
' ' 1
v
’i
iy

'

.
 /

CHAPTER
/• *

File Handling
T his chapter discusses file handling using PHP. Storing data on the server is especially
powerful in Web applications, because it allows you to make data "persist"—that is,
stick around between page accesses. Blogs, guest books, feedback pages—all are
possible when you work with files on the server.
There's a lot of PHP technology coming up in this chapter, starting with opening files.

Opening Files Using fopen

To start working v/ith a file in PHP, you must first open that file, as in most languages.

$filehandle = fopen (filename, mode [, use_include_path [, zcontext]])

In this function call, filename is the name of the file you're opening, mode indicates how
you want to open the file (for example, to read from it or to write to it), use_includejpath may
be set to 1 or TRUE to specify that you want to search for the file in the PHP include path,
and zcontext holds an optional file context (contexts modify or enhance the behavior of the
data streams from and to files). Here are the possible modes:

• Y Open for reading only.

• ’r+’ Open for reading and writing.
• 'w1 Open for writing only and truncate the file to zero length. If the file does not
exist, attempt to create it.
• 'w+' Open for reading and writing and truncate the file to zero length. If the file
does not exist, attempt to create it.
• 'a' Open for appending only. If the file does not exist, attempt to create it.
• 'a+' Open for reading and writing, starting at the end of the file. If the file does not
exist, attempt to create it.
• Y Create and open for writing only. If the file already exists, the fopen call will fail
by returning FALSE.
• 'x+' Create and open for reading and writing. If the file already exists, the fopen
call will fail by returning FALSE.

319
320 PHP: The Complete Reference

Note that different operating systems have different line-ending conventions. When you
write a text file and want to insert a line break, you need to use the correct line-ending
character(s) for your operating system. Unix-based systems use \n as the line ending
character, Windows-based systems use \r\n as the line ending characters, and Macintosh-
based systems use \r as the line ending character.
In Windows, you can use a text-mode translation flag ('t'), which will translate \n to
\r\n when working with the file. In contrast, you can also use 'b' to force binary mode,
which will not translate your data. To use these flags, specify either 'b' or't' as the last
character of the mode parameter, such as 'wt'. (
Currently, the default mode is set to binary for all platforms that distinguish between
binary and text mode. If you are having problems with your scripts, try using the't' flag.
Here's an example, which opens the file /home/file.txt for reading (you can use
forward slashes like this in path names even in Windows—you can also use backslashes if
you escape them like this: \\):

$handle = fopen("/home/file.txt", "r");

When you open a file, you get a file handle, which represents an open file. From then on,
you use this handle to work with the file. Now that the file has been opened, you can read
from it using the various data-reading functions we'll cover in a few pages, such as fread.
This example opens a file for writing to:

$handle = fopen("/home/file.txt", "w");

This example opens a file for binary writing:

$handle = fopen("/home/file.txt", "wb");

In Windows, you should be careful to escape any backslashes used in the path to the file
(or use forward slashes):

$handle = fopen("c:\\data\\file.txt", "r");

You re not limited to files in the local file system, either. Here's how you might open
a file on a different Web site, as specified by URL:

$handle = fopen("http://www.superduperbigco.com/file.txt", "r");

You can also open files using the FTP protocol:

$handle = fopen("ftp://user:[email protected]/file.txt", "w");

When you open a file, you get a file handle to work with, and you can pass that file handle
to other file functions to work with the file.
Here's an example. Say that you have a file, file.txt, with these contents:

Here
is
your
data.
 Chapter 9: File Handling 321

You might open this file for reading in phpfopen.php:

<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");
y'

?>

4 < •

If the open operation fails, fopen returns FALSE, so you can check if the file was opened
like this in phpfopen.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Opening a file
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Opening a file
</hl>
<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if($handle){
echo "File opened OK.";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 9-1, where the file file.txt was opened successfully.

Figure 9-1 Opening a file

322 PHP: The Complete Reference

You can open URLs on the Internet with fopen as well; preparing you to read from Web
pages, like this:

$handle = fopen("http://www.php.net", "r");

Okay, now the file was opened successfully—how do you read the text in it?

Looping over a File’s Contents with feof

There are multiple lines in the file you're reading, file.txt, and you're going to see how to
read those lines in, a line at a time. How do you loop over all the lines in the file, now that
the file has been opened?
You can use a while loop, and the feof function. You pass this function a file handle,
and it returns true if you're at the end of the file. So here's how you can loop over the file's
contents, line by line in phpread.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading from a file
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Reading from a file
</hl>
<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");
while (!feof($handle)){

} '

?>
</body>
</html>

To make this loop active, you have to actually read from the file (otherwise, you'll never
reach the end of the file and this loop will never terminate). And you can do that with the
fgets function.

Reading Text from a File Using fgets

You can use the fgets function to get a string of text from a file; here's how you use it in general:

fgets (handle [, length])

You pass this function the file handle corresponding to an open file, and an optional length.
The function returns a string of up to length - 1 bytes read from the file corresponding to
 Chapter 9: File Handling 323

the file handle. Reading ends when length - 1 bytes have been read, on a newline (which is
included in the return value), or on encountering the end of file, whichever comes first. If no
length is specified, the length defaults to 1024 bytes.
Here s,hovy you might read a line of text from the file, file.txt, if phpread.php:

<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");
while (!feof($handle)){
$text = fgets($handle);

}
?>

And you might echo the text that was read, line by line:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading from a file
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Reading from a file
</hl>
<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");
while (!feof($handle)){
$text = fgets($handle);
echo $text, "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

That opens the file and reads from it. There's one more step to take to complete the file¬
reading operation—closing the file.

Closing a File
When you're done with a file, you should close it in PHR Closing the file frees up the
resources connected with that file, and avoids conflicts later in your code in case you
recycle file handle variables.
To close a file, you use fclose like this:

fclose($filehandle) ;

This function returns TRUE if the file was closed successfully, and FALSE otherwise.
324 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's how to put fclose to work in phpread.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading from a file
</title>
</head>

<body> v • 1
<hl>
Reading from a file
</hl>
<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");
while (!feof($handle)){
$text = fgets($handle);
echo $text, "<BR>";
}
fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 9-2, where the file file.txt was opened successfully, read
from, and then closed.
That's one way of reading text—line by line. So how about character by character?
Coming up next.

Figure 9-2 Reading from a file

 Chapter 9: File Handling 325

Reading from a File Character by Character with fgetc

You can read individual characters from a text file using the fgetc function:
/' I
fgetci$filehandle);

This function returns the character read. It's a useful function for precision control over
reading operations. ( 4
Here's an example, phpfgetc.php. You start by opening the file to read from, file.txt:

<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");

?>

You can read an individual character from file.txt like this:

>

<?php
$handle = fopenCfile.txt", "r");

$char = fgetc($handle)

>
?>

To loop over all the characters in the file, you can put the preceding statement in the
condition of a while loop—when fgetc returns FALSE, there are no more characters to read:

<?php
$handle = fopenCfile.txt", "r");

while ($char = fgetc($handle)) {

}
?>

And you can echo each character as you read it:

<?php
$handle = fopenCfile.txt", "r");

while ($char = fgetc($handle)) {

echo "$char";

}
?>
326 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 9-3 Reading characters from a file

You can see the results in Figure 9-3, where the file file.txt was opened and then read
from, character by character.
That's fine as far as it goes, but what about newline characters? The file, file.txt, has
these contents:

Here
is
your
data.

But as you can see in Figure 9-4, the newline characters from the file were simply sent to
the browser, which doesn't display newline characters—you have to convert them to <br>
elements instead. That looks like this in code:

<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");

while ($char = fgetc($handle)) {

if($char == "\n"){
$char = ,,<br>";
}
echo "$char";
}
?>
 Chapter 9: File Handling 327

All that s left is to close the file with fclose in phpfgetc.php:

<html>
<head> , /
t '■ •
<title>
Reading characters from a file
</title>
</head>
/• *

<body>
<hl>
Reading characters from a file
</hl>
<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "r");

while ($char = fgetc($handle)) {

if($char == "\n"){
$char = "<br>";
}
echo "$char";
}

fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 9-4, where the file file.txt was opened, read from
character by character—including proper newline handling—and then closed.

Figure 9-4 Reading characters from a file and handling newlines

328 PHP: The Complete Reference

Reading a Whole File at Once with file_get_contents

You can read the entire contents of a file with the file_get_contents function:

file get contents (filename [, use_include_path [, context [, offset [, maxlen]]]]

)

Here, filename is the name of the file, use_include_path is set to TRUE if you want to search
PHP's include path, context is a context for the operation, offset is the offset into the file at
which to start reading, and maxlen is the maximum length of data to read.
Here's an example, phpfilegetcontents.php. This example starts by reading the entire
contents of the file file.txt into the variable $text:

<?php
$text = file_get_contentsCfile.txt");

?>

Then the code converts all newlines into <br> elements using the PHP function str_
replace:

<?php
$text = file_get_contentsCfile.txt");

$fixed_text = str_replace("\n", "<br>", $text);

?>

Finally, the converted text is echoed to the browser this way in phpfilegetcontents.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading a whole file at once
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Reading a whole file at once
</hl>
<?php
$text = file_get_contentsCfile.txt");

$fixed_text = str_replace("\n", "<br>", $text);

 Chapter 9: File Handling 329

echo $fixed_text;
?>
</body>
</html> /
/'■ 1
You can see the results in Figure 9-5, where the file file.txt was opened, read from
entirely, and then displayed.
Want to read a Web joage all at once? Just open it up and read it, as here, where we're
reading the PHP home page:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading a whole file at once
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl> (
Reading a whole file at once
</hl>
<?php
$text = filegetcontents("http://www.php.net");

$fixed_text = str_replace("\n", "<br>", $text);

echo $fixed_text;
?>
</body>
</html>

Figure 9-5 Reading a file all at once

330 PHP: The Complete Reference

Reading a File into an Array with file

You can use the file function to read a file into an array all at once; each line becomes an
element in the array. Here's how to use the file function:

file (filename [, use_include_path [, context]] )

In this case, filename is the name of the file you want to read, usejncludejpath should be set
to TRUE if you want to search the PHP include path for the file, and context is a context for
the operation. This function returns an array or FALSE if the 'Operation failed.
This function is extremely useful if you want to write your own database files. For
example, suppose you wanted to keep students' scores in a database file—and you could
read all those scores into an array with a single statement.
Here's an example, phpfarray.php, which reads file.txt into an array, $data. First, you
can load the contents of that file into the array:

<?php
$data = file('file.txt');

?>

That's it—now you've been able to read an entire file into the $data array. Now each line in
file.txt is an element in the $data array.
You can display the data now in the array with a foreach loop:

<?php
$data = file('file.txt');

foreach ($data as $line) {

?>
i
And all you've got to do is to display each line:

<?php
$data = file(1 file.txt');

foreach ($data as $line) {

echo $line , "<br>";
}
?>

In fact, you can do more than that—you can also display line numbers. Here's how that
works in phpfarray.php:
 Chapter 9: File Handling 331

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading a file into an array
</tiJf>le>. /
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Reading a file into an array
</hl>
<?php
$data = file('file.txt');

foreach ($data as $number => $line) {

echo "Line $number: " , $line , "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>
>

And you can see the result in Figure 9-6, where the entire file, file.txt, was read into an
array and displayed.
You can also open Web pages and read them into arrays using the file function. Here's
an example, phpurlarray.php, which reads http://www.php.net in and displays it:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading a Web page into an array
</title>
</head>

Figure 9-6 Reading a file into an array

332 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 9-7 Reading an URL into an array

<body>
<hl>
Reading a Web page into an array
</hl>
<?php
$data = file('http;//www.php.net1);

foreach ($data as $number => $line) {

echo "Line $number: " , $line , "<br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see part of the result in Figure 9-7, where the URL was read in and its HTML
displayed, line by line.
Here's one thing to note: each element in the array still has a newline character at the end
of it. If you want to get rid of that newline character, you can use the rtrim PHP function.

Checking if a File Exists with file_exists

If you try working with a file that doesn't exist, you'll get an error. To prevent that, you can
check if a file exists with the file_exists function:

file_exists (filename )

You pass this function a filename (which can include a path), and it returns TRUE if the file
exists, FALSE otherwise.
 Chapter 9: File Handling 333

Here's an example, phpfileexists.php. This example checks on a nonexistent file, does.

not_exist.txt:

<?php
ilename = "does_not_ekist.txt";

?>
/• -

The code then checks if the file exists:

<?php
$filename = "does_not_exist.txt";

if (file_exists($filename)) {

>

9 >

If the file exists, you can read it in and display its contents:

<?php
$filename = "does_not_exist.txt";

if (file_exists($filename)) {
$data = file($filename);

foreach ($data as $number => $line) {

echo "Line $number: " , $line , "<br>";
}
}

?>

If the file doesn't exist, you can display a message to that effect—which beats an error
message from PHP:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Checking if a file exists
</title>
</head>
334 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 9-8 Checking if a file exists

<body>
<hl>
Checking if a file exists
</hl>
<?php
$filename = "does_not_exist.txt";

if (file_exists($filename)) {
$data = file($filename);

foreach ($data as $number => $line) {

echo "Line $number: " , $line , "<br>";
}

else {
echo "The file $filename does not exist";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-8, where this example determined that the file didn't
exist before trying to open it, and so didn't generate an error.

Getting File Size with filesize

You can get a file's size returned by the filesize function, returned as an integer:

filesize (filename )

You just pass the filename (including path if you want to add that) to filesize and you'll get
an integer back or FALSE if the file doesn't exist.
 Chapter 9: File Handling 335

[ 3 Getting file size Microsoft Internet Explorer

OWR)
1 File Edit View Favorites Tools Help
I 0 Back O l*] ?•) /P Search Favorites ^ ? D fi ^ 4
Address http: //Iocalhost/ch09/phpfilesize. php /
V (3 Go Links J>
Ai

Getting file size

•t
The file file.txt is ^4 tgrtes long.

Local intranet

Figure 9-9 Reading a URL into an array

Here's an example, phpfilesize.php, which displays the size of file.txt:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Getting file size
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Getting file size
</hl>
<?php
echo "The file file.txt is ", filesize("file.txt"), " bytes long.";
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-9, where this example determined the file was
24 bytes long.
You ve seen a lot about how to handle text files—how about binary files?

Reading Binary Reads with fread

So far, the files you've seen here have been handled as text files, but it's simple to handle
files in a binary way as well using functions like fread:

fread (handle, length)

This function reads up to length bytes from the file referenced by handle. Reading stops
when length bytes have been read, of the EOF (end of file) is reached.
336 PHP: The Complete Reference V

On systems like Windows, you should open files for binary reading, mode 'rb', to work
with fread. Since adding 'b’ to the mode does no harm on other systems, we'll include it
here for portability. Here's an example, phpfread.php, which treats file.txt as a binary file.
This example starts by opening file.txt for binary reading:

<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "rb");

You can use filesize to determine the file's size, and read it all into a variable, $text,
using fread:

<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "rb");

$text = fread($handle, filesize("file.txt"));

?>

Now you can replace newlines with <br> elements:

<?php
$handle = fopenOfile.txt", "rb");

$text = fread($handle, filesize("file.txt"));

$fixed_text = str_replace("\n", "<br>", $text);

And you can echo $text, forcing PHP to treat it as text:

<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "rb");

$text = fread ($handle, filesizeCfile.txt"));

$fixed_text = str_replace("\n", "<br>", $text);

echo $fixed_text;

?>
 Chapter 9: File Handling 337

All that remains is to close the file, as you see in phpfread.php:

<html>
<head>
<titvlre> • /
Reading binary data
</title>
</head>

<body>
,. *

<hl>
Reading binary data
</hl>
<?php
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "rb");

$text = fread($handle, filesize("file.txt"));

$fixed_text = str_replace("\n", "<br>", $text);

echo $fixed_text;

fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-10, where this example read file.txt in using a binary
read operation.

Figure 9-10 Reading binary data

338 PHP: The Complete Reference

Parsing Files with fscanf

You can also parse files with the fscanf function:

fscanf (handle, format)

This function takes a file handle, and a format string of the same type you'd use with sprintf.
Here's an example, phpfscaf.php, which reads this file, actors.txt, where the actors' first
and last names are separated by tabs:
i ■ *

Cary Grant
Myrna Loy
Jimmy Stewart
June Allyson

You start this example by opening actors.txt:

<?php
$handle = fopen("actors.txt", "r");

?>

The format in this case is "%s\t%s\n" (string, tab, string, newline character), so here's
how you read and parse a line of data from a file into an array named $name in a while loop:

<?php
$handle = fopenCactors.txt", "r");

while ($name = fscanf($handle, "%s\t%s\n")) {

}
?>

Next, you assign the values in the $name array to the variables $firstname and $lastname,
and then display those names:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Parsing files
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Parsing files
</hl>
<?php
$handle = fopenCactors.txt", "r");
 Chapter 9: File Handling 339

Figure 9-11 Parsing file data

while ($name = fscanf($handle, "%s\t%s\n")) {

list ($firstname, $lastname) = $name;
echo $firstname, " ", $lastname, "<br>";
}

fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-11, where the file actors.txt was parsed and the data in
it displayed.

Parsing ini Files with parse_ini_file

Much like fscanf, parse_ini_file lets you parse files—in this case, .ini initialization files.
Here's how you use parse_ini_file:

parse_ini_file (filename [, process_sections] )

This function loads in the ini file filename and returns the settings in it in an associative array.
By setting the last process_sections parameter to TRUE, you get a multidimensional array,
with the section names and settings included. The default for process_sections is FALSE.
Note that this function is not for use with the initialization file that PHP itself uses—
php.ini. That file is parsed and read before PHP even starts.

CAUTION There are reserved words that must not be used as keys for ini files. These include: null,
yes, no, true, and false. Values null, no, and false results in yes and true results in "1".
Characters I} \ &-![()" must not be used anywhere in the key.
340 PHP: The Complete Reference

For example, here's a sample .ini file, sample.ini (note that you can start comments with
semicolons in .ini files):

; This is a sample .ini file

[first_section]
first_color = red
second_color = white
third_color = blue

V ■ ‘
[second_section]
file = "/usr/local/code.data"
URL = "http://www.php.net"

Here's an example showing how to read sample.ini, phpparseinifile.php. You can read
the contents of sample.ini into an array, $array:

<?php
$array = parseinifile("sample.ini");

?>

Now you can recover the values in the .ini file using the $array array. For example, you
can recover the value under the key first_color (which is "red") like this: $array["first_
color"]. In this example, you can loop over the array, displaying the keys and their values:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Parsing .ini files
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Parsing .ini files
</hl>
<?php
$array = parse_ini_file("sample.ini");

foreach ($array as $key => $value) {

echo "$key => $value <br>";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-12, where the data in sample.ini was read in
and displayed.
 Chapter 9: File Handling 341

Figure 9-12 Parsing an .ini file

Getting File Info with stat

The stat function gives you information about a file:

stat (filename )

The function returns an array containing information that mostly makes sense on
Unix machines. Here is the data stored in the returned array with these numerical indexes
(you can also use the text keys given here in parentheses):

• 0 (dev) Device number

• 1 (ino) Inode number
• 2 (mode) Inode protection mode
• 3 (nlink) Number of links
• 4 (uid) Userid of owner
• 5 (gid) Groupid of owner
• 6 (rdev) Device type, if inode device
• 7 (size) Size in bytes
• 8 (atime) Time of last access (Unix timestamp)
• 9 (mtime) Time of last modification (Unix timestamp)
• 10 (ctime) Time of last inode change (Unix timestamp)
• 11 (blksize) Blocksize of filesystem 1/O
• 12 (blocks) Number of blocks allocated

Most of these items only have meaning in Unix; if there are no counterparts in Windows,
you'll get a value of -1.
342 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's an example putting this to work, phpstat.php, which reports the size of the file
file.txt. This example begins by using stat on file.txt:

<?php
$array = stat("file.txt");

?>

And you can find the file file.txt size and display it this Way:'

<html> ;
<head>
<title>
Using stat
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using stat
</hl>
<?php
$array = stat("file.txt");

echo "The file is ", $array["size"]. " bytes long.";

?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-13, where the file's size appears.

Figure 9-13 Finding a file’s size

 Chapter 9: File Handling 343

Setting the File Pointer's Location with fseek

PHP uses file pointers to keep track of where it is in a file, and where the next read or write
operation occurs from. For example, \yhen you open a file, the file pointer is set to the
beginning of the file; when you open a file for appending, the file pointer is set the end of
the file. You can use fseek to set the file pointer yourself:

fseek(handle, offset, [start_point]);

!• *

Here, handle is the handle of the file to set the file pointer in, offset is the number of bytes
you want to set the pointer to, and start_point indicates a starting point for the pointer,
which is one of these constants:

• SEEK_SET The beginning of the file

• SEEK_CUR The current pointer location
• SEEK_END The end of the file

You can set the offset to negative values.

ww———n‘« iiimiim—————a—BMUMaw—i'r.w'nr r,1::-. , nnngry yi m—

Copying Files with copy

You can copy files with the copy function:

copy (source, destination)

Here, source is the name of the source file, and destination is the name of the copy (including
pathnames, if applicable). This function returns TRUE if it was successful, FALSE otherwise.
Here's an example, phpcopy.php. This example is going to make a copy of file.txt,
copy.txt:

<?php
$file = ‘file.txt1;
$copy = ‘copy.txt1;

Here's where we try to make the copy, and report success if it worked:

<?php
$file = 'file.txt';
$copy = 'copy.txt';

if (copy($file, $copy)) {
echo "Copied $file.";
}
344 PHP: The Complete Reference \

If the copy operation failed, we can report that failure this way in phpcopy.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Copying files
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl> '
Copying files
</hl>
<?php
$file = 'file.txt';
$copy = 'copy.txt';

if (copy($file, $copy)) {
echo "Copied $file.";
}
else {
echo "Could not copy $file.";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-14, where the file was copied, as planned.

Note If you just want to move a file, use the rename function instead.

Figure 9-14 Copying files

 Chapter 9: File Handling 345

Deleting Files with unlink

Want to delete a file? You can do that with the unlink function:

unlink filename [, context] ) '

Here, filename is the name of the file, and context is an optional context. This function returns
TRUE if the file was deleted, FALSE otherwise.
You can find an example in phpunlink.php. If the code is successful in deleting copy.txt,
it says so:

<?php
if(unlink("copy.txt") ) {
echo "Deleted the file.
}

?>
>

And if the file couldn't be deleted, this example, phpunlink.php, also indicates that:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Deleting files
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Deleting files
</hl>
<?php
if(unlink("copy.txt")){
echo "Deleted the file.";
}
else {
echo "Could not delete the file.";
}
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-15, where the file was deleted.
346 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 9-15 Deleting a file

Writing to a File with fwrite

What if you wanted to write a string to a file? You could use fwrite: .

fwrite (handle, string [, length])

You pass fwrite a file handle, the string to write, and, optionally, the maximum length of data
to write. This function returns the number of bytes written, or FALSE if there was an error.
Note that to set up your system to write files may take a little work, because of the file
system protections involved. For example, in Windows, you have to right-click the folder
where you want to write files, select Properties, click the Web Sharing tab, select the Share
The Folder radio button, and enable writing. In Unix, make sure you have writing
privileges in the folder you're writing to.
Here's an example, phpfwrite.php, which will write text to a file, data.txt. You start by
opening the file for writing:

<?php
$handle = fopen("data.txt", "w");

?>

Then you can create the text string to write to the file, Stext. Note that if you want
multiline text, you're responsible for adding the newline characters yourself:

<?php
$handle = fopen("data.txt", "w");
 Chapter 9: File Handling 347

$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

Time to write the file with fwrite:

<?php
$handle =» fopenCdata.txt", "w");

$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

fwrite($handle, $text);
?>

To make this better, you can check whether the write operation failed, like this in
phpfwrite.php:

<?php
$handle = fopenCdata.txt", "w");

$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

if (fwrite($handle, $text) == FALSE) {

echo "Can not write data.txt.";
}
?>

If the operation was successful, you can indicate that to the user like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Writing files
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Writing files
</hl>

<?php
$handle = fopenCdata.txt", "w");

$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

if (fwrite($handle, $text) == FALSE) {

echo "Can not write data.txt.";
}
else {
echo "Created data.txt.";
}
348 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 9-16 Writing a file

fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-16, where the file was written. Nice.
Here's the contents of data.txt:

Here
is
the
text.

Tip Want to check if a file is writable before trying to write to it? Call isjwritable, passing it the
filename; this function will return TRUE if you can write to the file, FALSE otherwise.

Reading and Writing Binary Files

You can write binary data with fwrite, and read it with fread, but it takes a little work. You
can pack binary data into strings using the pack function, and unpack binary data using the
unpack function.
Here's an example, phpwritebinary.php, that writes the number 512 to a file in binary
(not string) format. If starts by opening the file for binary writing like this:

<?php
$number = 512;
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "wb");
 Chapter 9: File Handling 349

Next, it packs the data into long integer format like this:

pack ("L", $number);

Here ^re the formats for the pack/function, such as "L" for long integer:

• a NUL-padded string
• A SPACE-padded string
• h Hex string,'low nibble first
• H Hex string, high nibble first
• c Signed char
• C Unsigned char
• s Signed short (always 16 bit, machine byte order)
• S Unsigned short (always 16 bit, machine byte order)
• n Unsigned short (always 16 bit, big endian byte order)
• v Unsigned short (always 16 bit, little endian byte order)
• i Signed integer (machine-dependent size and byte order)
• I Unsigned integer (machine-dependent size and byte order)
• 1 Signed long (always 32 bit, machine byte order)
• L Unsigned long (always 32 bit, machine byte order)
• N Unsigned long (always 32 bit, big endian byte order)
• V Unsigned long (always 32 bit, little endian byte order)
• f Float (machine-dependent size and representation)
• d Double (machine-dependent size and representation)
• x NUL byte
• X Back up one byte
• @ NUL-fill to absolute position

Here's how this example writes this data to file:

<?php
$number = 512;
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "wb");
if (fwrite ($handle, pack ("L", $number)) == FALSE) {
350 PHP: The Complete Reference

And finally, this code indicates success or failure to the user like this in
phpwritebinary.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Writing binary files
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl> '
Writing binary files
</hl>

<?php
$number = 512;
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "wb");
if (fwrite ($handle, pack ("L", $number)) == FALSE) {
echo "Can not write data.dat.";

}
else {
echo "Created data.dat. and stored $number.";

}
fclose ($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-17, where the binary file was written to.

Figure 9-17 Writing a binary file

 Chapter 9: File Handling 351

To read the binary data from the file, you can use the unpack function in phpbinaryread
.php. First, you open the file for binary reading:

<?php
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "rb");

Then use fread to read the binary data, indicating that you want four bytes (the length
of a long integer):

<?php
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "rb");
$data = fread ($handle, 4);

Then you can use unpack to unpack the data into an array with an element under the
index "data" containing a long value:

<?php
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "rb");
$data = fread ($handle, 4);
$array = unpack ("Ldata", $data);

Now you can recover the binary data from the array using the key "data":

<?php
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "rb");
$data = fread ($handle, 4);
$array = unpack ("Ldata", $data);
$data = $array["data"];

■p >

All that remains is to display that data, in phpbinaryread.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading binary files
</title>
</head>
352 PHP: The Complete Reference

3 Reading binary files - Microsoft Internet Explorer

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Q Back - j [3 S5 t1 P Search Favorites 0 ; > ■+ $ ' £s '%

Address 16 http://localhost/ch09/phpreadbinary.php HH Go links

Reading binary files

Read this value from data.dat: 512

v ' 1

iLlDone ^ Local intranet

Figure 9-18 Reading from a binary file

<body>
<hl>
Reading binary files
</hl>

<?php
$handle = fopen ("data.dat", "rb");
$data = fread ($handle, 4);
$array = unpack ("Ldata", $data);
$data = $array["data"];
echo "Read this value from data.dat: ", $data;
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 9-18, where the binary data was read from the file data,
dat successfully.

Appending to Files with fwrite

You can also append data to files using fwrite if you open the file for appending explicitly.
Here's an example, phpappend.php, which will append some text to the file data.txt. It
starts by opening data.txt for appending:

<?php
$handle = fopen("data.txt", "a");

?>
 Chapter 9: File Handling 353

And you put together the text to append to the file, which is

Here
is
more • I
text.

You can put this text into a variable, $text:

<?php '' *
$handle = fopen("data.txt", "a");

$text = "\nHere\nis\nmore\ntext.

?>

Now you use fwrite to append to data.txt—and let the user know if the operation failed:

<?php
$handle = fopenOdata.txt", "a");

$text = "\nHere\nis\nmore\ntext.";

if (fwrite($handle, $text) == FALSE) {

echo "Can not append to data.txt.";
}

>

On the other hand, if the append operation was successful, you can let the user know
that like this in phpappend.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Appending to files
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Appending to files
</hl>

<?php
$handle = fopenOdata.txt", "a");

$text = "\nHere\nis\nmore\ntext.";
354 PHP: The Complete Reference

if (fwrite($handle, $text) == FALSE) {

echo "Can not append to data.txt.";

}
else {
echo "Appended to data.txt.";

}
fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html> * • •

You can see the result in Figure 9-19, where the file was appended to.
Here are the new contents of data.txt:

Here
is
the
text.
Here
is
more
text.

Cool.

Tip Want to do the opposite, and truncate a file? Use/truncate, specifying the new size of the file:

ftruncate (handle, size)

Figure 9-19 Appending to a file

 Chapter 9: File Handling 355

Writing a File All at Once with file_put_contents

There's a shortcut if you want to write text to a file—use the file_put_contents function. This
function writes a string to a file, and here's how you use it in general:
/'■ (
file_put_contents (filename, data [, flags [, context]])

In this case, filename is the name of the file you want to write, data is the string text to write,
flags can be either FILEjUSE_INCLUDE_PATH and/or FILE_APPEND, and context is a file
context. The function returns the number of bytes that were written to the file, or FALSE if it
couldn't write to the file.
Using this function is much the same as calling fopen, fwrite, and fclose automatically—
you don't have to open or close the file yourself, and you don't need a file handle. Here's an
example, phpfileputcontents.php. You start with the text to write to the file:

<?php
$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

?>

Next, you can use file_put_contents to write to the file data.txt:

<?php
$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

file_put_contents("data.txt" , $text);

?>

You can improve on this as you've seen before by checking the return value from the
function. If there was a problem, you can let the user know:

<?php
$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

if (file_put_contents("data.txt", $text) == FALSE) {

echo "Can not write data.txt.";

?>
356 PHP: The Complete Reference

Otherwise, you can let the user know that the operation was a success like this in
phpfileputcontents.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Writing files with file_put_contents
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl> ' ' '
Writing files with file_put_contents
</hl>

<?php
$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

if (file_put_contents("data.txt", $text) == FALSE) {

echo "Can not write data.txt.";
}
else {
echo "Wrote to data.txt.";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

Note that you don't need to close the file (or open it, for that matter). You can see the
result in Figure 9-20, where the file was created.

Figure 9-20 Writing a file with file put contents

 Chapter 9: File Handling 357

Locking Files
In a multiuser environment, such as a Web server, multiple users may be accessing your
scripts at the same time which meaps multiple copies of the same script can operate at
the same time. If your script(s) accesses files, there may be a conflict as two scripts, or two
copies of the same script, tries to write to the same file at the same time. To fix that, use the
file locking function, flock:

flock (handle, operation [, Scwouldblock] )

Here, handle is the handle of the file you want to lock, and operation is one of these:

• To acquire a shared lock (reader), set operation to LOCK_SH.

• To acquire an exclusive lock (writer), set operation to LOCK_EX.
• To release a lock (shared or exclusive), set operation to LOCKJJN.

And the optional third argument is set to TRUE if the lock would block.
This function returns TRUE if it got a lock, FALSE otherwise.
You get a lock on files in an advisory way—all your file-accessing code must see if it
can get a lock on a file before accessing that file. If your code can't get a lock on a file, some
other code is using the file, and your present code should wait. Locks are advisory (except
under Windows, where they are mandatory), which means that other code can work with
locked files—and possibly mess things up—so you must be sure to try to get a lock before
writing to a file. When you're done, unlock the file, giving other code access to it.
The flock function normally blocks (that is, doesn't return) until a lock can be secured.
If you don't want to wait—and possibly hang your code—OR the constant LOCK_NB to
the operation, such as: LOCK_EX | LOCK_NB. That will make the flock function return
immediately, and if you didn't get a lock, you can wait a second (with the PHP sleep
function like this: sleep(l), which makes the code pause for a second) and try again, timing
out after, say, fifteen attempts.
Here's an example, phpflock.php, which locks the file data.txt before writing to it. You
can open the file and attempt to get a lock like this:

<?php
$handle = fopen("data.txt", "w");

$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.11;

if (flock($handle, LOCKEX | LOCKNB)) {

If you got the lock, you can write to the file and then unlock it:

<?php
$handle = fopenCdata.txt", "w");
358 PHP: The Complete Reference

$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext."; \

if (floek ($handle, LOCK_EX | LOCK_NB) ) {

echo "Locked the file. <br>";
if (fwrite($handle, $text) == FALSE) {
echo "Can not write data.txt. <br>";

}
else {
echo "Created data.txt. <br>";

}
flock($handle, LOCKUN); ' ' ‘
echo "Unlocked the file. <br>";

}
?>

This code only tries to lock the file once, and immediately shows an error if it can't, but
you could loop over fifteen or twenty seconds, trying continuously to lock the file until you
gave up.
If you couldn't get the lock, other code is using the file, and you should let the user
know like this in phpflock.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Locking and unlocking files
</title>
</head>
<body>
<hl>
Locking and unlocking files
</hl>

<?php
$handle = fopenCdata.txt", "w");

$text = "Here\nis\nthe\ntext.";

if (flock($handle, LOCK_EX | LOCK_NB)) {

echo "Locked the file. <br>";
if (fwrite($handle, $text) == FALSE) {
echo "Can not write data.txt. <br>";
}
else {
echo "Created data.txt. <br>";
}
flock($handle, LOCKJJN);
echo "Unlocked the file. <br>";
}
else {
echo "Could not lock the file. <br>";
}
 Chapter 9: File Handling 359

fclose($handle);
?>
</body>
</html>
- I
That's it; you can see the result in Figure 9-21, where the file was locked, written to, and
unlocked. Very cool.
Just bear in mind that if you can't get a lock on a file, most likely some other code is
using that file, and you<6hould try again later.

Figure 9-21 Locking and writing to a file

t
 /

Working with Databases

C onnecting PHP to databases on the server is a natural, and this chapter discusses
that connection. You're going to see how to connect PHP to database tables and the
like in this chapter, updating data as you want in that database.
PHP comes with a lot of support for databases built in, and that's good, because one of
the most popular ways to work with PHP is to handle databases on the server. You can see
the databases that PHP supports in Table 10-1.
If you want to use the built-in PHP support for the various database servers in
Table 10-1, you can find the manuals for them at www.php.net/dbname, where dbname
is the database name, like mysql, Sybase, mssql, and so on. For ODBC, use the name
uodbc; for Oracle, oci8.
By far, the most frequently used database system with PHP is MySQL, so this chapter
focuses on MySQL, which you can get for free from www.mysql.com, although other
database servers are discussed as well. All these databases support PHP, and the only
difference between them, for the most part, is how you connect to them—once you know
how to work with MySQL, the process is easily generalized to other databases.

Adabas Ingres Oracle

dBase InterBase Ovrimos

Empress FrontBase PostgreSQL

FilePro mSQL Solid

Hyperwave Direct MS-SQL Sybase

IBM DB2 MySQL Velocis

Informix ODBC Unix dbm

Table 10-1 PHP-Supported Databases

361
362 PHP: The Complete Reference

What Is a Database?
So, just what is a database? We'll take a look at what makes a database here briefly
(and if you are already familiar with databases, tables, and so on, you can naturally
skip this intro).
Databases organize data for easy access and use by programs. The most popular
database construct is the table, and we'll take a look at tables here. Say, for example, that
you're teaching PHP to a class of students and want to keep track of their scores. You
might create a table with two columns. Name and Grade: ^ , ,

Name Grade |

You can store the name of the first student in the Name column, like this:

Name Grade
Ann

This creates a table entry for Ann—that is, a new row. Each row in a database table is
a record, and this record is for the student named Ann. Each column in a record is called a
field, and you've given the Name field the value "Ann". Similarly, you can give Ann a grade
in the Grade field:

Name Grade
Ann C

And you can add records for other students as well:

Name Grade
Ann C
Mark B
Ed A
Frank A
Ted A
Mabel B
Ralph B
Tom B

What, then, is a database? In its most conventional form, a database is just a collection of
one or more tables. And to access the data in those tables, you use SQL in PHP, which is
coming up in the next topic.

Some Essential SQL

To interact with databases in PHP, you use Structured Query Language, SQL. We're going to
take a look at some SQL here (note that the full SQL language is beyond the score of this
book, which focuses on connecting to databases and so on in PHP—the SQL you use to
work with your database is up to you).
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 363

For example, say that you had a database table named fruit, and you wanted to recover
the records from that table. Here's what might be in that table at present:

Name Number
apples '' 1020
oranges 3329
bananas 8582
pears 235
i-*
To work with this table in your code, you can execute an SQL statement, called an
SQL query, on the table. This query will return all the records in the table:

SELECT * FROM FRUIT

Executing this query gives you a record set containing all matching records from the fruit
table. Because you specified that you wanted to match the wildcard * here, all records in the
fruit table are returned by this query. In PHP, that record set is returned as an array, and you
can loop over that array in ways you're going to see in this chapter.
How's this look in PHP? How do you actually execute an SQL query in PHP? To interact
with MySQL, you'd use the mysql_query function to execute that SQL query, something
like this, which returns the entire fruit table and stores it in $result:

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysql_query($query) or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

Now Sresult holds an array with the records for the fruit table, and you can access the fields
in each record by name.
How about some more SQL? You can also select specific fields from a table like this,
where we're selecting the name and number fields from the fruit table:

SELECT name, number FROM fruit

Using the WHERE clause, you can set up selection criteria that the records in the record
set generated by the query must meet. For example, to select all the records in the fruit table
where the name field equals apples, you can execute this statement: SELECT * FROM fruit
WHERE name= "apples".
You don't have to use an equal sign here; you can test fields using these operators:

• < (less than)

• <= (less than or equal to)
• > (greater than)
• >= (greater than or equal to)

You can use an IN clause to specify a set of values that fields can match. For example,
here's how you can retrieve records that have values in the name field that match apples
or oranges:

SELECT * FROM fruit WHERE name IN ("apples", "oranges")

364 PHP: The Complete Reference

You can also use logical operations on the clauses in your SQL statements. Here's an
example where we're specifying two criteria: the name field must hold either "apples" or
"oranges", and there must be some value in the number field. You use the NULL keyword to
test if there's anything in a field:

SELECT * FROM fruit WHERE name NOT IN ("apples", "oranges") AND number IS NOT NULL

You can use these logical operators to connect clauses: AND, OR, and NOT. Using AND
means that both clauses must be true, using OR means either one can be true, and using
NOT flips the value of a clause from TRUE to FALSE or FALSE t<? TRUE.
As you might expect, you can also order the records in the record set produced by an
SQL statement. Here's an example where we're ordering the records in the fruit table using
the name field:

SELECT * FROM fruit ORDER BY name

You can also sort records in descending order with the DESC keyword:

SELECT * FROM fruit ORDER BY name DESC

You can use the DELETE statement to delete records like this, where we're removing all
records from the fruit table that have name values that are not apples or oranges:

DELETE * FROM fruit WHERE name NOT IN ("apples", "oranges")

You use the UPDATE statement to update a database when you want to make changes.
For example, here's how to change the value of the number field in the record that contains
the number of apples:

UPDATE fruit SET number = "2006" WHERE name = "apples"

You can also insert new data into a table. Here's an example that inserts a new row into
the fruit table:

INSERT INTO fruit (name, number) VALUES(1 apricots 1, '203')

Okay, we've gotten as much SQL under our belts as we'll need here. The next step is all
about creating a database to work with in PHP.

Creating a MySQL Database

We're using MySQL databases in this chapter, and to have something to work with in code,
we're going to create a database in MySQL now. You can get MySQL for free from www
.mysql.com—and in fact, your system might already have it installed. To check if it's already
installed, try this from a command prompt (remember, % stands for the generic command¬
line prompt in this book):

%mysql
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 365

If you see a response from MySQL, congratulations, you've already got it installed. Otherwise,
you'll need to download and install it. In fact, MySQL used to come with PHP, but it no longer
does because of licensing issues.
Depending on your system and MySQL version, you might have to start the MySQL
server befo're working with MySQL. You can start the MySQL server with this command line:

%mysqld --console

On some systems, su^h^s Windows with recent versions of MySQL, you don't need to start
the MySQL server at all—it's already running. In that case, you'll get an error if you try to
start the MySQL server a second time; the error will concern shared resources.
Next, you should start a MySQL session that's going to connect to the server, and which
you can use to create your own database. You need a username and password to work with
MySQL; say your username is "user" and your password is "password". You can start
MySQL like this at the command prompt:

%mysql -u user -p

This will ask you to enter your password:

%mysql -u user -p
Enter password: ********

Once you've started a session, you'll see a response something like this:

%mysql -u user -p
Enter password: ********
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
mysql>

The last line, mysql>, is a prompt for you to enter your commands.
If you don't have a username and password, enter mysql -u root, or just mysql, to start:

%mysql -u root
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
mysql>

To get started, enter SELECT VERSION!), CURRENT_DATE; to confirm that MySQL

is working:

mysql> SELECT VERSION(), CURRENT_DATE;

VERSION() | CURRENT_DATE

5.0.19-nt | 2007-05-10

row in set (0.01 sec)

This command gives you the MySQL version and the current date. Note that MySQL
commands like this end with a semicolon.
366 PHP: The Complete Reference

MySQL comes with some databases built in—which you can check with the SHOW
DATABASES; command:

mysql> SHOW DATABASES;

+-+
| Database
+-+
| mysql
| test
+-+
2 rows in set (0.08 sec) ' ' ‘

These databases already exists in MySQL—mysql is a database that MySQL uses for
internal administration, and test is a database for test purposes.
Database tables are stored inside databases, so the first step is to create a database. You
might use this database to contain information about various fruits and vegetables, for
example, and so you can create a database named, say, produce. You can create the produce
database with the CREATE DATABASE command in the MySQL monitor:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE produce;

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)

That creates a new, empty database, which you can see with the SHOW DATABASES;
command:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE produce;

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> SHOW DATABASES;

+-+
| Database
+-+
| mysql
j test
| produce
+-+
3 rows in set (0.08 sec)

Now make the produce database the default database with the USE command like this
in MySQL:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE produce;

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> SHOW DATABASES;

+-+
| Database
+-+
| mysql
| test
| produce
+-+
3 rows in set (0.08 sec)
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 367

mysql> USE produce

Database changed

Are there any tables in this new database? You can use the SHOW TABLES command to
check that ©ut:. /

mysql> USE produce

Database changed

mysql> SHOW TABLED; *

Empty set (0.01 sec)

This response—"Empty set"—tells you that this database doesn't contain any
tables yet.

Creating a New Table

You can change that by creating a new table, say fruits, to contain various fruits. To create
a database table, you have to create the various fields in that table, which means setting
their data format. Here are a few of the most popular data formats:

• VARCHARf/engt/i) Creates a variable-length string

• INT Creates an integer
• DECIMAL(totaldigits, decimalplaces) Creates a decimal value
• DATETIME Creates a date and time object, such as 2008-11-15 20:00:00

Records in the fruit table will contain two 20-character strings—the name of a fruit,
and the number of that fruit on hand. Here's how you create the fruit table in the
MySQL monitor:

mysql> CREATE TABLE fruit (name VARCHAR(20), number VARCHAR(20));

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.13 sec)

That creates the fruit table, which you can check with the SHOW TABLES; command
like this:

mysql> CREATE TABLE fruit (name VARCHAR(20), number VARCHAR(20));

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.13 sec)

mysql> SHOW TABLES;

+--+
| Tables inproduce |
+-+
| fruit |
+-+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
368 PHP: The Complete Reference

In fact, you can check on this table, getting the format-of its fields with the DESCRIBE
SQL command like this:

mysql> CREATE TABLE fruit (name VARCHAR(20), number VARCHAR(20));

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.13 sec)

mysql> SHOW TABLES;

+-+
] Tables_in_produce |
+-+
| fruit | ' ‘ ‘
+-+
1 row in set (0.00 sec) \

mysql> DESCRIBE fruit;

Field Type Null Key | Default | Extra

name varchar(20) YES 1 NULL

number varchar(20) YES | NULL 1

2 rows in set (0.01 sec)

Cool—now you've got a new database table, fruits. Time to stock it with some data.

Putting Data into the New Database

Say that you're keeping track of the fruit inventory at your local grocery store. You count
this many fruits:

apples 1020
oranges 3329
bananas 8582
pears 235

Alright, how about storing that in the new fruit database table? You've got two fields in
each record in the fruit table, as you can see in the MySQL description of the table:

mysql> DESCRIBE fruit;

Field Type Null Key | Default Extra

name varchar(20) YES NULL

number varchar(20) YES NULL |

2 rows in set (0.01 sec)

 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 369

So now you can insert two strings into the record for each kind of fruit—the name of the
fruit, and the number of that fruit on hand. You can create records in the fruit table with the
SQL INSERT command. For example, to insert a record for the number of apples on hand,
you'd execute this command: ,
t '■ i

mysql> INSERT INTO fruit VALUES ('apples’, '1020');

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Great, that creates,a new record for apples. You can check that new record with the
SELECT * FROM fruit; command:

mysql> INSERT INTO fruit VALUES ('apples', '1020');

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT * FROM fruit;

-+- -+
name number

apples 1 1020 >

-+■ -+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

As you can see, there is a new record for apples here.

Here's how you add the other fruits with INSERT statements:

mysql> INSERT INTO fruit VALUES ('apples', '1020');

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO fruit VALUES ('oranges', '3329');

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO fruit VALUES ('bananas’, '8582');

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO fruit VALUES ('pears', '235');

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

And you can check the new fruit table and its contents with SELECT * FROM fruit;
like this:

mysql> SELECT * FROM fruit;

name | number

apples 1020
oranges i 3329
bananas | 8582
pears | 235

4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

370 PUP: The Complete Reference

That creates a database, produce, and a table in that database, fruit. You can quit the
MySQL monitor like this:

mysql> SELECT * FROM fruit;

+-+-+
| name | number |

apples | 1020 |
| oranges | 3329
| bananas | 8582
| pears j 235
+-+-+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>quit

That creates your database—it's time to access it in PHP.

Accessing the Database in PHP

When you install PHP, you can select from a number of extensions. To install support for
MySQL, click the Extensions node in the installer to open that node and select the MySQL
node to install that extension. Your PHP installation may have already been installed with
MySQL support—most installations on Web servers are.
The MySQL support in PHP consists of a number of functions you can call to interact
with MySQL, and here they are:

• mysql_affected_rows Get the number of rows affected by the previous

MySQL operation.
mysql_change_user Change the logged-in user.
mysql_client_encoding Return the name of the current character set.
mysql_close Close a MySQL connection.
mysql_connect Open a connection to a MySQL Server.
mysql_create_db Create a MySQL database.
mysql_data_seek Seek data in the database.
mysql_db_name Get the name of the database.
mysql_db_query Send a MySQL query.
mysql_drop_db Drop (that is, delete) a MySQL database.
mysql_error Return the text of the error message from the previous
MySQL operation.
mysql_fetch_array Fetch a result row as an associative array, a numeric array,
or both.
mysql_fetch_assoc Fetch a result row as an associative array.
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 371

• mysql_fetch_row Get a result row as an enumerated array.

• mysql field_len Return the length of a given field.
• mysql_field_name Get the name of the given field in a result.
• mysql_field_seek Seek to a given field offset.
• mysql_field_table Get the name of the table the given field is in.
• mysql_field_type Get the type of the given field in a result.
4
• mysql_get_server_info Get MySQL server info.
• mysql_info Get information about the most recent query.
• mysql_list_dbs List databases available on a MySQL server.
• mysql_list_fields List MySQL table fields.
• mysql_list_tables List the tables in a MySQL database.
• mysql_num_fields Get the number of fields in result.
• mysql_num_rows Get the number of rows in result.
• mysql_pconnect Open a persistent connection to a MySQL server.
• mysql_query Send a MySQL query.
• mysql_result Get result data.
• mysql_select_db Select a MySQL database.
• mysql_tablename Get the table name of a field.

We're going to put these functions to work in this chapter. For example, you might put
together an example, phpdatatable.php, which reads in and displays the fruit table from the
produce database.

Connecting to the Database Server

PHP connects to databases using connection objects. To create a connection object for
MySQL, use mysql_connect:

mysql_connect ( [server [, username [, password [, new_link [, client_flags]]]]] )

Here, server is the MySQL server, which can be URLs, port numbers, and so on. The
username and password arguments are the MySQL username and password.
The new_link argument, if set to TRUE, forces PHP to establish a new link to the
database, even if it already has such a link. Otherwise, if you try to open a second link to
the database by calling mysql_connect a second time, PHP may use its already-established
link instead.
The client_flags parameter can be a combination (created by Oring values together with
the OR operator, |) of the following constants: MYSQL_CLIENT_SSL, MYSQL_CLIENT_
COMPRESS, MYSQL_CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE, or MYSQL_CLIENTJNTERACTIVE.
The mysql_connect function returns a connection object if successful, FALSE otherwise.
372 PHP: The Complete Reference

Okay, let's connect to MySQL from PHP using mysql_eonnect. In this case, MySQL and
PHP are on the same machine, so the server is just "localhost". Here's how to create the
connection object (fill in your own username and password, of course):

<?php
$connection = mysqlconnect("localhost","root","*****♦***")

Let's augment this a little, making it display a message ii there was an error, and quit,
using the die function:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*********")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

Connecting to the Database

Okay, we're connected to MySQL; the next step is to select the database you want to use.
You select the database with the mysql_select_db, which works like this:

mysql_select_db (database_name [, link_identifier] )

Here, databasejname is the name of the database, which is "produce” here, and linkjdentifier
is the connection object. Here's how to put mysql_select_db to work in phpdatatable.php:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*********")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

?>

Great—you've connected to the database server, and you've selected the database you
want to work with. Selecting the database is crucial—if you don't select a database before
proceeding, you'll get errors.

Reading the Table

The goal of the phpdatatable.php example is to read and display the database table named
fruit. To get that table returned from the MySQL server, you can send that server an SQL
query using the mysql_query function:

mysql_query (query [, link_identifier] )

 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 373

Here, query is the SQL query you want to send to the database server, and linkjdentifier is
the connection object, representing the connection to that server; if you only have one
connection open, PHP will use that connection.
For SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, EXPLAIN, and other statements returning table
data, mysqLquery returns a resource on success, or FALSE on error. For other type of
SQL statements, UPDATE, DELETE, DROP, and so on, mysqLquery returns TRUE on
success or FALSE on error. The returned result resource should be passed to mysql_
fetch_array, and other functions for dealing with result tables, to access the returned
data. And you can use mysql_num_rows to find out how many rows were returned for
a SELECT statement.
The SQL for getting all records from the fruit table is "SELECT * FROM fruit”, so that'll
be our query:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect'("localhost","root","*********")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = niysql_select_db ("produce", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

9 >

Now you can get a returned data table full of rows from the database like this with
mysqLquery:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root", "*********n)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysql_query($query)

?>

Note that if the SQL query failed, you can end the application and display an error
using the mysql_error function:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*********»)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");
374 PHP: The Complete Reference

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysqlerror());

Alright, you've made progress. Now it's time to decipher the data you've recovered
from the database.

Displaying the Table Data

You can display the data from the fruit table in an HTML table in the Web page returned by
this example. The two fields in the fruit table are name and number, so you can start by
creating the HTML table with table headers Name and Number:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*********")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

echo "<table border='11>";

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</th><th>Number</th>";
echo "</tr>";

?>

Now it's time to start dealing with the result you got back from your SQL query. That's
a PHP resource; it's the fruit table in code form. To extract the records from that table, you
can use the mysql_fetch_array function—this function returns an array corresponding to the
current record (that is, the current row) in the data table, and you can loop over the records
using loops. Here's how to use mysql_fetch_array:

mysql_fetch_array (result [, result_type] )

Here, result is the resource returned by the mysql_query function—that's the data table
you've recovered from the database. And result,_type is the type of array that you want.
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 375

This value is a constant and can take the following values: MYSQL_ASSOC, MYSQL_
NUM, and the default value of MYSQL_BOTH.
You can use mysql_fetch_array to fetch rows from the fruit table, and you might loop
over those j;ows with a while loop. Here's how that looks, where you store each row from
the table in a variable named $row:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*********»)
or die ("Cdifldn't connect to server") ;

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = raysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . raysql_error());

echo "ctable border='1'>";

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</thxth>Number</th>" ;
echo "</tr>";

while ($row = mysqlfetcharray($result))

} '

?>

This assigns the current row from the fruit table to $row. You can access the name field in
that row like this: $row['name’], and the number field in the row as $row['number'].
That means you can display the data in the current row's two fields, name and number,
like this in phpdatatable.php:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*★*******")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieP'Query failed: " . mysql_error () ) ;

echo "<table border='1'>";

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</thxth>Number</th>" ;
echo "</tr>";
376 PHP: The Complete Reference \

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))

{
echo '"<tr>";
echo "<td>", $row[1 name 1], "</td><td>", $row[1 number 1], "</td>";
echo "</tr>";

?>
v • 1

All that's left is to close the connection to the database.

\

Closing the Connection

You can close the connection to the database with mysqLclose:

mysql_close ( [link_identifier] )

Here, link_identifier is the connection object that represents the connection to the database.
Here's how you close the connection in phpdatatable.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Displaying tables with MySQL
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Displaying tables with MySQL</hl>

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*★*******»)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " . mysql_error () ) ;

echo "<table border='1'>"•

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</thxth>Number</th>" ;
echo "</tr>";

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))

{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>", $row [' name ' ] , "</tdxtd>", $row [' number'] , "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 377

Figure 10-1 The fruit table

echo "</table>";

mysqlclose({connection);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results appear in Figure 10-1, where you can see the whole fruit table.
Very cool.
Okay, you've been successful in recovering data from a database table. Excellent. Now
how about modifying that data?

Updating Databases
If someone buys your products online, you'll need to update your database. Say, for
example, that someone purchases a pear from you online, which means that you go from
235 pears in stock to 234:

apples 1020
oranges 3329
bananas 8582
pears 234

How would you make this change from PHP to the fruit table? You would connect to
the produce database and use an SQL UPDATE query to make the change.
378 PHP: The Complete Reference

You can see how this works in phpdataupdate.php. First, you get a connection to the
database server (put in your own username and password, of course):

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*********»)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

Then you select the produce database: '

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*********»)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysqlselectdb("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

So how do you update the number of pears? You can use the UPDATE SQL statement
"UPDATE fruit SET number = 234 WHERE name = 'pears'" like this:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect ("localhost", "root", <<*********<<)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "UPDATE fruit SET number = 234 WHERE name = 'pears'";

Now you can execute this SQL with mysql_query:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect ("localhost", "root" , "*******•*»)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "UPDATE fruit SET number = 234 WHERE name = '

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: ".mysqlerror());
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 379

Okay, now let's confirm that the change was made to the fruit table, updating the
number of pears. You can display the new contents of the fruit table this way in
phpdataupdate.php:

<html> ,r
<head>
<title>
Updating databases
</title> ,,4
</head>

<body>
<hl>Updating databases</hl>

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect ("localhost", "root", »*■*******»)
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "UPDATE fruit SET number = 234 WHERE name = 'pears'";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " .mysql_error () ) ;

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " . mysql_error());

echo "<table border=111>";

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</th><th>Number</th>";
echo "</tr>";

while ($row = mysql fetch array($result) )

{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>", $row[1 name'], "</td><td>", $row['number 1], "</td>";
echo "</tr>";

}
echo "</table>";

mysql_close({connection);
?>
</body>
</html>
380 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 10-2 Updating the fruit table

You can see the results in Figure 10-2, where the number of pears has been updated
to 234. Very nice.
Okay, so far so good. Now you've been able to read data from a database, and update
that data. What about inserting some new data?

Inserting New Data Items into a Database

Business is good, and you decide to start adding more fruit to your Web site, starting with
apricots. Your first shipment is 203 apricots, so you might add that to your stock of fruit:
apples 1020
oranges 3329
bananas 8582
pears 234
apricots 203

But there's no record for apricots, so it's time to add one, which you can do with the
INSERT SQL statement in a new example, phpdatainsert.php.
First, you connect to the database server:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","stoic8888")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 381

Then select the fruit database:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","stoic8888")
p,x die ("Couldn't connect to server") ;

$db = mysqlselectdb("produce", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

*• *

You can insert a new record into a table with the SQL INSERT statement. To insert a new
record for apricots into the fruit table, you can execute this SQL statement: "INSERT INTO
fruit (name, number) VALUES('apricots', '203')":

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","stoic8888")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "INSERT INTO fruit (name, number) VALUES('apricots', 1 203')";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

If successful, that inserts a new record into the database table fruit. You can confirm that
by displaying the fruit table in phpdatainsert.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Inserting new data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Inserting new data</hl>

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","stoic8888")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "INSERT INTO fruit (name, number) VALUES('apricots' , '203')

382 PHP: The Complete Reference

$result = mysql_query($query) v
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

echo "ctable border='1'>";

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</TH><TH>Number</th>"; * 1
echo "</tr>";

while ($row = mysqlfetcharray($result))

{
echo "<TR>";
echo "<td>", $row['name'], "</td><td>", $row[1 number 1], "</td>";
echo "</tr>";

}
echo "</TABLE>";

mysql close($connection);
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 10-3, where a new record has been added for
apricots. Cool.

Figure 10-3 Insert a new record into the fruit table

 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 383

Deleting Records
Now say that your supply of apricots has dried up, so you need to remove them from being
offered on your Web site. How do you delete a record? You can use the SQL DELETE statement.
Here'3 an example, phpdatadelete.php, which removes the apricots record from the fruit
table. You start as usual, by connecting to the database server and selecting the produce
database this way:

<?php ''4
$connection = mysqlconnect("localhost","root",
or die ("Couldn’t connect to server");

$db = mysql selectdb("produce",$connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

Now you can delete the apricots record from the fruit table using the SQL DELETE
FROM fruit WHERE name = 'apricots'":

<?pnp <.
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root", "")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db ("produce",$connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "DELETE FROM fruit WHERE name = ’apricots'";

?>

And you can execute the query on the database:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost", "root","")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "DELETE FROM fruit WHERE name = 'apricots'";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());
384 PHP: The Complete Reference

And you can display the newly modified table in phpdatadelete.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Deleting records
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Deleting records</hl> ' ' 1

<?php
$connection = mysgl_connect("localhost","root","*******")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "DELETE FROM fruit WHERE name = 'apricots'";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or diep'Query failed: " . mysql error());

echo "<table borders'll";

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</thxth>Number</th>";
echo "</tr>";

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))

{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" , $row ['name 1 ] , "</tdxtd>", $ row t' number '] , "</td>";
echo "</tr>";

}
echo "</table>";

mysqlclose($connection);

</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 10-4, where apricots have been deleted. Cool.
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 385

Figure 10-4 Deleting records

Creating New Tables

You can also create your own database tables using PHP and SQL. Here's an example,
phpcreatetable.php, which creates a new table named vegetables with these records:

• Name Number
• corn 2083
• spinach 1993
• beets 437

You start by connecting to the server, as usual, and by selecting the produce database:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect ( "localhost" , "root" , "****•****")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

?>

You can create tables using the SQL CREATE statement. For example, to create a new
vegetables table with name and number fields, you could execute the SQL "CREATE TABLE
vegetables (name VARCHAR(20), number VARCHAR(20))':

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect ("localhost", "root", "********'')
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");
386 PHP: The Complete Reference

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection) \
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "CREATE TABLE vegetables (name VARCHAR(20),

number VARCHAR(20))";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysqlerror());

?>

It's time to stock the new table with some vegetables, which you can do with the SQL
INSERT statement. Here's how you might insert a new record for corn, for example:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","********")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "CREATE TABLE vegetables (name VARCHAR(20),

number VARCHAR(20))";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " . mysql_error () ) ;

$query = "INSERT INTO vegetables (name, number) VALUES(

■corn', '2083')";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " . mysql_error () ) ;

>

And here's how to create the other two records in the vegetables table:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","********")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "CREATE TABLE vegetables (name VARCHAR(20),

number VARCHAR(20))";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "INSERT INTO vegetables (name, number) VALUES(

'corn', '2083 ' ) " ;
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 387

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "INSERT INTO vegetables (name, number)

VALUES(1 spinach', '1993')";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysqlerror());

$query = "INSERT INTO vegetables (name, number)

VALUES('beets', '437')";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

Finally, you can display the new table like this in phpcreatetable.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating a new table
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Creating a new table
</hl>
<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*******")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "CREATE TABLE vegetables (name VARCHAR(20),

number VARCHAR(20))";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or diep'Query failed: " . mysql_error () ) ;

$query = "INSERT INTO vegetables (name, number) VALUES(

'corn', '2083')";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "INSERT INTO vegetables (name, number)

VALUES('spinach', '1993')";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " . mysql_error () ) ;
388 PHP: The Complete Reference

$query = "INSERT INTO vegetables (name, number)

VALUES('beets', '437')";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "SELECT * FROM vegetables";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysqlerror());
*
echo "<table border=111>";
echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</thxth>Number</th>" ;
echo "</tr>";

while ($row = mysqlfetch_array($result))

{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>", $row [' name ' ] , "</tdxtd>" ,
$row[1 number 1], "</td>";
echo "</tr>";

}
echo "</table>";

mysql close($connection);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 10-5, where the new table appears. Very nice.

Figure 10-5 Creating a new table

 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 389

Creating a New Database

You can even create entirely new databases, with their own tables, using PHP and SQL. For
example, ypu might create a new database, foods, with a snacks table that has these records:

• Name Number
• tacos 218
• pizza • * 193
• cheeseburgers 112

Here's how to do that in phpcreatedatabase.php. First, connect to the database server:

<?php
$connection = mysqlconnect("localhost","root",«******♦")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

?>

Now you can create a whole new database, foods, with the SQL "CREATE DATABASE
IF NOT EXISTS foods":

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*******")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$query = "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS foods";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

?>

Next, you select the foods database:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect ("localhost", "root" ,"*******'')
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$query = "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS foods";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieCQuery failed: " . mysql_error());

$db = mysql_select_db ("foods", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");
390 PHP: The Complete Reference

Then it's time to create the snacks table:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*******")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$query = "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS foods";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dief'Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$db = mysql_select_db("foods", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database"); \

$query = "CREATE TABLE snacks (name VARCHAR(20), number

VARCHAR(20))";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

?>

And then you stock the snacks table with some snacks:

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*******")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$query = "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS foods";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$db = mysql_select_db("foods", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "CREATE TABLE snacks (name VARCHAR(20), number

VARCHAR(20))";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "INSERT INTO snacks (name, number)

VALUES('tacos', '218')";

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql error());

$query = "INSERT INTO snacks (name, number)

VALUES('pizza', '193')";
 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 391

$result = mysqlquery($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql error() ) ;

$query = "INSERT INTO snacks (name, number)

^VALUES(1 cheeseburgers' , / '1121)";

$result = mysql query($query)

or die("Query failed: " . mysqlerror());

i ‘ 4

?>

Now you can display the new snacks table:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating a new database
</title>
*
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Creating a new database
</hl>

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","*******")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server") ;

$query = "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS foods";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$db = mysql_select_db("foods", $connection)

or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "CREATE TABLE snacks (name VARCHAR(20), number

VARCHAR(20))";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "INSERT INTO snacks (name, number)

VALUES('tacos', '218')";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or dieC'Query failed: " . mysql_error () ) ;

$query = "INSERT INTO snacks (name, number)

VALUES('pizza', '193')";
392 PHP: The Complete Reference

$result = mysql_query($query) \
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

$query = "INSERT INTO snacks (name, number)

VALUES('cheeseburgers', ' 1121)";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());
$query = "SELECT * FROM snacks";

$result = mysqlquery($query) '

or die("Query failed: " . mysqlerror());

echo "ctable border='1';

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</th><th>Number</th>";
echo "</tr>";

while ($row = mysqlfetcharray($result))

{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>", $row [' name ' ] , "</tdxtd>" ,
$row['number 1], "</td>";
echo "</tr>";

}
echo "</table>";

mysql_close($connection);
?>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 10-6, where the new table in the new database appears.

Figure 10-6 Creating a new database

 Chapter 10: Working with Databases 393

Sorting Your Data

You can keep going with your database work using SQL in PHP—anything possible with
databases ^possible with SQL. Here's another example, phpsortdata.php, that uses SQL to
sort the data in the fruit table before displaying it:

<html>
<head>
<title> *' 4
Sorting your data
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Sorting your data
</hl>

<?php
$connection = mysql_connect ("l'ocalhost" , "root", "**•*****")
or die ("Couldn't connect to server");

$db = mysql_select_db("produce",$connection)
or die ("Couldn't select database");

$query = "SELECT * FROM fruit ORDER BY name";

$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query failed: " . mysql_error());

echo "ctable border='1'>";

echo "<tr>";
echo "<th>Name</thxth>Number</th>" ;
echo "</TR>";

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result) )

{
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>", $row [' name ' ] , "</tdxtd>",
$row['number'], "</td>";
echo "</tr>";

echo "</table>";

mysql_close($connection);
?>
</body>
</html>
394 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 10-7 Sorting your data

You can see the results in Figure 10-7, where your data was sorted.
Now that you can use SQL with PHP, your database capabilities are unlimited.

$
 CHAPTER
Sessions, Cookies, and FTP
T here's a lot of PHP power coming up in this chapter—sessions, cookies, FTP, e-mail,
and more. These topics are of central interest of PF1P programmers, so this chapter is
going to be an interesting one.
By its very nature, the Internet is a stateless place—that is, Web pages don't store data.
The next time you load most Web pages into a browser is the same as the first—the Web
page is reinitialized and is displayed anew. However, the Web has become a more serious
place in terms of programming, and that means writing Web applications that work in a
multipage way: and that means storing data about the user that persists from page to page.
You're going to see two ways of doing that in this chapter: sessions and cookies. And we're
going to start with cookies.

Setting a Cookie
Cookies are those text segments that you can store on the user's computer, and PHP has
good support for setting and reading cookies. Those segments of text can persist even when
the user's computer is turned off, so you can store information about the user easily. That's
great when you want to customize a Web application—the user might choose a color
scheme, for example. Cookies are used for all kinds of purposes, from the benign to the
more sinister—such as tracking what ads a user has already seen and responded to. Setting
and reading cookies in PHP is not hard.
You set cookies on the user's machine with the PHP setcookie function:

setcookie{name [, value [, expire [, path [, domain [, secure]]]]])

Here is what the parameters mean:

• name The name of the cookie.

• value The value of the cookie. (This value is stored on the clients computer, so do
not store sensitive information.)
• expire The time the cookie expires. This is the number of seconds since January 1,
1970. You'll most likely set this with the PHP time function plus the number of
seconds before you want it to expire.
• path The path on the server in which the cookie will be available on.

395
396 PHP: The Complete Reference

• domain The domain for which the cookie is available.

• secure Indicates that the cookie should only be transmitted over a secure HTTPS
connection. When set to 1, the cookie will only be set if a secure connection exists.
The default is 0.

Want a real simple cookie example? Here it is, phpsetcookie.php. This example sets a
cookie named message to the text "No worries.":

<?php i ' '

setcookie("message", "No worries.");
?>

Here's what this PHP looks like in phpsetcookie.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Setting a cookie
</title>
<?php
setcookie("message", "No worries.");
?>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Setting a cookie
</hl>
The cookie was set.

Go to <a href="phpgetcookie.php">phpgetcookie.php</a> to read it.

<body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 11-1, where the cookie was set.
This PHP page includes a hyperlink to another page, phpgetcookie.php, where the
cookie will be read:

<html>

<body>
<hl>
Setting a cookie
</hl>
The cookie was set.

Go to <a href="phpgetcookie.php">phpgetcookie.php</a> to read it.

<body>
</html>

And that page—phpgetcookie.php—is coming up next.

 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 397

Figure 11-1 Setting a cookie

Reading a Cookie
When you set a cookie, it won't be visible to your scripts until the next time you load a page.
That's because the cookie is sent to the server from the user's machine, so immediately after
you set a cookie, you won't be able to read it; you need to get a page back from the browser
first. Note also that cookies are sent in the HTTP headers in pages sent to you by the browser,
and if your cookie-handling page is in domain A (such as www.ultragiantbigco.com), only
the cookies that came from domain A are sent to you.
Once the cookies have been set, they can be accessed on the next page load with the
$_COOKIE array. We set a cookie named message in the previous topic—and we'll read it
here. The values of cookies are automatically loaded into the global array named $_COOKIES,
much as the values of Web page data are stored in $_REQUEST, which makes this
process easy.
In phpgetcookie.php, you can start by checking if the cookie was set (avoiding an error
when you try to display $_COOKIE['message'] and the cookie wasn't set):

<?php
if (isset($_COOKIE['message'])) {

i
If the cookie was indeed set, you can display its text like this:

<?php
if (isset($_COOKIE['message']) ) {
echo $_C00KIE['message'] ;

}
398 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's what this looks like in phpgetcookie.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Reading a cookie
</title>
</head>

<body> * • 1
<hl>
Reading a cookie
</hl>
The cookie says:
<?php
if (isset($_COOKIE['message'])) {
echo $_COOKIE[1 message'];

}
?>
<body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-2, where the cookie was read.
Okay, that lets you set cookies and read them. However, this cookie will be deleted as
soon as the user closes their browser. How can you set a cookie's expiration time? That's
coming up next.

Figure 11-2 Reading a cookie

 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 399

Setting Cookies’ Expiration

You can set cookie's expiration time when you create the cookie with the setcookie function:
. !
setcookie(name [, value [, expire [, path [, domain [, secure]]]]])

Here, the time stored in this parameter is a Unix timestamp, holding the number of
seconds since January 1970, and specifying the time when the cookie should be deleted.
To get the current number of seconds since January 1,1970, you can use the PHP time
function. For example, to specify that a cookie should be deleted in an hour, you can do
something like this, where you specify an expiration time of time() + 3600 seconds:

<?php
setcookie("mycookie", $value, time() + 3600);
?>

Here's an example, phpsetexpiration.php, which sets a cookie with an expiration date of

thirty days from now, by setting the expiration to time()+60*60*24*30:

<?php
setcookie("message", "No worries for 30 days.", time()+60*60*24*30);
?>

Here's how that looks in phpsetexpiration.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Setting a cookie's expiration time
</title>
<?php
setcookie("message", "No worries for 30 days.", time()+60*60*24*30);
?>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Setting a cookie's expiration time
</hl>
The cookie has been set to expire in 30 days. Go to
<a href="phpgetcookie.php">phpgetcookie.php</a> next.
<body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-3, where the cookie was set for 30 days.
When you click the hyperlink in this example, you're taken to the cookie-reading page,
phpreadcookie.php, and you can see the cookie's text in Figure 11-4.
You might even want more cookie control—for example, you can delete cookies, and
that's coming up next.
400 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 11-3 Setting a cookie for thirty days

Deleting Cookies
Want to delete a cookie? Whether or not you can depends on the browser you're dealing
with. You can set the expiration time of a cookie to some time in the past, and that should
theoretically make the browser delete the cookie, but the browser may not delete the cookie
until the user closes the browser—and possibly not even then. So a wise precaution is to
first set the text for the cookie to an empty string,

<?php
setcookie("message",
?>

Figure 11-4 Reading a cookie

 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 401

Then set the expiration time to some time in the past as well:

<?php
setcookie("message", pime [) - 3600);
?> / ' *

That's it—that's how you delete a cookie; there is no special deletecookie function.
Here's what this looks like in phpdeletecookie.php:
4 / *

<html>
<head>
<title>
Deleting cookies
</title>
<?php
setcookie("message", "", time() - 3600);
?>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Deleting cookies
</hl>

Cookie was deleted. Check that at

<a href="phpgetcookie.php">phpgetcookie.php</a>.
<body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-5, where the cookie was deleted.
You can see what the phpgetcookie.php page says about the deleted cookie in
Figure 11-6—it couldn't find the cookie.

Figure 11-5 Deleting a cookie

402 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 11-6 Trying to read a deleted cookie

Working with FTP

Using FTP is great on the Internet for moving files around to various servers. This can be a
great means of deploying code, getting configuration data from other sources, reading Web
pages, and more. Here is the FTP support built into PHP (the functions with nb in their
names are non-blocking—they don't wait to complete their task before returning):

• ftp_alloc Allocates space for a file to be uploaded

• ftp_cdup Changes to the parent directory
• ftp_chdir Changes directories on an FTP server
• ftp_chmod Set permissions on a file via FTP
• ftp_close Closes an FTP connection
• ftp_connect Opens an FTP connection
• ftp_delete Deletes a file on the FTP server
• ftp _exec Requests execution of a program on the FTP server
• ftp_fget Downloads a file from the FTP server and saves to an open file
• ftp_fput Uploads from an open file to the FTP server
• ftp_get_option Retrieves run-time behaviors of the current FTP stream
• ftp_get Downloads a file from the FTP server
• ftp_login Logs in to an FTP connection
• ftp_mdtm Returns the last modified time of the given file
• ftp_mkdir Creates a directory
• ftp_nb_continue Continues retrieving/sending a file
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 403

ftp_nb_fget Retrieves a file from the FTP server and writes it to an open file
ftp_nb_fput Stores a file from an open file to the FTP server
fJP-nb_get Retrieves a file from the FTP server and writes it to a local file
ftp_nb_put Stores a file on the FTP server
ftp_nlist Returns a list of files in the given directory
ftp_put Uploads a file to the FTP server
ftp_pwd Returns the current directory name
ftp_quit An alias of ftp_close
ftp_raw Sends an arbitrary command to an FTP server
ftp_rawlist Returns a detailed list of files in the given directory
ftp_rename Renames a file on the FTP server
ftp_rmdir Removes a directory
ftp _set_option Set miscellaneous run-time FTP options
ftp_site Sends a SITE command to the server
ftp_size Returns the size of the given file
ftp_ssl_connect Opens a Secure SSL-FTP connection
• ftp_systype Returns the system type identifier of the remote FTP server

Here's an example, phpftp.php. This example will log in to a remote directory and get a
directory listing. It starts by connecting to the remote server using ftp_connect:

ftp_connect[host [, port [, timeout]])

This function opens an FTP connection to the given host (note that host shouldn't have
any trailing slashes and shouldn't be prefixed with ftp://). The port parameter specifies an
alternate port to connect to; if it is omitted or set to zero, then the default FTP port, 21, will
be used. The timeout parameter specifies the timeout for all subsequent network operations
If omitted, the default value is 90 seconds. This function returns an FTP stream on success,
or FALSE on error.
Here's how the code in phpftp.php connects (put in your own server here):

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com") ;

?>

Next, you have to log in to the FTP server, and you can use ftpjogin for that.

ftp_login(ftp_stream, username, password)

This function passes your username and password to the FTP server, and it returns
TRUE on success or FALSE on failure. If you get a result of TRUE, you're logged in to the
FTP server.
*
404 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here's how phpftp.php uses ftp_login to log in (fill in your own name and password):

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

Okay, so far, so good. The goal of phpftp.php is to get a directory listing of a remote
directory on the server, and in this example, that directory will be named code22. You can
use the ftp_nlist function to get the listing of the remote directory:

array ftp_nlist(ftp_stream, directory)

Here, ftp_stream is the connection object you got from ftp_connect, and directory is the
remote directory you want the listing of. This function returns an array of filenames from
the specified directory on success or FALSE on error.
Here's how to get a directory listing of the code22 directory:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

$array = ftpnlist($connect, "code22");

Now you can loop over the array of filenames, $array, listing the filenames:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

$array = ftp_nlist($connect, "code22");

foreach($array as $value){
echo $value, "<br>";
}
?>

Cool. Here's what this PHP looks like in phpftp.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 405

Reading a remote directory with FTP

</title>
</head>

/r- /
<body>
<hl>
Reading a remote directory with FTP
</hl>

This is what is in the remote directory:

<br>
<br>
<?php
$connect = ftpconnect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftplogin($connect, "username", "password");

$array = ftp_nlist($connect, "code22");

»
foreach($array as $value){
echo $value, "<br>";
}
?>
<body>
</html>

You can see what the phpftp.php page gives you in Figure 11-7—it connected to the
remote directory and displayed the directory's files. Not bad.

Figure 11-7 Getting a remote directory listing with FTP

406 PHP: The Complete Reference

Downloading Files with FTP

How about downloading a file using FTP? This next example, ftpget.php, does exactly that.
This example starts by connecting to a server (use your own server here):

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

Then it attempts to log in (use your own username and password here):

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftplogin($connect, "username", "password");

?>

If logging in didn't work, you can inform the user and exit the application:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit;

?>

On the other hand, if the user was able to log in, it's time to download the file. For that,
use ftp_get:

ftp_get(ftp_stream, local_file, remote_file, mode [, pos])

This function retrieves remote_file from the FTP server and saves it to local_file locally
(which can include a pathname). The transfer mode specified must be either FTP_ASCII or
FTP_BINARY. The pos argument is the position in the remote file to start downloading from.
This function returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure.
Here's how to download the file a.php and save it as script.php locally:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 407

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
f,. echo "Could not connect;
exit ;
}

^result = ftpget($connect, "script.php", "a.php", FTP ASCII);

i • * ~

Did you actually get the file? You can check by seeing if Sresult is true or false. If Sresult
is TRUE, you got the file; if FALSE, you didn't:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect,.";
exit ;

$result = ftp_get($connect, "script.php", "a.php", FTP_ASCII);

if($result){
echo "Got the file.";
}
else {
echo "Did not get the file.";
}

?>

Finally, it's a good idea to close the FTP connection, which you can do with ftp_close
like this in phpftpget.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Downloading a file with FTP
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hldownloading a file with FTP</hl>
Downloading the file....
<br>
<?php
408 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 11-8 Downloading a file with FTP

$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if (!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit ;
}

$result = ftp_get($connect, "script.php", "a.php", FTP_ASCII) ;

if ($result){
echo "Got the file.";
}
else {
echo "Did not get the file.";
}

ftpclose($connect);
?>
<body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-8—the application connected to the remote server
and downloaded the file. Excellent.

aWMMMWIIIWIWMgWBaWWaMiaMiMWWIWM—girr' r III mil Jll 111IIIIWII mill ll lliumwi 11 ^WMIM«B«MM**WM<MMMW(IBIIIIWM>W»<MW>W»MMBBB9888«8a888BI«MMIIMIIIIIMMM|BaM(W»>|g|WlllMMHIWg8888g888aMI«MHII^ '^^''"‘t^MWMMMMWIIIWWIlWWWWWWWWWIIMMIIIIIWIggSBgeBiaaBBBIMMMWMBHBIIIIWggSigWaSiaaiaaiMMBMBWIinillirm'lllirillilMaiMI^

Uploading Files with FTP

You just saw how to download files with FTP and PHP; you can upload files as well. All it
takes is ftp_put:

ftp_put(ftp_stream, remote_file, local_file, mode [, pos])

 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 409

This function stores local_file (which can be specified with a pathname) on the FTP
server, as remote Jile. The transfer mode specified must be either FTP_ASCII or FTP_
BINARY. The pos argument specifies the place to start reading data from in the local file. The
function returns TRUE on success or'FALSE on failure.
Here's an example, phpftpput.php, which uploads itself. It starts by connecting to the
FTP server:

<?php ,, 4
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

9 >

Then you can log in:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");
*

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

?>

And you can display the results of the connection attempt if it failed, exiting the program
this way:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit;

?>

Now you can upload the file using ftp_put:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp login($connect, "username", "password");

?>
410 PHP: The Complete Reference

And you can check the results of this operation, reporting on success to the user:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit; i • •

$result = ftp_put($connect, "phpftpput.php", "phpStpput.php", FTP

ASCII) ;

if($result){
echo "Uploaded the file.";
}

?>

Or, if the operation failed, you can report that as well. Finally, you can close the
connection as well:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Uploading a file with FTP
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Uploading a file with FTP
</hl>
Uploading the file....
<br>
<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

iff!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit ;

}
$result = ftp_put($connect, "phpftpput.php", "phpftpput.php", FTP_ASCII);
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 411

Figure 11-9 Uploading a file with FTP

if($result){
echo "Uploaded the file.";

}
else {
echo "Did not upload the file.";

}
ftpclose($connect);
?>
<body>
</html>

Okay, you can see the results in Figure 11-9—the application connected to the remote
server and uploaded the file.

Deleting a File with FTP

Want to get rid of a file on the FTP server? Use ftp_delete:

ftp_delete (ftp_stream, path)

Here, ftp_stream is the connection object, and path is the name of the file—including its
path—on the server to delete. This function returns TRUE on success and FALSE on failure.
In this example, phpftpdelete.php, you have to connect and log in first:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftplogin($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
412 PHP: The Complete Reference

echo "Could not connect.";

exit;

Then you can delete the file you uploaded before, phpftpput.php:

<?php v ■ '
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit ;

$result = ftp delete($connect, "phpftpput.php");

?>

If the file was deleted, you can report that:

<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit;
}

$result = ftp_delete($connect, "phpftpput.php");

if($result){
echo "Deleted the file.";
}

?>

Otherwise, you can report failure. Either way, you should close the FTP connection like
this in phpftpdelete.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Deleting a file with FTP
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 413

</title>
</head>

<body>
<bli* ' 1
Deleting a file with FTP
</hl>
Deleting the file....
<br> ,,4
<?php
$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit;

$result = ftp_delete($connect, "phpftpput.php");

if($result){
echo "Deleted the file.";

}
else {
echo "Did not delete the file.";

}
ftp_close($connect);
?>
<body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-10—the file was indeed deleted.

Figure 11-10 Deleting a file with FTP

414 PHP: The Complete Reference

Creating and Removing Directories with FTP

You can also create and delete directories on remote FTP servers using PHP. You create
directories using ftp_mkdir (for "make directory"):

ftp_mkdir (ftp_stream, directory )

And you can delete directories using ftp_rmdir (for "remove directory"):
\ 1
ftp_rmdir (ftp_stream, directory )

For both functions, ftp__strearn is the FTP connection object, and directory is the affected
directory.
Here's an example, phpftpdir.php. After connecting and logging in, the code attempts to
create a new directory named backup with ftp_mkdir, and lets the user know if it was
successful:

<?php
^connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$result = ftp_login($connect, "username", "password");

if ( !$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit ;
}
$result = ftpmkdir($connect, "backup");

if($result){
echo "Created the directory. <br>";
}
else {
echo "Could not create the directory. <br>";
}

?>

And after creating the new directory, you can delete it with ftp._rmdir like this in
phpftpdir.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Creating and removing directories with FTP
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Creating and removing directories with FTP
</hl>
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 415

<?php

$connect = ftp_connect("ftp.ispname.com");

$rysult = ftp_login ($conr^ect, "username", "password");

if(!$result){
echo "Could not connect.";
exit ;
}

$result = ftp_mkdir($connect, "backup");

if($result){
echo "Created the directory. <br>";
}
else {
echo "Could not create the directory. <br>";
}

$result = ftprmdir($connect, "backup");

if($result){
echo "Removed the directory. <br>";
}
else {
echo "Could not remove the directory. <br>";
}
ftp_close($connect);
?>
<body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-11—the directory was created and then deleted.

Figure 11-11 Creating and deleting a directory with FTP

416 PHP: The Complete Reference

Sending E-mail
Your PHP scripts can send e-mail as well. To enable e-mail, edit this section in the PHP
initialization file, php.ini:

[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = localhost
; For Win32 only.
sendmail_from = [email protected]
; For Unix only. You may supply arguments as well (default:, "sendmail -t -i") .
;sendmail_path =

Windows users should list the SMTP host they want to use (such as mail.ispname.com
or smtp.ispname.com) and set their return address. Linux and Unix users may not have to
make any changes if the sendmail utility is already in their path, but if things don't work as
they are, uncomment the sendmail_path and set it to the appropriate value (such as / usr/
bin/sendmail).
To send mail, you use the mail function:

mail(to, subject, message [, additional_headers [, additional_parameters]])

This sends mail to the e-mail address in to, with subject subject, and message message.
You can also set additional mail headers and parameters to sendmail.
You can see an example here—phpemail.html and phpemail.php. The phpemail.html
page lets the user enter the e-mail they want to send, and posts it to phpemail.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Send email
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Send email</hl>
<br>
<form method="post" action= "phpemail.php" >

</form>
<body>
</html>

In this page, the user can enter their comments in a text area named message, and click
the Submit button to send those comments to phpemail.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 417

Send email
</title>
</head>

/ '■ /
<body>
<hl>Send email</hl>
<br>
<form method="post" action="phpemail,php">
Please type four comments and click Submit:
<br>
ctextarea name= "message" cols="50" rows = "5"x/textarea>
<br>
<br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
<body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 11-12, where the user has entered an e-mail message.
The phpemail.php script reads the message sent by the user—that is,
$_REQUEST["message"]—and mails it this way:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Your email was sent
</title>
</head>

Figure 11-12 Entering an e-mail

418 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 11-13 Sending e-mail

<body>
<hl>Your email was sent</hl>
Thanks for your email.
<br>
<?php
mail("[email protected]", "Web mail", $_REQUEST["message"]);
?>
<body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-13, where the e-mail was sent.

Sending Advanced E-mail

You can also send e-mail with additional headers, such as a cc header and a bcc header.
Here's how that works in phpadvemail.html and phpadvemail.php. Here's phpadvemail.
html, which allows the user to enter their e-mail:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Send email with headers
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Send email with headers</Hl>

<form method="post" action="phpadvemail.php">

Please type your comments and click Submit:
<br>
<br>
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 419

ctextarea name= "message" cols = "50" rows="5"x/textarea>

<br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form> i
<body>
</html>

And you can include text fields for cc and bcc headers as well:
! ■ *

<html>
<head>
<title>
Send email with headers
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Send email with headers</Hl>

<form method="post" action="phpadvemail,php">

Please type your comments and click Submit:
<br>
cc: <input type="text" name="cc">
bcc: <input type="text" name="bcc">
<br>
<textarea name="message" cols="50" rows="5"></textarea>
<br>
<input type=”submit" value="Submit">
</form>
<body>
</html>

You can see this page in Figure 11-14, where the user has entered an e-mail, along with
cc and bcc e-mail addresses.

Figure 11-14 Entering e-mail with headers

420 PHP: The Complete Reference

The user's e-mail message and cc and bcc headers is sent to phpadvemail.php. To use
the e-mail headers, you assemble them into a text string, separated by "\r\n". For example,
if the user entered a cc header, you can add that to a string named $headers this way:

<?php
$headers = "";

if(isset($_REQUEST["cc"])){
$headers .= "cc:" . $_REQUEST["cc"] . "\r\n";
}

And you can get the bcc header as well, if there was one:

<?php
$headers = "";

if(isset($_REQUEST["cc"])){
$headers .= "cc:" . $_REQUEST["cc"] . "\r\n";
}

if(isset($_REQUEST["bcc"])){
$headers .= "bcc:" . $_REQUEST["bcc"] . "\r\n";
}

?>

Finally, you can send the e-mail, along with the headers in phpadvemail.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Your email was sent
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Your email was sent</hl>
Thanks for your email with headers.
<br>
<?php
$headers = "" ;

if (isset($_REQUEST["cc"] ) ) {
$headers .= "cc:" . $_REQUEST["cc"] . "\r\n";
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 421

Figure 11-15 Sending e-mail with headers

if(isset($_REQUEST [ "bcc"])){
$headers .= "bcc:" . $_REQUEST["bcc"] . "\r\n";

$result = mail("[email protected]", "Web mail", $_REQUEST["message"] ,

$headers);
?>
<body>
</html >

You can see the results in Figure 11-15, where the e-mail—complete with cc and bcc
headers—was sent.

Adding Attachments to E-maii

You can also send attachments with your e-mail from PHP, although that takes some additional
work. Here's an example, phpemailattachments.php, that sends an image file, image.jpg.
We'll start by storing the needed data for this e-mail in various variables—note that
Sattachment contains the name of the image file to attach, and $attachment_MIME Jype
contains the MIME (the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension type) of the attachment:

<?php
$to = "[email protected]";
$subject = "Web mail";
$message = "This email has an attachment.";
$attachment = "image.jpg";
$attachment_MIME_type = "image/jpeg";
422 PHP: The Complete Reference

Now you can work on the attachment, encoding it for inclusion in the message. This is
where it takes a little work, because you have to create a multipart form. You can start by
reading in the attachment's data into a variable named $data:

<?php
$to = "[email protected]";
$subject = "Web mail";
$message = "This email has an attachment.";
$attachment = "image.jpg";
$attachment_MIME_type = "image/jpeg";

$handle = fopen ($attachment, "rb");

$data = fread ($handle, filesize($attachment));
fclose ($handle);

Now we're going to work on creating our multipart form, starting with the boundary
that separates the e-mail message from the attachment data:

<?php
$to = "[email protected]";
$subject = "Web mail";
$message = "This email has an attachment.";
$attachment = "image.jpg";
$attachment_MIME_type = "image/jpeg";

$handle = fopen ($attachment, "rb");

$data = fread ($handle, filesize($attachment));
fclose ($handle);

$boundary = "-Multipart_Boundary-";

$headers = "\nMIME-Version: 1.0\n" .

"Content-Type: multipart/mixed;\n" .
" boundary =\ " " . $boundary . " \ " 11;

Now you have to encode the binary attachment data into text that e-mail uses, and you
can do that using the PHP chunk_split and base64_encode functions:

<?php
$to = "[email protected]";
$subject = "Web mail";
$message = "This email has an attachment.";
$attachment = "image.jpg";
$attachment_MIME_type = "image/jpeg";
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 423

$handle = fopen ($attachment, "rb");

$data = fread ($handle, filesize($attachment));
fc^ose ($handle); j

$boundary = "-Multipart_Boundary-

$headers = "\nMIME-Version: 1.0\n" .

" Content-Typ'e^ multipart/mixed; \n" .
" boundary=\"" . $boundary .

$data = chunksplit(base64_encode($data));

Then you can assemble the text of the message, including the text-encoded attachment,
and mail the whole like so:
*

<?php
$to = "[email protected]";

$boundary = "-Multipart_Boundary-

$headers = "\nMIME-Version: 1.0\n" .

"Content-Type: multipart/mixed;\n" .
" boundary=\"" . $boundary .

$data = chunk_split(base64_encode($data) ) ;

$text = ". $boundary . "\n" .

"Content-Type:text/plain\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n" .
$message . "\n\n--" . $boundary . "\n" .
"Content-Type: " . $attachment_MIME_type . ";\n name=\"" .
$attachment . "\n\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: base64\n\n" .
$data . "\n\n--" . $boundary . "--\nM;

$result = mail($to, $subject, $text, $headers);

Finally, you can report to the user what happened, like this in phpemailattachments
php:
<html>
<head>
<title>
424 PHP: The Complete Reference

Sending email with attachments

</title> '
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Sending email with attachments
</hl>
<?php
$to = "[email protected]"; '
$subject = "Web mail";
$message = "This email has an attachment.";
$attachment = "image.jpg";
$attachment_MIME_type = "image/jpeg";

$handle = fopen ($attachment, "rb");

$data = fread ($handle, filesize($attachment));
fclose ($handle),-

$boundary = "-Multipart_Boundary-";

$headers = "\nMIME-Version: 1.0\n" .

"Content-Type: multipart/mixed;\n" .
" boundary=\"" . $boundary . "\"";

$data = chunk_split(base64_encode($data));

$text = . $boundary . "\n" .

"Content-Type:text/plain\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n" .
$message . "\n\n--" . $boundary . "\n" .
"Content-Type: " . $attachment_MIME_type . ";\n name=\"" .
$attachment . "\"\nContent-Transfer-Encoding: base64\n\n" .
$data . "\n\n--" . $boundary . "--\n";

$result = @mail($to, $subject, $text, $headers);

if($result) {
echo "The email was sent.";
} else {
echo "The email was not sent.";

}
?>
<body>
</html>

Cool. You can see the results in Figure 11-16, where the e-mail, including the attachment,
was sent.
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 425

Figure 11-16 Sending e-mail with attachments

Storing Data in Sessions

By their very nature, Web pages hold only temporary data, unless you specifically store
your data on the server. One way of storing data on the server is to use sessions. Using
sessions, you can store and retrieve data by name. To work with a session, you start by
calling session_start:

session_start();

To store data in the session, use the $_SESSION array. For example, here we're storing
"Rear Window" under the key "movie":

session_start();
$_SESSION[’movie 1] = "Rear Window";

Now in another page access (either of the same or a different page), you can access the
data under the key "movie" using $_SESSION again:

session_start();
$movie = $_SESSION[1 movie 1] ;
426 PHP: The Complete Reference

So as you can see, you're able to preserve data between page accesses. That data isn t
preserved forever—it times out at some point, typically 30-180 minutes, depending on your
PHP installation.
Session behavior is affected by these settings in the PHP initialization file, php.ini note
for example that you can set how long session data is stored by setting a value for session
,cache_expire in minutes:

• session.save_path "/tmp"
• session.name "PHPSESSID"
• session.savejhandler "files"
\

• session.auto_start "0"
• session.gc_probability "1"
• session.gc_divisor "100"
• session.gc_maxlifetime "1440"
• session.serialize_handler "php"
• session.cookie_lifetime "0"
• session.cookie_path"/"
• session.cookie_domain""
• session.cookie_secure ""
• session.use_cookies "1"
• session.use_only_cookies "0"
• session.referer^check""
• session.entropy_file ""
• session.entropy_length "0"
• session.cache_limiter "nocache"
• session.cache_expire "180"
• session.use_trans_sid "0" PHP_INI_SYSTEM | PHP_INI_PERDIR

In particular, you might note that all data for a particular session will be stored in a file
in the directory specified by the session.save_path item. A file for each session (whether or
not any data is associated with that session) will be created.
Okay, time for an example, phpsession.php, which stores the purchase total the user has
made in the session data. First, you start with session_start:

<?php
session start();

■? >
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 427

Then you can store the user's purchase total with the session key "purchase":

<?php
ses.sion_start () ; (
$_SESSION['purchase'] = "39.25";

Here's what it looks like in phpsession.php:

/ - *

<html>
<head>
<title>
Storing data in sessions
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Storing data in sessions
</hl>

<?php
sessionstart();
$_SESSION['purchase') = "39.25";
?>

Stored your purchase, $39.35.

<br>
To read your purchase in a new page, <a href="phpsession2.php"> click
hexe</a>.
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 11-17, where the user's purchase total was stored in the
session.
This script, phpsession.php, has a hyperlink to another page, phpsession2.php, which
reads the session data and displays it. In phpsession2.php, you start with session_start:

<?php
session start!);

?>

The information you want is stored with the key "purchase"—but before trying to
display it, you should check if an entry exists in the $_SESSION array with that key to avoid
errors:

<?php
session start!);
428 PHP: The Complete Reference

3 Storing data in sessions Microsoft Internet Explorer Q@0

I File Edit View Favorites Tools Help m
Q Back - © ’ | 8 hi P Search Favorites ^ 0’ 'V 81 H ^ &
1 Address ||] http: //localhost/ch 11 /phpsession. php
v I gj Go Links y>

Storing data in sessions

Stored your purchase, $39.35. ^ . ,
To read vour purchase in a new page, click here.

v
^ Local intranet
yg

Figure 11-17 Saving data in a session

if(isset($_SESSI0N["purchase"])){

} '

?>

If the data you're looking for exists, you can display it like this:

<?php
session_start();

if(isset($_SESSION["purchase"])){
echo "Welcome. You have purchased \$" . $ SESSION[1 purchase1] . " worth.";
}
?>

Here's how this looks in phpsession2.php:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Retrieving data from sessions
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Retrieving data from sessions
</hl>
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 429

Figure 11-18 Retrieving data from sessions

<?php
session_start();

if(isset($_SESSION["purchase"])){
echo "Welcome. You have purchased \$" . $_SESSION['purchase1] . " worth.";

}
?>
</body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 11-18, where the data stored in the session was
successfully retrieved.

Writing a Hit Counter Using Sessions

Here's another example showing how sessions preserve data between page accesses: a Web
hit counter, indicating how many times the user has been to a Web page (don't use this as a
true Web counter, because it's only supposed to demonstrate how sessions work—after the
user is inactive for the session time-out period, the data in the session will be dumped).
Here's how this example, phpcounter.php, starts:

<?php
session start();
430 PHP: The Complete Reference

If the user has been here before, the page will have stored data in the session under the
key "count", so you can check if there is any such data:

<?php
session_start();

if (lisset($_SESSION['count'])) {

}
?> iv

If there is not any data in the session under the key "count", you can store data in the
session, setting it to 0:

<?php
session_start();

if (!isset($_SESSION['count'])) {
$_SESSION['count'] = 0;

?>
i
Otherwise, you can increment the value stored in the session. Then that value is
displayed by the page:

<html>
<head>
<title>
A session hit counter
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
A session hit counter
</hl>
Hello there. You have been here
<?php
session_start();

if (lisset($_SESSION['count'])) {
$_SESSION['count'] = 0;
} else {
$_SESSION['count']++;
}
echo $_SESSION['count'];
 Chapter 11: Sessions, Cookies, and FTP 431

Figure 11-19 Starting the hit counter

?>
times before.
<body>
</html>

And you can see the results in Figure 11-19, where the user has just browsed to the page,
and the hit counter is set to 0.
After the user reloads the page a few times, you can see the results in Figure 11-20,
where the hit counter data was saved in the session.

Figure 11-20 Using the hit counter

 /

CHAPTER
-————————————

Ajax
A jax is a hot topic, and the foundation of what's been called Web 2.0. Using Ajax
techniques, you can create Web-based applications that have the look and feel of
desktop applications. The primary difference is that Ajax applications don't refresh
the entire browser display every time the user does something, which is a very Web-centric
way of doing things. Using Ajax, you can communicate with the server behind the scenes,
download data, and display it in some specific part of the Web page, without having to
reload the whole page.
Ajax (the name stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) relies on using JavaScript
in the browser. The most common language on the server to use with Ajax is PHP, so this
technology merits our attention.

IWWHMMWMIMlilWMWWWWWriMTTIlWIljlirOTWr'IllWWWWIW) . • xi -x

Getting Started with Ajax

Here's an Ajax example to get things rolling—there's considerable client-side (that is,
browser-side) technology to learn here. This example, will be called index.html, and it
appears in Figure 12-1.
This simple example just fetches the contents of a text file, data.txt, from the server
when you click the button. The difference between this application and a normal Web
page is that when you click the button, the page doesn't blink and redisplay—all that
happens is that the text "The fetched message will appear here." is overwritten with
the contents of data.txt fetched from the server—"Hello from Ajax.", as you can see in
Figure 12-2.
This application looks and works like a desktop application—when you do something
in a word processor, type a character for example, the whole page doesn't flash and flicker
when that new character is displayed. That's what Ajax brings to Web programming—no

433
434 PHP: The Complete Reference

31 An Ajax demo - Microsoft Internet Explorer

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help

©Back " 0 * E) S & P Search ☆ Favorites - D £L <9 4

Address ID http: //localhost/ch 12/index. html K1 Go Link?

An Ajax demo
Fetch the message |

The fetched message will appear here.

© Done * J local intranet

Figure 12-1 An Ajax demo

longer does the whole page have to be reloaded when the user does something and you
need to interact with the server. The entire interaction with the server can take place behind
the scenes, downloading and uploading data, and just specific sections of the Web page will
be updated instead of the whole page being reloaded.
WeTl take a look at how to work with Ajax, using it to fetch the contents of a text file,
before moving on to using Ajax with PHP, seeing how to send data to PHP scripts using
Ajax techniques, and reading what those scripts send back to you.

Figure 12-2 Fetching a message using Ajax

 Chapter 12: Ajax 435

Writing Ajax
Here's what our first example, index.html, looks like—we'll spend a little time understanding
how Ajax Works with this example: 1

<html>
<head>
<title>An Aja3p<Jemo</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
»

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) { ,
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
obj.innerHTML = XMLHttpRequestObj ect.responseText;

}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
</script>
</head>

<body>
<hl>An Ajax demo</hl>

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch the message"
onclick = "getData(1 data.txt', 'targetDiv')">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched message will appear here.</p>
</div>

</body>
</html>
436 PHP: The Complete Reference

Okay, it's time to take this example apart—you're going to learn how to write full Ajax/
PHP applications here. The action here takes place when the user clicks the button with the
caption "Fetch the message", and here's what that button looks like in the HTML form in
index.html:

<body>

<hl>An Ajax demo</hl>

. • >
<form>
cinput type = "button" value = "Fetch the message"
onclick = "getData(1 data.txt1, 1targetDiv1)">
</form>

</body>

This button is connected to a JavaScript function, getData, and passes two arguments to
that function—"data.txt", the name of the file on the server to fetch, and "targetDiv", which
is the name of the <div> element to display the downloaded text in. Here's what that <div>
element, which currently displays "The fetched message will appear here.", looks like in
index.html:

<body>

<hl>An Ajax demo</hl>

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch the message"
onclick = "getData('data.txt', 1targetDiv1)">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched message will appear here.</p>
</div>

</body>

When the text in data.txt is downloaded, it'll be displayed in this <div> element, targetDiv,
as you can see in Figure 12-2.
The real action in this application takes place in the JavaScript, including the getData
function.

Creating the XMLHttpRequest Object

Ajax revolves around the XMLHttpRequest object available in most modern browsers. This
is the object that lets you connect to the server behind the scenes, passing data to PHP
scripts on the server, and reading the responses from those scripts.
The JavaScript in this example starts by creating an XMLHttpRequest object and storing
it in a variable named XMLHttpRequestObject. The JavaScript code, contained in an HTML
<script> element, starts by declaring that variable and setting it to false (so that if we are
 Chapter 12: Ajax 437

unsuccessful in creating an XMLHttpRequest object, this variable will be left holding

FALSE, which subsequent code can test):

<scrj,pt language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

</script> * ‘ *

Now you've got to create the XMLHttpRequest object—a process that differs, depending
on what browser you're dealing with. You can start out by attempting to create this object in
the Netscape Navigator (version 7.0 and later), Apple Safari (version 1.2 and later), and
Firefox using window.XMLHttpRequest, if that object exists, which you can test this way:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {

}
</script>

If window.XMLHttpRequest exists, you can create a new XMLHttpRequest object this

way, using the expression new XMLHttpRequest():

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest() ;
}
</script>

That takes care of Firefox, Navigator, and Safari. You now have an XMLHttpRequest object,
ready to use in those browsers.
What about the Internet Explorer? In Internet Explorer, you create XMLHttpRequest
objects as an ActiveX object, so you first test to see if you can create ActiveX objects:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {

}
</script>
438 PHP: The Complete Reference

If you can create ActiveX objects, you can create a new XMLHttpRequest object using
the expression ActiveXObject(' Microsoft.XMLHTTP") in Internet Explorer:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new v
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
</script>

At this point, then, you've been able to create an XMLHttpRequest object for all major
browsers. The major properties and methods of this object are the same across the browsers—
you can see all properties and methods of this object by browser in Tables 12-1 to 12-6.

Property Description
onreadystatechange Contains the name of the event handler that should be called when
the value of the readyState property changes. 'Read/write.

readyState Contains state of the request. Read-only.

responseBody Contains a response body, which is one way HTTP responses can be
returned. Read-only.

responseStream Contains a response stream, a binary stream to the server. Read-only.

responseText Contains the response body as a string. Read-only.

responseXML Contains the response body as XML. Read-only.

status Contains the HTTP status code returned by a request. Read-only.

statusText Contains the HTTP response status text. Read-only.

Table 12-1 XMLHttpRequest Object Properties for Internet Explorer

Method Description
abort Aborts the HTTP request.

getAIIResponseHeaders Returns all the HTTP headers.

getResponseHeader Returns the value of an HTTP header.

open Opens a request to the server.

send Sends an HTTP request to the server.

setRequestHeader Sets the name and value of an HTTP header.

Table 12-2 XMLHttpRequest Object Methods for Internet Explorer

 Chapter 12: Ajax 439

Property Description
channel Contains the channel used to perform the request. Read-only.
readyStSte Contains state of the request. Read-only.
responseText Contains the response body as a string. Read-only.
responseXML Contains the response body as XML. Read-only.
1 * 4
status Contains the HTTP status code returned by a request. Read-only.
statusText Contains the HTTP response status text. Read-only.

Table 12-3 XMLHttpRequest Object Properties for Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape Navigator

Method Description
abort Aborts the HTTP request.

getAIIResponseHeaders Returns all the HTTP headers.

getResponseHeader Returns the value of an HTTP header.

openRequest Native (nonscript) method to open a request.

overrideMimeType Overrides the MIME type the server returns.

Table 12-4 XMLHttpRequest Object Methods for Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape Navigator

Property Description
onreadystatechange Contains the name of the event handler that should be called
when the value of the readyState property changes. Read/write.

readyState Contains state of the request. Read-only.

responseText Contains the response body as a string. Read-only.

responseXML Contains the response body as XML. Read-only.

status Contains the HTTP status code returned by a request. Read-only.

statusText Contains the HTTP response status text. Read-only.

Table 12-5 XMLHttpRequest Object Properties for Apple Safari

Method Description

abort Aborts the HTTP request.

getAIIResponseHeaders Returns all the HTTP headers.

getResponseHeader Returns the value of an HTTP header.

open Opens a request to the server.

send Sends an HTTP request to the server.

setRequestHeader Sets the name and value of an HTTP header.

Table 12-6 XMLHttpRequest object methods for Apple Safari

440 PHP: The Complete Reference

Okay, now you have an XMLHttpRequest object—the next step is to open it, preparing
you to interact with the server.

Opening the XMLHttpRequest Object

To work with an XMLHttpRequest object and connect to the server, you first have to open
that object. That happens in this example's code in the getData function, which is passed the
name of the file to fetch from the server (as the dataSource ar^urqent) and the name of the
<div> element to display the fetched text in (as the divID argument):

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObj ect("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
function getData(dataSource, divID)
{

} '

</script>

Now you can check if the XMLHttpRequest object-creation code has been successful in
creating an XMLHttpRequest object. That creation code, being outside any JavaScript
function, runs as soon as the page loads, so you can test if you've been able to create an
XMLHttpRequest object this way in the getData function:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
function getData(dataSource, divID)
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {

}
}
</script>
 Chapter 12: Ajax 441

It's time to open the XMLHttpRequest object, which configures it for use with the server
(it does not connect the object to the server); here's how you use that method:

open("method", "URL"[, asyncFl^g[, "userName"[, "password"]]])

Here are what these various parameters mean:

• method This js the HTTP method used to open the connection, such as GET,
POST, PUT, fdEAD, or PROPFIND.
• URL This is the requested URL.
• asyncFlag A Boolean value indicating whether the call is asynchronous. The
default is true.
• userName The user name.
• password The password.

Here's how to open the XMLHttpRequest object in this example, index.html, configuring
that object to use the GET method to connect to the server, and to download data.txt (which
is passed to the getData function in the dataSource argument):

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObj ect("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {

XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

}
</script>

You've configured the XMLHttpRequest object, which sets it up to work with the server.
Next, you have to make provisions to handle the data downloaded from the server.

Handling Downloaded Data

Ajax does its work asynchronously, which means it doesn't wait for the data to return from the
server before letting the browser attend to other tasks. Specifically, it means that you must
create a callback function. That callback function is called when the data is downloaded, so
you put the code that handles the download in that callback function.
442 PHP: The Complete Reference

You connect the callback function to the XMLHttpRequest object by using that object's
onreadystatechange property A function assigned to that property will be called when data
download events occur.
Here's how you assign a function to the XMLHttpRequest object's onreadystatechange
property:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

. V ■ 1
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{

}
}
</script>

When this function is called, the download status of your data has changed, and you
check that using two additional XMLHttpRequest object properties—readyState and status.
The readyState property tells you how the data downloading is coming. Here are the
possible values for this property—a value of 4 is what you want to see, because that means
that the data has been fully downloaded:

• 0 uninitialized
• 1 loading
• 2 loaded
• 3 interactive
• 4 complete

The status property is the property that contains the actual status of the download.
This is actually the normal HTTP status code that you get when you try to download
Web pages—for example, if the data you're looking for wasn't found, you'll get a value
of 404 in the status property. Here are some of the possible values—note that you'll want
to see a value of 200 here, which means that the download completed normally:
 Chapter 12: Ajax 443

• 200 OK
• 201 Created
• 20£ No Content /
• 205 Reset Content
• 206 Partial Content
• 400 Bad Reqi^st
• 401 Unauthorized
• 403 Forbidden
• 404 Not Found
• 405 Method Not Allowed
• 406 Not Acceptable
• 407 Proxy Authentication Required
• 408 Request Timeout
• 411 Length Required
• 413 Requested Entity Too Large
• 414 Requested URL Too Long
• 415 Unsupported Media Type
• 500 Internal Server Error
• 501 Not Implemented
• 502 Bad Gateway
• 503 Service Unavailable
• 504 Gateway Timeout
• 505 HTTP Version Not Supported

In the function connected to the onreadystatechange property, then, you can check if
your data has been downloaded by checking if the readyState property equals 4:

<script language = "javascript"?

function getData(dataSource, divID)
{
if(XMLHttpReguestObject) {

XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&

} ’

}
}
</script>
444 PHP: The Complete Reference

And you can check if everything went okay by seeing if the status property holds 200:

<script language = "javascript">

function getData(dataSource, divID)
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange ^ function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {

1
}
}
}
</script>

If you got the data from the server, you can display it in the targetDiv element in the
Web page with just a little Dynamic HTML, no page refresh needed. Here's how targetDiv
is defined in the Web page:

<body>

<hl>An Ajax demo</hl>

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch the message"
onclick = "getData(1 data.txt1, 1targetDiv1)">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched message will appear here.</p>
</div>

</body>

You can get a JavaScript object corresponding to that <div> element like this:

<script language = "javascript">

function getData(dataSource, divID)
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
 Chapter 12: Ajax 445

XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
</script>

And when your data is downloaded successfully, you can display that data in the
<div> element—when you use XMLHttpRequest objects, your text is downloaded to the
responseText property, so this is how you handle that download in this example:

<script language = "javascript">

function getData(dataSource, divID)
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
obj.innerHTML = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText;

XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);
}
}
</script>

Starting the Download

Okay, you've set everything up for the download—you've opened the XMLHttpRequest
object to configure it, and have set up the callback function. Now you need to start the
connection to the server and the whole download process.
You do that with the XMLHttpRequest send method. When you're using the GET
method, you pass a value of null to the send method like this:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
446 PHP: The Complete Reference

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) t
obj.innerHTML = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText;
i ;
}
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);

}
</script>

That connects to the server and starts the download. As you're going to see, when you use the
POST method, you pass the data you want to send to the server, if any, to the send method.
That completes this example—you've initializes the XMLHttpRequest object, set up a
callback function to handle the data download, and started the data access.

Creating XMLHttpRequest Objects

So far, you've created XMLHttpRequest objects this way:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObj ect("Microsoft.XMLHTTP") ;
}
</script>

However, some browsers support different versions of XMLHttpRequest objects, and

you might find that you want to use a more advanced version (note that the preceding code
will work fine for us in this book). Internet Explorer, for example, supports these more
recent versions: MSXML2.XMLHTTP, MSXML2.XMLHTTP.3.0, MSXML2.XMLHTTP.4.0, or
MSXML2. XMLHTTP. 5.0.
Here's how to create an XMLHttpRequest object using MSXML2.XMLHTTP, for
example. JavaScript supports a try/catch construct that you can use to handle errors, so you
can try creating an MSXML2.XMLHTTP object using a try block like this:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;
 Chapter 12: Ajax 447

try {
XMLHttpRequestObj ect = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP");

</script>

If there was an erroi<—if the browser couldn't create a MSXML2.XMLHTTP object—you

can catch that error in a catch block and try again by creating a standard Microsoft.XMLHTTP
object:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

try {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (exceptionl) {
try {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObj ect("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

</script>

And if that didn't work, you can make sure that XMLHttpRequestObject is set to false:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

try {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (exceptionl) {
try {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObj ect("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (exception2) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = false;
}
}
</script>

If XMLHttpRequestObject is left holding FALSE after all that code, you're not dealing
with the Internet Explorer, and you can create an XMLHttpRequest object for other browsers
like this:

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;
448 PHP: The Complete Reference

try {
XMLHtfepRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (exceptionl) {
try {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (exception2) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = false;
}
}

if (!XMLHttpRequestObject && window.XMLHttpRequest) {

XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
}
</script>

This code will create an MSXML2.XMLHTTP XMLHttpRequest object if it can in the Internet
Explorer, or a Microsoft.XMLHTTP if it can't.
So far, you've just downloaded a text file, but Ajax is most often used with PHP on the
server, so let's get to some of that.

Ajax with Some PHP

Say you had a PHP script named data.php, which echoed some text like this:

<?php
echo 'This text was fetched from the server with Ajax and PHP.
?>

You can download the echoed text using Ajax like this in a new version of index.html,
index2.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>An Ajax and PHP demo</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObj ect("Microsoft.XMLHTTP") ;
}

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);
 Chapter 12: Ajax 449

XMLHttpRequestObj ect.onreadystatechange = function()

if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
fr. . XMLHttpRequestObj get. status == 200) {
obj.innerHTML = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText;

XMLHttpRec^uestObject. send (null) ;

}
}
</script>
</head>

<body>

<Hl>An Ajax and PHP demo</Hl>

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch the message"
onclick = "getData('data.php1, 'targetDiv')">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched message will appear here.</p>
</div>

</body>
</html>

Passing Data to the Server with GET

How about sending some data to the server? You've got to encode the data you send to the
server yourself in Ajax applications—you can't rely on that being done automatically by an
HTML form, as when you send data using HTML controls.
In this example, we're going to send data to the server under the parameter name "data".
If the data parameter holds "1" (note that this is the string "1", not the number 1, because all
data you send to PHP scripts from Web pages is text), the script, choosem.php, sends back
this message:

<?
if ($_REQUEST["data"] == "1") {
echo 'You sent the server a value of 11;
}
450 PHP: The Complete Reference

On the other hand, if the data you send is "2", the script choosem.php echoes this
message:

if ($_REQUEST["data"] == "1") {
echo 'You sent the server a value of
}
if ($_REQUEST["data"] == "2") {
echo 'You sent the server a value of
} V

When you use the GET method of fetching data from the server, data is sent from Web
pages back to the server using URL encoding, which means that data is appended to the URL
that is read from the server. For example, if you were using the GET method and you had
a standard Web page with a text field named "a" that contained the number 5, a text field
namedj'b” that contained the number 6, and a text field named "c" that contained the text
"Now is the time", all that data would be encoded and added to the URL you're accessing.
The names of the text fields, a, b, and c, are the parameters you're sending to the server, and
the text in each text field is the data assigned to each parameter.
When data is URL encoded, a question mark (?) is added to the end of the URL, and the
data, in name=data format, is added after that question mark. Spaces in text are converted
to a plus sign (+), and you separate pairs of name=data items with ampersands (&). So to
encode the data from the "a", "b", and "c" text fields and send it to http://www.servername
.com/user/scriptname, you'd use this URL:

http://www.servername.com/user/scriptname?a=5&b=6&c=Now+is+the+time

That means that to send the data parameter holding "1" to choosem.php, you can use an
URL like this:

choosem.php?data=l

You can modify the Ajax page you've seen so far in this chapter to interact with
choosem.php if you put in two buttons—the first sends the data parameter with "1" using
URL encoding:

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch message 1"
onclick = "getData(’choosem.php?data=l1, 1targetDiv1 >

</form>

And the second button sends the value "2" to choosem.php:

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch message 1"
onclick = "getData(’choosem.php?data=l1, 1targetDiv’)">
 Chapter 12: Ajax 451

<input type = "button" value = "Fetch message 2"

onclick = "getData(1choosem.php?data=21, 1targetDiv1)">
</form>

ft. . I
Here's what all this looks like in index3.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>Sending i?jax data with GET</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
>

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
obj.innerHTML = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText;
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
</script>
</head>

<body>

<hl>Sending Ajax data with GET</hl>

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch message 1"
onclick = "getData(1choosem.php?data=l1, 1targetDiv1)">
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch message 2"
onclick = "getData(1choosem.php?data=21, 1targetDiv1)">
</form>
452 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 12-3 Sending "1" to the server with GET

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched message will appear here.</p>
</div>

</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 12-3, where the user clicked the "Fetch message 1" button.
In Figure 12-4, the user clicked the "Fetch message 2" button.

Figure 12-4 Sending "2" to the server with GET

 Chapter 12: Ajax 453

Passing Data to the Server with POST

We've written choose.php this way, using $_REQUEST/lnstead of $_GET or $_POST to read
data sent'tb this script: '

<?
if ($_REQUEST["data" ] == "1") {
echo 1 You sen}:. £he server a value of 11 ;
}
if ($_REQUEST["data"] == "2") {
echo 1 You sent the server a value of 2 1 ;
}

That means that chhosem.php is set to be used with the POST method, not just GET. But
how do you send data to PHP scripts using POST?
First, because you're not sending data URL-encoded anymore, you have to change the
two buttons in the form from this:

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch message 1"
onclick = "getData(1choosem.php?data=l1, 1targetDiv1)">
cinput type = "button" value = "Fetch message 2"
onclick = "getData(1choosem.php?data=21, ’targetDiv1)">
</form>

to this, where the data—"1" or "2"—is sent to the getData function as the function's
third argument:

<form>
cinput type = "button" value = "Fetch message 1"
onclick = "getData(’choosem.php1, 'targetDiv', 1)">
cinput type = "button" value = "Fetch message 2"
onclick = "getData('choosem.php', 'targetDiv', 2)">
c/form>

Nov/ you've got to modify the getData function to take three arguments:

function getData(dataSource, divID, data)

{

}
And you've also got to change this line, which specifies the GET method:

function getData(dataSource, divID, data)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);
454 PHP: The Complete Reference

to use the POST method instead:

function getData(dataSource, divID, data)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) { '
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObj ect. open ( "POST" , dataSource),;

There's more to switching to the POST method than just that, however—you also have
to indicate to the server-side code that you're going to be encoding data the way POST
encodes that data, which means you have to include this line of code:

function getData(dataSource, divID, data)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("POST", dataSource);
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.setRequestHeader(1 Content-Type 1,
1application/x-www-form-urlencoded1);

}
}

Finally, you use the send method to send the data to the server. You send the server a
data string that is the same as the one you'd append to the end of the URL withJhe GET
method, but when using POST, you pass that string to the send method:

function getData(dataSource, divID, data)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("POST", dataSource);
XMLHttpRequestObject.setRequestHeader(1 Content-Type 1,
1application/x-www-form-urlencoded1);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
obj.innerHTML = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText;
}
 Chapter 12: Ajax 455

XMLHttpRequestObject.send("data=" + data);
}
}
Here'S "what it all looks like in index4.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>Sending. Ajax data with POST</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObj ect("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
function getData(dataSource, divID, data)
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var obj = document. getElementByld (divID)
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("POST", dataSource);
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.setRequestHeader(1 Content-Type 1,
’application/x-www-form-urlencoded1 ) ;

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
obj.innerHTML = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText;
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send("data=" + data);
}
}
</script>
</head>

<body>

<hl>Sending Ajax data with POST</hl>

<form>
cinput type = "button" value = "Fetch message 1"
onclick = "getData(1choosem.php1, 'targetDiv1, 1)">
<input type = "button" value = "Fetch message 2"
onclick = "getData(1choosem.php', 'targetDiv', 2)">
</form>
456 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 12-5 Sending "1" to the server with POST

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched message will appear here.</p>
</div>

</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 12-5, where the user clicked the "Fetch message 1"
button, sending "1" to the server via POST.
So far, you've simply downloaded straight text, using the responseText property of the
XMLHttpRequest object. But doesn't Ajax stand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML?
How about handling some XML? That's coming up next.

Handling XML
Say that you wanted to set up an online store that sold various items—a book on PHP, a
television, a radio, and so on. You could store the items for sale in various XML files—
productsl.xml, products2.xml, and so on, and then download their contents using Ajax.
For example, here's what productsl.xml might look like. You start with an XML
declaration, as all XML files must have:

<?xml version = "1.0" ?>

This XML declaration says that the document is an XML document, and that it's written
in XML version 1.0. Next, all XML documents need a document element—that is, an XML
element that contains all the other elements in the document. You make up your own elements
 Chapter 12: Ajax 457

in XML, so you might use a document element named <items> to store the items you have
for sale like this:

<?xml version = "1.0" ?> /

<items>

</items>

And you can store the actual items for sale inside <item> elements like this:

<?xml version = "1.0" ?>

<items>
<item>PHP book</item>
<item>Television</item>
<item>Radio</item>
</items>
»

That completes productsl.xml. You can also have other lists of items for sale, as here in
products2.xml, which lists Soda, Cheese, and Salami:

<?xml version = "1.0" ?>

<items>
<item>Soda</item>
<item>Cheese</item>
<item>Salami</item>
</items>

Okay, now you have the two XML files that store the items for sale. How about
downloading those XML files using Ajax? We'll put this to work in a page called store.html.
You can display two buttons in the store.html page—one for the first list of products,
and one for the second list of products. For example, the first button would download
products.lxml by calling a JavaScript function named getproductsl:

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">

</form>

And the second button will download the second list of items, products2.xml, by calling
a JavaScript function named getproducts2:

<form>
cinput type = "button" value = "Select products 1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 2"
onclick = "getproducts2()">
</form>
458 PHP: The Complete Reference

In addition, we might display the downloaded items for sale in a <select> drop-down
list control named productsList:

<form>
<select size="l" id="productsList">
<option>Select an item</option>
</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type = "button" value = "Select products'1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">
cinput type = "button" value = "Select products
onclick = "getproducts2()">
</form>

And when the user selects a displayed item, you can indicate which one they selected in
the page, which we'll do in a JavaScript function named setproducts, called when the user
makes a selection in the <select> control:

<form>
<select size="l" id="productsList"
onchange="setproducts()">
<option>Select an item</option>
</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 2"
onclick = "getproducts2()">
</form>

Okay, that sets up the controls in the page. Time to get to some Ajax, starting by creating
the XMLHttpRequest object we're going to use to communicate with the server in JavaScript:

<html>
<head>

<title>Using Ajax with XML</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObj ect = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
 Chapter 12: Ajax 459

We're going to use a function named getproductsl to fetch productsl.xml and display
the items in that XML document in the <select> control. The getproductsl function starts by
checking if the XMLHttpRequest object exists:
/'■ I
function getproductsl()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {

}
}
If the XMLHttpRequest object exists, you can open it, indicating that you want to fetch
productsl.xml:

function getproductsl()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {.
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

}
}
Now you can download the XML here just as you downloaded text earlier—except this
time, the downloaded data is XML, which means you use the responseXML property of the
XMLHttpRequest object, not the responseText property:

function getproductsl!)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()

{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;

}
}
}
}

The responseXML property holds your XML data in the form of a JavaScript XML
document object. You can extract the <item> elements from that document object by using
460 PHP: The Complete Reference

the getElementsByTagName method, which returns an array of <item> elements, which

we'll store in a variable named products:

<html>
<head>

<title>Using Ajax with XML</title>

<script language = "javascript">

v • *

var products;

function getproductsl()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");

}
}
}
}
Alright, now the products variable stores an array of <item> elements. You can call a
new function, listproducts, we'll write that will display the text in those elements in the
<select> control in the page:

function getproductsl()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status ==200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();

}
}
 Chapter 12: Ajax 461

And the last step is to send a value of null to the XMLHttpRequest object to start
the download:

function getproductsl() /
{ ' ' '

if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function!)

if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();
}
}

XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
That completes the function getproductsl; the getproducts2 function downloads the
products2.xml document:

function getproducts2()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "products2.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status ==200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();
}
}

XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
Excellent. Now you can write the listproducts function that lists the products for sale, as
stored in the products array. The products array holds these elements:

<item>PHP book</item>
<item>Television</item>
<item>Radio</item>

You can access them as products[0], productsjl], products[2]. But that's not the end
of the story—how do you access the text inside each element? That's one of the tricks of
462 PHP: The Complete Reference

working with XML in JavaScript—to access the text inside each XML element, say
products[0], you. have to use the expression products[0].firstChild. That expression returns
the first text node inside the element, and that text node holds the text we want. To access
the text inside the text node, you would use the expression products[0].firstChild.data.
Here, then, is how you can stock the <select> control with <option> elements whose
captions are the products for sale:

function listproducts ()

var looplndex;
var selectControl = document.getElementByld(1productsList1);

for (looplndex = 0; looplndex < products.length; loopIndex++ )

{
selectControl.options[looplndex] = new
Option(products[looplndex].firstChild.data);

}
}

We're almost done—all that's left is to write the setproducts function, which is called
when the user makes a selection in the <select> control displaying the items for sale. You
can display the item the user selected in a <div> element named targetDiv like this in
setproducts:

function setproducts()
{
document.getElementByld(1targetDiv1).innerHTML =
"You selected " + products[document.getElementByld
(’productsList1).selectedlndex].firstChild.data;
}
As you can see, it takes a little extra effort to handle XML in Ajax. You can see store.html
in Figure 12-6.

Figure 12-6 store.html

 Chapter 12: Ajax 463

Figure 12-7 Downloading products using XML

When the user clicks the "Select products 2" button, those products are downloaded
using XML and Ajax and displayed in the <select> control, as you can see in Figure 12-7.
And when the user selects an item, that item is displayed in the page, as you see in
Figure 12-8.
That gives you an indication of how to handle XML with Ajax. Now it's time to add
PHP to this picture.

Figure 12-8 Selecting a product

464 PHP: The Complete Reference

Handling XML with PHP

Let's convert store.html into a new example, store2.html, that reads its XML from a PHP script,
products.php. The products.php script is responsible for returning both the first XML document:

<?xml version = "1.0" ?>

<items>
<item>PHP book</item>
<item>Television</item> ^ . ,
<item>Radio</itera>
</items>

as well as the second one:

<?xml version = "1.0" ?>

<items>
<item>Soda</item>
<item>Cheese</item>
<item>Salami</item>
</items>

To indicate which XML document you want, you can send a parameter, items, to
products.php. When items equals "1", the script will return the first XML document, when
items equals "2", the script will return the second XML document.
We'll write products.php first—which brings up the question: how exactly do you
return an XML document from a PHP script? The way to do that is to set the Content-type
header of the data sent to the browser to "text/xml", using the PHP header function:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

?>

This necessary step lets the browser know that XML is coming. Now you can read the
items parameter and load an array named $items accordingly:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "1")
$items = array('PHP book', 'Television1, 'Radio');
if ($ REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese', 'Salami');

Now you've got to assemble a proper XML document to send to the browser, starting
with the XML declaration:
 Chapter 12: Ajax 465

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

if ($_REQJJEST ["items"] == "1") f

$items = array(1PHP book', 'Television', 'Radio');
if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese', 'Salami');

echo '<?xml versidii= " 1.0" ?>';

?>

And you can send the document element, which is <items>:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "1")
$items = array('PHP book', 'Television', 'Radio');
if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese'; 'Salami');

echo '<?xml version="l.0" ?>';

echo '<items>';

echo ,</items>1;
?>

Now you can loop over the items for sale, creating an <item> element for each this way:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "1")
$items = array('PHP book', 'Television', 'Radio');
if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese', 'Salami');

echo '<?xml version="l.0" ?>';

echo '<items>';
foreach ($items as $value)

{
echo '<item>';
echo $value;
echo '</item>';

}
echo '</items>';
?>
466 PHP: The Complete Reference

The modifications in store2.html are relatively minor; all you have to do is to make sure
you send the correct value for the items parameter to the products.php script 1 or 2 .
You make that change in the getproductsl and getproducts2 functions—for example, here's
how you send a value of "1" to products.php in the getproductsl function:

function getproductsl()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.open("GET", "products.php?items = l");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();

}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}

And that's all you need—the rest of store2.html is the same as store.html. You can see
store2.html at work in Figure 12-9.
Very cool.

Figure 12-9 Selecting a product in store2.html

 /

, • ..
CHAPTER
Advanced Ajax
T he preceding chapter got the ball rolling with Ajax and PHP, and this chapter turns to
some more required skills to use Ajax. For example, the preceding chapter used a
single XMLHttpRequest object to communicate with the server. But what if the user
clicks a button a second time before the first Ajax operation is complete? The code will
innocently use the same XMLHttpRequest object for another request to the server—before
the first request comes back.
That's not a big problem with the examples you've seen, since they download static
data, but what if you were connection to a changing database? Or what if you had twenty
Ajax-enabled buttons in your Web page, but used only one XMLHttpRequest object to fetch
your data? Clearly, you should create and use one XMLHttpRequest object for each server
request.
There's more coming up here as well. For example, Ajax is restricted to fetching data
from the same server that the Ajax-enabled Web page itself comes from. That is, if your Ajax
page is http://www.myajax.com/mypage.com, then you're going to have trouble accessing
data from any other domain than http://www.myajax.com using Ajax. We'll discuss this
behavior—and how to get around it—in this chapter.
There are other topics here as well. For example, besides downloading text or XML
using Ajax, a common thing to do with Ajax is to download JavaScript that you execute in
the browser. That's how you connect to a Google Ajax API (application programming
interface)—Google Suggest, which you're going to see here.
Besides all that, you're going to see how to use Ajax with HTTP head requests, allowing
you to check if files exist on the server, what their length and creation date is, and more.
And you'll also see how to defeat caching in browsers like the Internet Explorer, and many
other topics as you start getting into serious Ajax.

Handling Concurrent Ajax Requests with Multiple

XMLHttpRequest Objects
As you recall from the preceding chapter, we created only a single XMLHttpRequest object,
even though some of our examples, like store.html—shown next—give the user the option
of clicking two buttons. That means the user could theoretically click a second button before
their first Ajax request had been completed, and that is a problem. Here's what that looks

467
468 PHP: The Complete Reference

like in store.html—note that there's only one XMLHttpRequest object, and that same object
is used no matter what button the user clicks:

<html>
<head>

<title>Using Ajax with XML</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var products;

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

}
function getproductsl()

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()

{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();

}
}
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);

}
}
function getproducts2()

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "products2.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();

}
}
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 469

XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);
}
}
function listproducts ()
{
var looplndex;
var selectControl = document.getElementByld('productsList');
/ * *

for (looplndex = 0; looplndex < products.length; loopIndex++ )

selectControl.options[looplndex] = new
Option(products[looplndex] .firstChild.data) ;

}
function setproducts()
{
document.getElementByld('targetDiv').innerHTML =
"You selected " + products[document.getElementByld
('productsList').selectedlndex].firstChild.data;
}
</script>
</head>

<body>

<hl>Using Ajax with XML</hl>

<form>
<select size="l" id="productsList"
onchange="setproducts()">
<option>Select an item</option>
</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">
cinput type = "button" value = "Select products 2"
onclick = "getproducts2()">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv" width =100 height=100>

Your selection will appear here.
</div>
</body>
</html>

This is a problem we should address, and it's a common problem with Ajax applications.
Knowing how to deal with it is crucial to Ajax programming. There are several solutions,
which you'll see here. The first such solution is to use multiple XMLHttpRequest objects.
Here's how to modify store.html to use two XMLHttpRequest objects. The process is not
hard: all you have to do is to create two XMLHttpRequest objects—XMLHttpRequestObject
470 PHP: The Complete Reference

and XMLHttpRequestObject2—and then use one object in the functions that connect to the
server—getproductsl and getproducts2:

<html>
<head>

<title>Using two XMLHttpRequest objects</title>

<script language = "javascript">

\ *

var products;
*
\

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

var XMLHttpRequest0bject2 = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject2 = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject2 = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
function getproductsl()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
function getproducts2()
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject2) {
XMLHttpRequestObject2.open("GET", "products2.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject2.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject2.readyState == 4 &&
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 471

XMLHttpRequestObject2.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject2.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item") ;
, listproducts (); /
'}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject2.send(null);
} "7
}
function listproducts ()
{
var looplndex;
var selectControl = document.getElementByld(1productsList');

for (looplndex = 0; looplndex < products.length; loopIndex++ )

{
selectControl.options[looplndex] = new
Option(products[looplndex] .firstChild.data);
}
}

function setproducts()
{
document.getElementByld('targetDiv').innerHTML =
"You selected " + products[document.getElementByld
('productsList') .selectedlndex] .firstChild.data;
}

</script>
</head>
<body>

<hl>Using two XMLHttpRequest objects</hl>

<form>
<select size="l" id="productsList"
onchange="setproducts()">
<cption>Select an item</option>
</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">
cinput type = "button" value = "Select products 2"
onclick = "getproducts2()">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv" width =100 height=100>

Your selection will appear here.
</div>
</body>
</html>
472 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 13-1 Using two XMLHttpRequest objects

You can see the results in Figure 13-1, where each of the two buttons uses a different
XMLHttpRequest object.
This approach is an improvement, but it also has issues—what if you needed a
thousand such objects, would you want to add code to explicitly create each one? Hardly.
You might try creating an array of XMLHttpRequest objects instead, coming up next.

Handling Concurrent Ajax Requests with an XMLHttpRequest Array

To handle the case where you might need dozens of XMLHttpRequest objects to handle
dozens of requests, you could store those objects in an array, XMLHttpRequestObjects:

var XMLHttpRequestObjects = new Array ();

And then when you needed a new XMLHttpRequest object, you could create one,
adding it to the array with the JavaScript push method:

var XMLHttpRequestObjects = new Array ();

function getproductsl()
{
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects.push(new XMLHttpRequest());
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects.push(new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"));
}
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 473

Here's a new Ajax-enabled page, array.html, that puts this to work, creating the store
example using an array of XMLHttpRequest objects in case you have multiple concurrent
Ajax calls:
/'■ /
<html>
<head>

<title>Using XMLHttpRequest arrays</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var products;
var index = 0;
var XMLHttpRequestObjects = new ArrayO;

function getproductsl()
{
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects.push(new XMLHttpRequest());
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects.push(new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"));
}
index = XMLHttpRequestObjects.length - 1;

if(XMLHttpRequestObjects[index]) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].onreadystatechange = functionO
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].send(null);
}
}
function getproducts2()
{
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects.push(new XMLHttpRequest());
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects.push(new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"));
}
index = XMLHttpRequestObjects.length - 1;
474 PHP: The Complete Reference

if(XMLHttpRequestObj ects[index]) {
XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].open("GET", "products2.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].onreadystatechange = functionO
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].responseXML
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts(); ^ . ,

} } ;

XMLHttpRequestObjects[index].send(null);
}
}
function listproducts ()
{
var looplndex;
var selectControl = document.getElementByld('productsList');

for (looplndex = 0; looplndex < products.length; loopIndex++ )

{
selectControl.options[looplndex] = new
Option(products[looplndex].firstChild.data);
}

function setproducts()
{
document.getElementByld('targetDiv').innerHTML =
"You selected " + products[document.getElementByld
('productsList').selectedlndex].firstChild.data;
}

</script>
</head>

<body>

<hl>Using XMLHttpRequest arrays</hl>

<form>
<select size="l" id="productsList"
onchange="setproducts()">
<option>Select an item</option>
</select>
<br>
<br>
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">
cinput type = "button" value = " Select products 2
onclick = "getproducts2()">
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 475

Figure 13-2 Using an XMLHttpRequest array

</form>

<div id="targetDiv" width =100 height=100>

Your selection will appear here.
</div>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 13-2, where each of the two buttons uses a different
XMLHttpRequest object from the array.
This technique works, but you may end up with large arrays of XMLHttpRequest
objects, and it's up to you to delete unused objects. Both the techniques you've seen—
multiple XMLHttpRequest objects and XMLHttpRequest object arrays—work, and you'll
see them used, but perhaps the best solution to handling concurrent Ajax requests is to use
JavaScript inner functions, coming up next.

Handling Concurrent Ajax Requests with JavaScript Inner Functions

What's an inner function? It's a function that's contained inside another function, like this:

function outer(data)
{
var variablel = data;

function inner(variable2)
{
alert(variablel + variable2)
}
}
476 PHP: The Complete Reference

Now say you call the outer function with a value of 4 like this: outer(4). That sets the
variable variable! in this function to 4. It turns out that the inner function has access to the
outer function's data—even after the call to the outer function has finished. So if you were now
to call the inner function, passing a value of 5, that would set variable2 in the inner function to
5—and variablel is still set to 4. So the result of calling the inner function would be 4 + 5 = 9,
which is the value that would be displayed by the JavaScript alert function in this case.
Here's the good part: Every time you call the outer function, a new copy of that function
is created, which means a new value will be stored as variablel. And the inner function will
have access to that value. So if you make the shift from thinking In terms of variablel and
start thinking in terms of the variable XMLHttpRequestObject, you can see that each time a
function like this is called, JavaScript will create a new copy of the-function with a new
XMLHttpRequest object, and that object will be available to any inner functions.
That's what you want in this case, because the code you've been writing already uses an
anonymous inner function, connected to the onreadystatechange property in the getData
function. To make this work like the preceding example, where a new XMLHttpRequest
object is created each time you call the functionsgetproductsl or getproducts2, all you have
to do is to put the code that creates and fills the variable XMLHttpRequestObject inside the
getproductsl and getproducts2 functions. Once you've done that, a new XMLHttpRequest
object will be created each time you call the function, and the anonymous inner function
will use that new object automatically. That means the whole solution to the problem of
multiple concurrent requests looks like this in inner.html:

<html>
<head>

<title>Using Ajax with inner functions</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var products;

function getproductsl()
{
var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "productsl.xml");

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 477

}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
function getproducts2()
{
var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest() ;
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", "products2.xml");
P

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
products = xmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("item");
listproducts();
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}
function listproducts ()

{
var looplndex;
var selectControl = document.getElementByld('productsList1) ;

for (looplndex = 0; looplndex < products.length; loopIndex++ )

{
selectControl.options[looplndex] = new
Option(products[looplndex].firstChild.data);

function setproducts()

{
document.getElementByld(1targetDiv').innerHTML =
"You selected " + products[document.getElementByld
('productsList').selectedlndex].firstChild.data;

}
</script>
478 PHP: The Complete Reference

</head>

<body>

<hl>Using Ajax with inner functions</hl>

<form>
<select size="l" id="productsList"
onchange="setproducts()">
<option>Select an item</option> ( , ,
</select>
<br> |
<br>
<input type = "button" value = "Select products 1"
onclick = "getproductsl()">
cinput type = "button" value = "Select products 2"
onclick = "getproducts2()">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv" width =100 height=100>

Your selection will appear here.
</div>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 13-3, where the example uses inner functions to
automatically create a new XMLHttpRequest object for each Ajax request.
Besides downloading text and XML in Ajax, you can download other types of data as
well. You're going to see how to download JavaScript—a commonly used technique—in
this chapter, as well as images.

Figure 13-3 Using inner functions

 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 479

Note Images? Isn't Ajax limited to downloading text data such as XML? It turns out that when
you download images, you actually download the name of the image, and rely on Dynamic
HTML in the browser to actually download the image.

)ownloading Images Using Ajax

Here's an example showing how to download images using Ajax, image.html. This example
relies on a PHP script, imageName.php, which you can send a parameter named "image" to.
That parameter can take the values "1" or "2" and will return the name of a different image,
Imagel.jpg, or Image2.jpg, accordingly:

<?php
if ($_REQUEST["image"] == "1"){
echo "Imagel.jpg";
}
if ($_REQUEST["image"] == "2"){
echo "Image2.jpg";
}
?>

And you can add two buttons to the page, "Show image 1" and "Show image 2". Each
button is connected to the JavaScript function getData, which we've been using to
download data using Ajax. The first button calls imageName.php with the image parameter
set to "1", and the second button calls imageName.php with the image parameter set to ”2":

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Show image 1"
onclick = "getData(1imageName,php?image=l1, callback)">
<input type = "button" value = "Show image 2"
onclick = "getData(1imageName.php?image=21, callback)">
</form>

So how do you use the downloaded image name to force the browser to download an
image? You do that by writing an <img> element in the Web page. For that reason, image,
html includes a target <div> element, targetDiv:

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched image will appear here.</p>
</div>

In JavaScript, there's a function named callback that is passed the name of the image file
to download. It writes the new <img> element in the targetDiv <div> element like this:

function callback(text)

{
document.getElementByld("targetDiv").innerHTML =
"<img src= " + text +

}
480 PHP: The Complete Reference

When the new <img> element appears in the page, the browser downloads the required
image. Here's how it all looks in image.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>Downloading images using Ajax</title>

<script language = "javascript">

function getData(dataSource, callback) ^ • •

{
var XMLHttpReguestObject = false;
\

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new
ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
callback(XMLHttpRequestObj ect.responseText);
delete XMLHttpRequestObject;
XMLHttpRequestObject = null;
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);
}
}
function callback(text)
{
document.getElementById("targetDiv").innerHTML =
"<img src= " + text + ">";
}
</script>
</head>

<body>

<Hl>Downloading images using Ajax</Hl>

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Show image 1"
onclick =
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 481

Figure 13-4 Downloading images with Ajax

"getData('imageName.php?image=l', callback)">
cinput type = "button" value = "Show image 2"
onclick =
"getData('imageName.php?image=21, callback)">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The fetched image will appear here.</p>
</div>

</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 13-4, where the user has clicked the Show image 1
button, and the application has loaded Imagel.jpg. Clicking Show image 2 would display
Image2.jpg.
Now you're downloading images using Ajax and PHP. Not bad. Now let's take a look at
handling JavaScript downloads.

Downloading JavaScript with Ajax

Sometimes when you use Ajax, the site you're connecting to will return JavaScript, and it s
worthwhile knowing how to handle that. A notable example of this is connecting to Google
Suggest, which searches for matches to keywords the user types as they type them; Google
Suggest is coming up in this chapter.
You can send any kind of JavaScript back from the server to the Ajax-enabled JavaScript.
Here's a short example, javascript.html and javascript.php. In javascript.html, there's a
482 PHP: The Complete Reference

JavaScript function named display, and javascript.php simply echoes that function call as a
JavaScript statement:

<?php
echo 'display()';
?>

When the code in javascript.html reads this JavaScript statement, "displayO", it'll
execute that statement, which will call the display function, displaying a message.
You start javascript.html with a button calling the getData function, which we've been
using to download Ajax data, passing it the name of the PHP script to access, javascript.php:

<form>
cinput type = "button" value = "Download the JavaScript"
onclick = "getData(’javascript.php1)">
</form>

Here's the key—when you download JavaScript from a PHP script, you can use the
JavaScript eval function to execute that JavaScript. That JavaScript will be downloaded into
the XMLHttpRequest object's responseText property, so you can execute it like this in
getData:

function getData(dataSource)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {

XMLHttpReguestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {

eval(XMLHttpRequestObj ect.responseText);
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);
}
Finally, you need to write a display function in javascript.html that will be called when
the JavaScript downloaded from javascript.php is executed. That looks like this in our
complete Ajax application, javascript.html, where the display function displays the message
"Success" in the page:

<html>
<head>
<title>Downloading JavaScript with Ajax</title>

<script language = "javascript">

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 483

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = /new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

function getData(dataSource)
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject) {

XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObj ect.onreadystatechange = function()

if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {

eval(XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText);
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);
}
}

function display()
{
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv.innerHTML = "Success";
}
</script>
</head>

<body>

<hldownloading JavaScript with Ajax</hl>

<form>
cinput type = "button" value = "Download the JavaScript"
onclick = "getData('javascript.php')">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<p>The data will go here.</p>
</div>

</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 13-5, where javascript.html appears.
When the user clicks the button, the JavaScript is downloaded from javascript.php and
executed, giving you a message of success, as you can see in Figure 13-6.
484 PHP: The Complete Reference

3 Downloading JavaScript with Ajax - Microsoft Internet Explorer

File Edit View Favorites Tools Fielp

©Back - ,J [jg p Search Favorites 0 0* j**i * a a

Address j|§j http: //localhost/ch 13/javascript. html Q Go links >J
'

Downloading JavaScript with Ajax

| Down load the JavaScript

The data will go here.

S Done Local intranet

Figure 13-5 javascript.html

Connecting to Google Suggest

Take a look at Figure 13-7, which shows the Google Suggest page you can find at http://
www.google.com/webhp?complete=l&hl=en.
Now type something in the text field, and Google will look up what you're searching for
as you type, giving you the drop-down box that appears in Figure 13-8.
That's a prime example of Ajax—the items in the drop-down list box were fetched
behind the scenes using Ajax, and then displayed in the page.

Figure 13-6 Downloading and executing JavaScript

 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax

Figure 13-7 Google Suggest

Figure 13-8 Using Google Suggest

486 PHP: The Complete Reference

So how can you connect to Google Suggest? Say that you've stored the partial search term
in a variable named searchTerm—you could then connect to Google Suggest at this URL:

"http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&j s=true&qu=" + searchTerm;

How does Google Suggest communicate with you? It will send back JavaScript code that
calls a function named sendRPCDone. Here are the parameters passed to that function:

sendRPCDone(unusedVariable, searchTerm, arrayTerm, arrayResults, unusedArray)

i 1
So what does the JavaScript call you get back from Google Suggest actually look like?
Well, if you're searching for "ajax", this is the kind of JavaScript you'll get back from Google:

sendRPCDone(frameElement, "ajax", new Array("ajax", "ajax amsterdam",

"ajax fc", "ajax Ontario", "ajax grips", "ajax football club", "ajax public
library", "ajax football", "ajax soccer", "ajax pickering transit"), new
Array("3,840,000 results", "502,000 results", "710,000 results", "275,000
results", "8,860 results", "573,000 results", "40,500 results", "454,000
results", "437,000 results" , "10,700
results"), new Array(""));

You take it from there, writing your own sendRPCDone function that will display the
results sent back to you from Google Suggest.
We're going to write an example, google.html, that will connect to Google Suggest using
Ajax and PHP. Why is PHP needed here? That has to do with an Ajax issue—using Ajax,
you can't access domains other than the domain the page came from without having the
browser display warnings. More on this is coming up.
You can see our version of a Google Suggest page in Figure 13-9. It looks and acts just
like the real thing, except that we're going to do it ourselves, putting Ajax to work with the
help of some PHP.
The google.html example starts with a text field that calls a JavaScript function named
connectGoogleSuggest each time a typed key is released by tying it to the text field's
onkeyup event:

<body>
<hl>Connecting to Google Suggest</hl>

Search for <input id = "textField" type = "text"

name = "textField" onkeyup = "connectGoogleSuggest(event)">

</body>

In the connectGoogleSuggest function, you can check if there's any text to send to
Google Suggest, and if so, send that text to google.php as the parameter qu (for query). You
can get the text to send using the text field's value property:

function connectGoogleSuggest(keyEvent)
{
var input = document.getElementByld("textField");
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 487

Figure 13-9 google.html

if (input.value) {
getData("google.php?qu=" + input.value);

} '

}
On the other hand, if there's nothing to send, the user has presumably deleted all text in
the text field, in which case you want to clear the displayed drop-down list of matches from
Google Suggest. Those matches are actually going to be displayed in a drop-down list,
which is actually an HTML table, inserted into a <div> element, targetDiv, right under the
text field:

<body>
<hl>Connecting to Google Suggest</hl>

Search for cinput id = "textField" type = "text"

name = "textField" onkeyup = "connectGoogleSuggest(event)">

<div id = "targetDiv"><divx/divx/div>

</body>
488 PHP: The Complete Reference

In the connectGoogleSuggest function, you can clear the drop-down list if the user has
deleted all search text, like this:

function connectGoogleSuggest(keyEvent)
{
var input = document.getElementByld("textField");

if (input.value) {
getData("google,php?qu=" + input.value);
}
else {
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv.innerHTML = "<div></div>";

}
So when the user enters some search text, that text is passed to google.php by the
getData function—and when Google Suggest returns JavaScript to execute, we'll execute
that JavaScript using the JavaScript eval function:

function getData(dataSource)
{
var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest () ;
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
eval(XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText);
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);
}
}

Alright, it's time for google.php to take over. This is the script that connects to Google
Suggest and downloads JavaScript for the application to execute.
Here's the key to this application: why not just connect to Google Suggest directly
from google.html? Why do you have to go through the intermediary of google.php? You
need google.php because of the mentioned quirk in Ajax: using Ajax, you can't access any
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 489

other domain other than the one your page comes from without seeing warning dialogs
from the browser. Those warning dialogs are there for security—the browser thinks your
page is doing something it shouldn't.
To avAJid those warning dialogs, add still connect to other domains using Ajax, you need
to relay your request through some server-side code. That way, the browser only sees you
accessing a script in the same domain as your main page. But that script can connect to
another site, and the browser won't know a thing about it.
The URL you wanPto access Google Suggest is http:/ / www.google.com/complete/
search, and you send it the user's partially typed search term using the parameter qu. And
you can open that URL from PHP using fopen. So here's how you send Google Suggest the
partially typed search term the user has typed, getting a file handle that represents the
response in google.php:

<?php
$filehandle =
fopen("http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&js=true&qu=" . $_GET["qu"],

"r ") ;

Now you've got a file handle that represents Google Suggest's JavaScript response to
the partially typed search term you sent it. You can loop over that response using a while
loop and feof:

<?php
$filehandle =
fopen("http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&js=true&qu=" . $_GET["qu"],
"r") ;
while (!feof ($filehandle)){

}
?>

And you can download, and echo, Google Suggest's response to your query line by line
like this:

<?php
$filehandle =
fopen("http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&js=true&qu=" . $_GET["qu"],
"r" ) ;

while (!feof($filehandle)){
$download = fgets($filehandle);

echo $download;

?>
490 PHP: The Complete Reference

All that remains is to close the connection to Google Suggest:

<?php
$filehandle =
fopen ( "http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&js=true&qu=" . $_GET["qu"] ,
"r") ;

while (!feof($filehandle)){
$download = fgets($filehandle);
echo $download; ( . t
}
fclose($filehandle);
?>

Okay, that uses PHP to solve the problem of not being able to access other domains than
your page's home domain with Ajax. This script connects to Google Suggest and gets
Google's response to what the user has typed.
That response is in JavaScript form, as you've seen, something like this:

sendRPCDone(frameElement, "ajax", new Array("ajax", "ajax amsterdam",

"ajax fc", "ajax Ontario", "ajax grips", "ajax football club", "ajax public
library", "ajax football", "ajax soccer", "ajax pickering transit"), new
Array("3,840,000 results", "502,000 results", "710,000 results", "275,000
results", "8,860 results", "573,000 results", "40,500 results", "454,000
results", "437,000 results", "10,700
results"), new Array(""));

And the google.html page executes that JavaScript with the eval function:

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = functionO
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
eval(XMLHttpRequestObj ect.responseText);
}
}
You're responsible for writing sendRPCDone yourself. Here's how Google defines the
parameters of this function:

function sendRPCDone(unusedVariable, searchTerm, arrayTerm,

arrayResults, unusedArray)
{

}
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 491

Here's what the parameters are:

• unusedVariable An unused variable

• searchTerm The user's search term
• array Term An array of matching terms
• arrayResults The number of matches to each array term
• unusedArray ' An unused array

This information is going to be displayed in an HTML table inside the targetDiv element
in the page's body:

<body>
<hl>Connecting to Google Suggest</hl>

Search for <input id = "textField" type = "text"

name = "textField" onkeyup = "connectGoogleSuggest(event)">

>
<div id = "targetDiv"><divx/divx/div>

</body>

The purpose of the sendRPCDone function is to create the HTML table in a variable
named data showing the results and display it:

function sendRPCDone(unusedVariable, searchTerm, arrayTerm,

arrayResults, unusedArray)
{
var data = "<table>";

data += "</table>";

var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv. .innerHTML = data;

You can loop over the results from Google this way:

function sendRPCDone(unusedVariable, searchTerm, arrayTerm,

arrayResults, unusedArray)
{
var data = "<table>";
var looplndex;

if (arrayResults.length != 0) {
for (var looplndex = 0; looplndex < arrayResults.length;
loop!ndex++) {
492 PHP: The Complete Reference

} ’

data += "</table>";

var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv.innerHTML = data;
}

In each line of the HTML table, you can display a hyperlink to the search term (in case
the user decides that's the term they want to search for) and the number of matches Google
found for that term:

function sendRPCDone(unusedVariable, searchTerm, arrayTerm,

arrayResults, unusedArray)
{
var data = "<table>";
var looplndex;

if (arrayResults.length != 0) {
for (var looplndex = 0; looplndex < arrayResults.length;
loopIndex++) {
data += "<trxtd>" +
"<a href=1 http://www.google.com/search?g=" +
arrayTerm[looplndex] + "+ arrayTerm[looplndex] +
1 </ax/tdxtd> 1 + arrayResults [looplndex] + "</tdx/tr>" ;
}
}
data += "</table>";

var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv.innerHTML = data;
}
You can also style the targetDiv element with a background color like this in a <style>
element to make it stand out:

<head>
<title>Connecting to Google Suggest</title>
<style>
#targetDiv {
background-color: #FFAAAA;
width: 40%;

}
</style>

</head>
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 493

And that completes google.html—with this page and google.php, you've been able to
connect to Google Suggest, download JavaScript, and run that JavaScript. Here's the full
google.html:
/'• /
<html>
<head>
<title>Connecting to Google Suggest</title>
<style>
#targetDiv { ' *
background-color: #FFAAAA;
width: 4 0%;
}
</style>

<script language = "javascript">

function getData(dataSource)
{
var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}

if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
eval(XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText);
}
}
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);
}
}
function connectGoogleSuggest(keyEvent)
{
var input = document.getElementByld("textField");

if (input.value) {
getData("google.php?qu=" + input.value);
}
else {
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv. innerHTML = "<divx/div>" ;

}
}
494 PHP: The Complete Reference

function sendRPCDone(unusedVariable, searchTertn, arrayTerm,

arrayResults, unusedArray)

{
var data = "<table>";
var looplndex;

if (arrayResults.length != 0) {
for (var looplndex = 0; looplndex < arrayResults.length;
loopIndex++) {
data += "<trxtd>" + v >
"<a href='http://www.google.com/search?q=" +
arrayTerm[looplndex] + Ml>" + arrayTerm[looplndex] +
1 </ax/tdxtd> 1 + arrayResults [looplndex] "</tdx/tr>" ;

}
}

data += "</table>";

var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv.innerHTML = data;
}
</script>
</head>

<body>
<hl>Connecting to Google Suggest</hl>

Search for <input id = "textField" type = "text"

name = "textField" onkeyup = "connectGoogleSuggest(event)">

<div id = "targetDiv" xdivx/divx/div>

</body>
</html>

One of the key issues here was getting around the Ajax restriction of not being able to
connect to other domains.

Connecting to Other Domains Using Ajax

Knowing how to connect to other domains using Ajax is a valuable skill, as you can see in
the Google Suggest example. The key is to relay the request to another domain using a PHP
script on the server.
You can adapt google.php to perform this action. You open the other domain using
fopen, and then read that domain's response line by line using fgets and feof. When
everything is done, you close the foreign URL:

<?php
$filehandle =
fopen ( "http://www.google.com/complete/search?hl=en&js=true&qu=" . $ GET["qu"],
" r" ) ;
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 495

while (!feof($filehandle)){
$download = fgets($filehandle);
echo $download;
} . I

fclose($filehandle);

/ • *

Logging in with Ajax and PHP

Here s another thing Ajax is often used for, and PHP is involved: checking logins. For example,
you can check a user's login behind the scenes, or let them choose their own username or
password. Here's an example, log.html, which lets the user choose a username—and if that
username has already been taken, log.html informs the user of that fact. You can see how
this works in Figure 13-10—the application checks the person's entered username as they
type it, and if it's already taken, as here, it informs them of the fact.
This example reads keys as the user types them, calling a JavaScript function named
checker that checks the new username:

<body>

<Hl>Choose a username</Hl>

Enter a username: cinput id = "textField" type = "text"

name = "textField" onkeyup = "checker()">

<div id = "targetDiv"><divx/divx/div>

</body>

Figure 13-10 Checking a username

496 PHP: The Complete Reference

The checker function calls the getData function with the URL log.php, sending the
username the user is entering to log.php using the parameter name qu :

function checker()
{
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");
targetDiv. innerHTML = "<divx/div>";

if (document.getElementByldP'textField").value) {
getData("log.php?qu=" + i ' '
document.getElementByld("textField").value);

} l
}
The getData function connects to the server and downloads the results:

function getData(dataSource)
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()

{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {

}
}
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.send(null);
}
}
The PHP script in this case is going to return "OK" if the chosen username is okay, and
"notOK" if the username has already been taken. If the username has already been taken,
this example displays the message "Sorry, that username is not available." in a <div>
element:

function getData(dataSource)
{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("GET", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
if(XMLHttpRequestObject.responseText == "notOK"){
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld("targetDiv");

targetDiv.innerHTML =
"<div>Sorry, that username is not available.</div>";
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 497

}
}
}
' XFlLHttpRequestObj ect. send (null) ;
}
}
The PHP script, Jog.php, checks the username passed to it using the parameter qu and
returns the text "notOK' if the username has already been taken:

<?php
if ($_GET["qu"] == "steve"){
echo "notOK";
}

Otherwise, it returns "OK":

<?php
if ($_GET["qu"] == "steve"){
echo "notOK";
}
else {
echo "OK";

}
?>

And that's all you need.

Getting Data with Head Requests and Ajax

You can also use Ajax to check on files on the server before working with them. Here's an
example, head.html, which reads the HTTP headers sent back from the server for the file
head.html itself, and lists those headers, as you can see in Figure 13-11.
As you can see in the figure, when you make a head request for a file, you get back
information like this, which gives the server, the last-modified date of the file, and its length:

Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.1 Date: Mon, 28 May 2007 17:57:54 GMT Content-Type: text/
html Accept-Ranges: bytes Last-Modified: Mon, 28 May 2007 17:57:49 GMT ETag:
"3c058b451alc71:a2f" Content-Length: 1266

It's worth taking a look at working with head requests in Ajax, and this example, head,
html, shows how they work. This example starts with the button you see in the figure, tied
to the getData function:

<body>

<hl>Getting header info</hl>

498 PHP: The Complete Reference

<form>
<input type = "button" value = "Get header data"
onclick = "getData('head.html1, 'targetDiv1)">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<divx/div>
</div>

</body> v • t

In the getData function, you specify that you want head information by specifying that
you want to open the document using the HEAD method (not GET or POST):

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("HEAD", dataSource);

And when your data is downloaded, you can recover the head data using the
XMLHttpRequest object's getAllResponseHeaders method:

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{
if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("HEAD", dataSource);

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
targetDiv.innerHTML =
XMLHttpRequestObject.getAllResponseHeaders();
}
}

XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);

This code gives you the results you see in Figure 13-11. Cool.
You can use the getAllResponseHeaders method to read all headers from the server, but
you can also use getResponseHeader method to read the value of any particular header.
Here's an example, lastModified.html, that checks its own last-modified date and displays
it, as you can see in Figure 13-12.
 Chapter 13: Advanced Ajax 499

Figure 13-11 Getting header info

You make this work by calling the XMLHttpRequest object's getResponseHeader

method like this: getResponseHeader("Last-Modified"). That's the way you use this
method—you pass it the name of the header you're interested in. Here's how lastModified.
html puts this to work:

<html>
<head>
<title>Getting a document's last-modified date</title>

<script language = "javascript">

3 Getting a document's last-modified date - Microsoft Internet Explorer I- H X

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help
. *
Q Back - © 0 0 P Search g? Favorites % * $' ■ a ^ 4

Address |<^j http: //localhost/ch 13/lastModified. html V Qgo links ”

Getting a document’s last-modified date

j Get the date of this document

This document was last modified on Mon, 28 May 2007 18:46:32 GMT

Figure 13-12 Checking a document’s last-modified date

500 PHP: The Complete Reference

var XMLHttpRequestObject = false;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

function getData(dataSource, divID)

{ if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {
var targetDiv = document.getElementByld(divID);
XMLHttpRequestObject.open("HEAD", dataSource);
v

XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function ()

{
if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4 &&
XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) {
targetDiv.innerHTML = "This document was last modified on " +
XMLHttpRequestObj ect.getResponseHeader(
"Last-Modified");

}
}
XMLHttpRequestObject.send(null);

}
}
</script>
</head>

<body>

<Hl>Getting a document's last-modified date</Hl>

<form>

<input type = "button" value = "Get the date of this document"

onclick = "getData(1lastModified.html1, 1targetDiv')">
</form>

<div id="targetDiv">
<divx/div>
</div>

</body>
</html>
 /

CHAPTER
Drawing Images on the Server
T his chapter is all about using PHP to create graphics on the server. Using PHP, you
can draw just about anything and send it back to the browser in a variety of graphics
formats—JPEG, PNG, etc.
To make this work, you have to install support for GD2 in PHP. That happens in a
variety of ways—check the PHP install directions for your operating system. For example,
you might have to check the CD2 check box when asked what options you want to install.
Just what graphics functions are available? Here's the list:

Function Description
gd info Retrieve information about the GD library
getimagesize Return size of an image
image type to extension Return file extension for image
i m age_ty pe_to_m i me_ty pe Return Mime-Type for image-type returned by getimagesize,
exif read data, exifjhumbnail, exifjmagetype
image2wbmp Send image to browser or file
imagealphablending Set the blending for an image

imageantialias Set if antialias functions will be used or not

imagearc Draw an arc

imagechar Draw a character horizontally

imagecharup Draw a character vertically

imagecolorallocate Allocate a color for an image

imagecolorallocatealpha Allocate a color for an image

imagecolorat Return the index of the color of a pixel

imagecolorclosest Return the index of the closest color to the given color

imagecolorclosestalpha Return the index of the closest color to the given color and
alpha setting

501
502 PHP: The Complete Reference

Function Description
imagecolorclosesthwb Return the index of the color that has the hue, whiteness,
and blackness nearest to the given color

imagecolordeallocate De-allocate a color

imagecolorexact Return the index of the given color

imagecolorexactalpha Return the index of the given color and alpha setting

imagecolormatch Make the colors of the palette version of an image more

closely match the true color version

imagecolorresolve Return the index of the given color or its closest possible
alternative

imagecolorresolvealpha Return the index of the given color and alpha setting or its
closest possible alternative

imagecolorset Set the color for the given palette index

imagecolorsforindex Return the colors for an index

imagecolorstotal Return the number of colors in an image’s palette

imagecolortransparent Set a color as transparent

imageconvolution Apply a 3 x 3 convolution matrix

imagecopy Copy just part of an image

imagecopymerge Copy and merge part of an image

imagecopymergegray Copy and merge part of an image with gray scale

imagecopyresampled Copy and resize part of an image, using resampling

imagecopyresized Copy and resize part of an image

imagecreate Create a new image

imagecreatefromgd Create a new image from GD file or URL

imagecreatefromgd2 Create a new image from GD2 file or URL

imagecreatefromgd2part Create a new image from a given part of GD2 file or URL

imagecreatefromgif Create a new image from GIF file

imagecreatefromjpeg Create a new image from JPEG file

i m agec re atef ro m p ng Create a new image from PNG file
imagecreatefromstring Create a new image from the image stream
imagecreatefromwbmp Create a new image from WBMP file
imagecreatefromxbm Create a new image from XBM file
imagecreatefromxpm Create a new image from XPM file
imagecreatetruecolor Create a new true color image
imagedashedline Draw a dashed line
imagedestroy Destroy an image
imageellipse Draw an ellipse
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 503

Function Description
imagefiil Flood fill
~ .
imagefilledarc Draw a partial ellipse and fill it
imagefilledellipse Draw a filled ellipse
imagefilledpolygon Draw a filled polygon
imagefilledrectangle 4 Draw a filled rectangle
imagefilltoborder Flood fill to specific color
imagefilter Apply a filter to an image
imagefontheight Return font height
imagefontwidth Return font width
imageftbbox Give the bounding box of text
imagefttext Write text to the image
imagegammacorrect Apply a gamma correction
imagegd Send GD image to browser or file
imagegd2 Send GD2 image to browser or file
imagegif Send image to browser or file
imageinterlace Enable or disable interlace operations
imageistruecolor Determine whether an image is a true color image

imagejpeg Send image to browser or file

imagelayereffect Set the alpha blending flag to use layering effects

imageline Draw a line

imageloadfont Load a new font

imagepalettecopy Copy the palette from an image

imagepng Send a PNG image to either the browser or a file

imagepolygon Draws a polygon

imagepsbbox Specify the bounding box of text using PostScript Typel

fonts

imagepsencodefont Change the character encoding of a font

imagepsextendfont Extend or condense a font

imagepsfreefont Free memory currently used by a PostScript Type 1 font

imagepsloadfont Load a PostScript Type 1 font

imagepsslantfont Slant a font

imagepstext Draws text using PostScript Typel fonts

imagerectangle Draw a rectangle

imagerotate Rotate an image to a given angle

504 PHP: The Complete Reference

Function Description
imagesavealpha Set the flag to save full alpha channel information when
saving PNG images

imagesetbrush Set the brush image for line drawing

imagesetpixel Set a single pixel

imagesetstyle Set the style for line drawing

imagesetthickness Set the thickness for line drawing

imagesettile Set the tile image for filling

imagestring Draw a string horizontally

imagestringup Draw a string vertically

imagesx Return image width

imagesy Return image height

imagetruecolortopalette Convert a true color image to a palette image
imagettfbbox Give the bounding box of a text using TrueType fonts

imagettftext Write text to the image using TrueType fonts

imagetypes Return the image types supported
imagewbmp Send image to browser or file
imagexbm Send XBM image to browser or file
iptcembed Embed binary IPTC data into a JPEG image
iptcparse Parse a binary IPTC block
jpeg2wbmp Convert JPEG image file to a WBMP file
png2wbmp Convert PNG image file to a WBMP file

Okay, let's get started by creating a simple image.

. «j«h— inini mu aiyiMr——

Creating an Image
To create an image in memory to work with, you start with the GD2 imagecreate function:

imagecreate{x_size, y_size)

The x_size and y_size parameters are in pixels.

Here's how we create a first image:

$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 505

Next, to set colors to be used in the image, you use the imagecolorallocate function:

imagecolorallocate {image, red, green, blue )

/' I
You pass this function the image you're working with, as well as the red, green, and
blue components as 0-255 values. For example, if you want solid red, you'd pass
imagecolorallocate a red value of 255, and blue and green values of 0.
The first time yo,u tail imagecolorallocate, this function sets the background color;
subsequent calls set various drawing colors. Here's how we set the background color to
light gray (red = 200, green = 200, blue = 200):

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image Jieight);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

To send a JPEG image back to the browser, you have to tell the browser that you're
doing so with the header function to set the image's type, and then you send the image with
the imagejpeg function like this:

$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

header(’Content-Type: image/jpeg1);
imagejpeg($image);

Here are some of the image-creating functions for various image formats you can use:

• imagegif Output a GIF image to browser or file.

• imagejpeg Output a JPEG image to browser or file.
• imagewbmp Output a WBMP image to browser or file.
• imagepng Output a PNG image to either the browser or a file.

After sending the image, you can destroy the image object with the imagedestroy
function; all this is shown in phpimage.php:

<?php
$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

506 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 14-1 Creating a box image on the server

header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');

imagejpeg($image);
imagedestroy($image);

•? >

You can see the results in Figure 14-1. As you see, all that appears is a background box
in this example. However, we've made progress—that's a real image you see in the figure.
On the other hand, it's a rare Web page that displays simply an image. Usually, that
image appears in an HTML page.

Displaying Images in HTML Pages

The image created by phpimage.php is a standard JPEG image, so there's no reason you
can't embed it in a Web page. How would you do that? With a standard <img> element, of
course. For example, if you had a JPEG on the server, image.jpg, you could display it this
way in a Web page:

<img src="image.jpg">

In the same way, you can give the name of the script that generates a JPEG image,
phpimage.php, as the src attribute like this:

<img src="phpimage.php">
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 507

Figure 14-2 Displaying a box image in a Web page

Here's what a Web page, phpimage.html, that displays the blank box created by
phpimage.php looks like:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Embedding created images in HTML pages
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Embedding created images in HTML pages
</hl>
This is a blank image created on the server:
<br>
<img src="phpimage.php">
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 14-2, where the JPEG image created by phpimage.php
appears, embedded in an HTML page. Not bad.
Okay, that creates a basic image and displays it. How about drawing some actual graphics?

ii ii i iiiiiinniiiiTmnia«a»a8?ii^^ t i;t«—wr»i

Drawing Lines
You can draw lines with the imageline function:

imageline(image, xl, yl, x2, y2, color)

508 PHP: The Complete Reference

This function draws a line from (xl, yl) to (x2, y2) (the top left of the image is (0, 0), and
all measurements* are in pixels) in image image using drawing color color.
Time to draw some lines in a new script, phpline.php. This example starts by creating
the same background in the image you've already seen:

<?php
$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

v ■ »
$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_heignt);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

>

Now we'll set the drawing color for the lines. In this case, we'll use black, which has a
red, green, and blue color value of 0:

<?php
$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

?>

Then you can draw some lines with imageline:

<?php
$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$ image = imagecreate ($image_width, $image_he.ight) ;

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

image1ine($image, 40, 20, 90, 80, $draw color);

imageline($image, 30, 90, 250, 10, $draw_color);

image1ine($image, 110, 20, 140, 90, $draw_color);

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 509

/ r- • /
And you can send the image back to the browser and then destroy the image this way:

<?php
$image_height = 100;
$image_width i=#300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0) ;

imageline($image, 40, 20, 90, 80, $draw_color);

image1ine($image, 30, 90, 250, 10, $draw_color);

imageline($image, 110, 20, 140, 90, $draw_color);

header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);
?>

Here's what a Web page, phpline.html, that displays the lines created by phpline.php
looks like:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing lines
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing lines
</hl>
These lines were drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phpline.php''>
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 14-3, where the lines created by phpline.php appear in
an HTML page. Cool.
You can adjust the parameters of lines like these; for example, you can draw thicker
lines, and that's coming up next.
510 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 14-3 Displaying lines in a Web page

Setting Line Thickness

You can set the drawing thickness when you create an image, using the imagesetthickness
function:

imagesetthickness(image, thickness)

When you call this function and pass an image to it, it sets the drawing width for that
image, in pixels. For example, you might set the thickness of lines in phpline.php to 6 pixels
(instead of the default 1 pixel) like this in phpthickline.php:

<?php
$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

imagesetthickness($image, 6);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

imageline($image, 40, 20, 90, 80, $draw_color);

imagedestroy($image);
?>
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 511

Figure 14-4 Displaying thick lines in a Web page

Here's what a Web page, phpthickline.html, that displays the thicker lines created by
phpthickline.php might look like:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing thick lines
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing thick lines
</hl>
These thick linos were drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phpthickline.php">
</body>
</htmi>

And You can see the results in Figure 14-4, where the thick lines appear in an HTML
page.

Drawing Rectangles
You can draw plenty of figures using lines alone, but there are far more GD functions to
consider. One of them, imagerectangle, draws rectangles:

imagerectangle(image, xl, yl, x2, y2, color)

512 PHP: The Complete Reference

This function creates a rectangle of color color in image image starting at upper-left
coordinate xl, yl and ending at bottom-right coordinate x2, y2.
Here's an example, phprectangle.php, which draws a number of rectangles:

<?php

$image_height = 100;

$image width = 3 00;

* ■ ‘

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height); .

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

imagerectangle($image, 30, 20, 50, 90, $draw_color);

imagerectangle($image, 70, 20, 140, 90, $draw_color);

imagerectangle($image, 170, 20, 270, 90, $draw_colOr);

imagerectangle($image, 10, 40, 280, 80, $draw_color);'

header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);
?>

And here's how you might embed those rectangles in a Web page, phprectangle.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing rectangles
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing rectangles
</hl>
These rectangles were drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phprectangle.php">
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 14-5, where the rectangles appear.
 Chapter 14: Drawing images on the Server 513

Figure 14-5 Displaying rectangles in a Web page

Drawing Ellipses
Want to draw circles or ellipses? Use the imageellipse function:

imageellipse(image, cx, cy, w, h, color)

Here's how it works. This function draws an ellipse centered at cx, cy in the image
represented by image. The w and h values specify the ellipse's width and height,
respectively. The color of the ellipse is specified by color. This function is pretty close to
imagerectangle, but instead of specifying the upper-left and lower-right corners, you specify
the center of the ellipse, and its width and height.
Here's an example, phpellipse.php, which draws ellipses:

<?php

$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height) ;

$back color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

o
in

imageellipse($image, 100, 40, 150, $draw color);

imageellipse($image, 150, 50, 150, 50, $draw color);

imageellipse($image, 200, 60, 150, 50, $draw color);

header(’Content-Type: image/jpeg');
514 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 14-6 Displaying ellipses in a Web page

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);

And here's how you can embed those ellipses in a Web page, phpellipse.html:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing ellipses
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing ellipses
</hl>
These ellipses were drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phpellipse.php">
</body>
</html>

You can see the results in Figure 14-6, where the ellipses appear.

Drawing Arcs
How about arcs? The imagearc function lets you draw arcs, which include partial circles
and partial ellipses, as well as complete circles and ellipses:

imagearc{image, cx, cy, w, h, s, e, color)

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 515

This function is designed to draw arcs centered at cx, cy in the image represented by
image. The w and h values specify the ellipse's width and height, respectively, while the
start and end points are specified in degrees indicated by the s and e arguments (here, 0° is
located at the three-o'clock position), me arc itself is drawn clockwise.
Here's how you can draw a smiley face using arcs:

imagearc($image, 150, 50, 50, 50, 30, 150, $drawing_color);

i * 9

imagearc($image, 150, 50, 70, 70, 0, 360, $drawing_color);

imagearc($image, 135, 45, 20, 20, 190, -10, $drawing_color)

imagearc($image, 165, 45, 20, 20, 190, -10, $drawing_color)

imagearc($image, 135, 42 , 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing_color)

imagearc($image, 165, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing_color)

And here's what that looks like in phparc.php:

<?php

$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$backcolor = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0) ;

imagearc($image. 150, 50, 50, 50, 30, 150, $drawing color);

imagearc($image, 150, 50, 70, 70, 0, 360, $drawing_color);

imagearc($image. 13 5, 45, 20, 20, 190, -10, $drawing_color) ;

imagearc($image, 165, 45, 20, 20, 190, -10, $drawing_color) ;

imagearc($image, 135, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing_color) ;

imagearc($image, 165, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing_color) ;

header("Content- type: image/jpeg" ) ;

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);
516 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 14-7 Displaying arcs in a Web page

Here's what the HTML page, phparc.html, that displays these arbs looks like:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing arcs
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing arcs
</hl>
These arcs were drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phparc.php">
</body>
</html>

The smiley face appears in Figure 14-7. Cute.

Drawing Polygons
If you want to draw your own figures, you can trace them together using multiple lines if
you want, but there's an easier way; you can use the imagepolygon function to draw a
polygon simply by passing it an array of points. Here's how you use this function in
general:

imagepolygon(image, points, num_points, color)

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 517

This function creates a polygon in an image. The points parameter is an array containing the
polygon's vertices, (points[0] = xO, points[ 1] = y0, points[2] = xl, points[3] = yl, and so on).
The num__points parameter holds the total number of points in the polygon, and color is the
drawing t:blor you want to use.
This is a good function for drawing complex figures—all you have to do is to supply the
vertices of the polygon in an array, such as an array named $points:

$points = arrer/(
0 => 120, 1 => 60,
2 => 130, 3 => 60,
4 => 150, 5 => 80,
6 => 170, 7 => 40,
8 => 150, 9 => 40,
10 => 110, 11 => 20,
12 => 110, 13 => 90
) ;

Here s what that array looks like in phppolygon.php, which uses imagepolygon:

<?php
$points = array(
0 => 120, 1 => 60,
2 => 130, 3 => 60,
4 => 150, 5 => 80,
6 => 170, 7 => 40,
8 => 150, 9 => 40,
10 => 110, 11 => 20,
12 => 110, 13 => 90
) ;

$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

imagepolygon($image, $points, 7, $draw_color );

header(’Content-type: image/jpeg1);

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);
?>

Here's what the HTML page, phpolygon.html, that displays this polygon looks like:

<html>
<head>
<title>
518 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 14-8 Displaying a polygon in a Web page

Drawing polygons
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing polygons
</hl>
This polygon was drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phppolygon.php">
</body>
</html>

The polygon that this example draws appears in Figure 14-8.

Filling in Figures
In addition to just drawing figures in outline, you can also fill in figures with color using
various functions that draw filled-in figures, such as these:

• imagefilledarc Draw a partial ellipse and fill it

• imagefilledellipse Draw a filled ellipse
• imagefilledpolygon Draw a filled polygon
• imagefilledrectangle Draw a filled rectangle

For example, take a look at imagefilledrectangle:

imagefilledrectangle{image, xl, yl, x2, y2, color)

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 519

This function creates a filled rectangle of color color in image image starting at upper-left
coordinate xl, yl and ending at bottom-right coordinate x2, y2.
Here's an example putting imagefilledrectangle to work, modifying our earlier example
phprectangle.php into phpfilledrectartgle.php. The difference is that this version fills its
rectangles in color—red in this case. Here's what the code looks like:

<?php

. , t ‘ 4
$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 255, 0, 0);

imagefilledrectangle($image, 30, 20, 50, 90, $draw_color);

>

imagefilledrectangle($image, 70, 20, 140, 90, $draw_color);

imagefilledrectangle($image, 170, 20, 270, 90, $draw_color);

header(1 Content-Type: image/jpeg’);

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);
?>

Here's the HTML page, phpfilledrectangle.html, that displays these filled rectangles:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing filled rectangles
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing filled rectangles
</hl>
These filled rectangles was drawn on the server;
<br>
<img src="phpfilledrectangle.php">
</body>
</html>

The filled rectangles that this example draws appear in Figure 14-9. They're in black and
white here, but on the screen, they're red. Nice.
520 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 14-9 Displaying filled rectangles in a Web page

Drawing Individual Pixels

Want more graphics power? You can set individual pixels using the imagesetpixel method:

imagesetpixel(image, x, y, color)

As you'd expect, this function draws a pixel at x, y in image image of color color.
Here's an example, phppixel.php, which draws a dotted line using imagesetpixel. To
draw that line, this example simply uses a for loop:

for($loop_index = 50; $loop_index < 270; $loop_index += 3){

imagesetpixel($image, $loop_index, $loop_index / 3, $drawing_color);

}
Here's what this for loop looks like in phppixel.php:

<?php
$image_height = 100;
$image_width = 300;

$image = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

for($loop_index = 50; $loop_index < 270; $loop_index += 3){

imagesetpixel($image, $loop_index, $loop_index / 3, $drawing_color);

}
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 521

header("Content-type: image/jpeg");

imagejpeg($image);

image destroy ('$ image) ;

And here is the HTML page, phppixel.html, that displays these pixels:
/• *

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing pixels
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing pixels
</hl>
These pixels were drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phppixel.php">
</body>
</html>

The pixels that this example draws appear in Figure 14-10.

Figure 14-10 Displaying pixels in a Web page

522 PHP: The Complete Reference

Drawing Text
How about drawing text? There are a number of functions that draw text, such as
imagestring:

imagestring(image, font, x, y, s, color)

This function draws the string s in the image specified by image with the upper-left corner at
coordinates x, y in color color. The graphics package comes with Ipuilt-in fonts—it font is 1, 2,
3, 4, or 5, a built-in font is used. You can also register your own fonts with the GD2 package
using the imageloadfont function. Note that since we're working with graphics, this text is
drawn as an image, not as editable text such as would appear in a text field.
Say you wanted to display some text centered in an image in an example, phptext.php.
You might want to use font number 4, and display the text "No troubles.":

<?php

$fontnumber = 4;

$text = "No troubles.";

■p >

How can you adjust the size of the image to center this text? You can make the image
twice as wide as the text, using the imagefontwidth function to determine the width of each
character in your font, and multiplying by 2 * strlen(Stext) to find the width the image
should be:

<?php

$font_number = 4;

$text = "No troubles.";

$width = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($foutnumber);

■? >

And you might make the image three times as high as the text is—which you can find
out with the imagefontwidth function:

<?php

$font_number = 4;

$text = "No troubles.";

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 523

$width = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number);

$height = 3 * imagefontheight($font number);

/'■ /

?>

Next, you can create the image and the background and drawing colors:

<?php

$font_number = 4;

$text = "No troubles.";

$width = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number);

$height = 3 * imagefontheight($font_number);
»

$image = imagecreate($width, $height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

?>

Next, you can find the x and y positions at which to start the text so that it will appear
centered in the image:

?php

$font_number = 4;

$text = "No troubles.";

$width = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number);

$height = 3 * imagefontheight($font_number);

$image = imagecreate($width, $height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

$x_position = ($width - (strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number)))/ 2;

$y position = ($height - imagefontheight($font_number)) / 2;

524 PHP: The Complete Reference

And then you can draw the text, like this in phppixel.php:

<?php

$font_number =4; v . t

$text = "No troubles.";

v

$width = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number);

$height = 3 * imagefontheight($font_number);

$image = imagecreate($width, $height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

$x_position = ($width - (strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number)))/ 2;

$y_positic>n = ($height - imagefontheight ($font_number) ) / 2;

imagestring($image, $font_number, $x_position, $y_position, $text,

$drawing_color);

header(1 Content-Type: image/jpeg');

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);

?>

And here is the HTML page, phptext.html, that displays the new text:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing text
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing text
</hl>
This text was drawn on the server:
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 525

Figure 14-11 Displaying centered text in a Web page

<br>
<img src="phptext.php">
</body>
</html>

The centered text that this example draws appears in Figure 14-11.

Drawing Vertical Text

You can draw text with imagestring—horizontally, anyway. What about drawing text
vertically, as when you want to label the y axis of a graph? You can use the imagestringup
function:

imagestringup[image, font, x, y, s, color)

This function draws the string s vertically in the image specified by image at coordinates
x, y in color color. If font is 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, a built-in font is used. You can also register your
own fonts with the GD2 package using the imageloadfont function.
Here's an example, phpverticaltext.php, which draws some vertical text. It starts by
selecting a font number and setting the text to display:

<?php

$font_number = 4;
$text = "No troubles.";

9>
526 PHP: The Complete Reference

You have to then determine the dimensions of the image in which to display the text.
For example, you. can make the image width three times the height of the font you ve
selected, and make the image height twice the width of the text that's going to be displayed,
as well as selecting a red drawing color:

<?php

$font_number = 4;
$text = "No troubles.";
k 1
$width = 3 * imagefontheight($font_number);

$height = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number);

$image = imagecreate($width, $height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 255, 0, 0);

?>

That creates the image and selects the drawing color. You can center the image with a
little math, and draw the text using imagestringup this way:

<?php

$font_number = 4;
$text = "No troubles.";

$width = 3 * imagefontheight($font_number);

$height = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number);

$image = imagecreate($width, $height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 255, 0, 0);

$x_position = ($width - imagefontheight($font number)) / 2;

$y_position = ($height + (strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($foutnumber)))/2;

imagestringup($image, $fontnumber, $x_position, $y_position, $text,

$drawing_color);
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 527

And you can send the new image to the browser this way in phpverticaltext.php:

<?php

/r- •
$font_number = 4;
$text = "No troubles.";

$width = 3 * imagefontheight($font number);

i *

$height = 2 * strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font number);

$image = imagecreate($width, $height);

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$drawing_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 255, 0, 0) ;

$x_position = ($width - imagefontheight($font_number)) / 2;

$y_position = ($height + (strlen($text) * imagefontwidth($font_number)))/2;

imagestringup($image, $font_number, $x_position, $y_position, $text,

$drawing_color);

header(1 Content-Type: image/jpeg1);

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);

?>

That completes phpverticaltext.php; here is the HTML page, phpverticaltext.html, that

displays that text:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Drawing vertical text
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Drawing vertical text
</hl>
This text was drawn on the server:
<br>
<img src="phpverticaltext.php">
</body>
</html>

The vertical text that this example draws appears in Figure 14-12. Cool.
528 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 14-12 Displaying vertical text in a Web page

Working with Image Files

You can create graphics image objects from existing image files using these functions:

• imagecreatefromgif Create a new image from a GIF file or URL

• imagecreatefromjpeg Create a new image from a JPEG file or URL
• imagecreatefrompng Create a new image from a PNG file or URL
• imagecreatefromwbmp Create a new image from a WBMP file or URL
• imagecreatefromxbm Create a new image from an XBM file or URL
• imagecreatefromxpm Create a new image from an XPM file or URL

This is great when you want to embed images in Web pages but also want to add
something to them yourself, such as a copyright notice. You can add an image of yourself,
or a logo, inside another image. As an example, we'll use imagecreatefromjpeg here, loading
an existing JPEG image, image.jpg, and adding a smiley face and a border to it. Here's how
you use this function:

imagecreatefromjpeg (string filename)

This function returns an image identifier representing the image obtained from the
given filename, and it returns an empty string on failure.
We're going to modify the JPEG image you see in Figure 14-3, image.jpg, adding the
smiley face you created earlier in the chapter, as well as a border around the whole image.
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 529

,r- 1
Hi there!
Figure 14-13 A JPEG image that will be modified

I 4

The PHP file, phpjpg.php, starts as you'd expect, by creating an image in memory from
the file image.jpg:

<?php

$image = imagecreatefromjpeg ("image.jpg");

?>

That loads the image, image.jpg, into the object $image (in practice, don't forget to add
error-handling code in case PHP can't find your image file). You can draw a border inside
this image—but it would help if you knew the image's dimensions.
You can find those dimensions with the imagesx and imagesy functions, which return
the x and y size of an image. And you can use the imagerectangle function to create the
border; here's how to draw that border ten pixels inside the image:

<?php

$image = imagecreatefromjpeg ("image.jpg");

$back_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

imagerectangle($image, 10, 10, imagesx($image) - 10, imagesy($image) - 10,

$draw_color);

?>

And you can add the smiley face to the image as well like this in phpjpg.php:

<?php
$image = imagecreatefromjpeg ("image.jpg");

$back color = imagecolorallocate($image, 200, 200, 200);

530 PHP: The Complete Reference

$draw_color = imagecolorallocate($image, 0, 0, 0);

imagerectangle($image, 10, 10, imagesx($image) - 10, imagesy($image) - 10,

$draw_color);

imagearc($image, 50, 50, 50, 50, 30, 150, $drawing_color);

imagearc($image, 50, 50, 70, 70, 0, 360, $drawing_color);

imagearc($image. 35, 45, 20, 20, 190, -10, $drawing^color);

imagearc($image. 65, 45, 20, 20, 190, -10, $drawing color);

imagearc($image, 35, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing color);

imagearc($image. 65, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing color);

header(1 Content-Type: image/jpeg');

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy($image);

Here is the HTML page, phpjpg.html, that displays the modified image:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Using images
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Using images
</hl>
This image was modified on the server:
<br>
<img src="phpjpg.php">
</body>
</html>

And you can see the result in Figure 14-14, where the original JPEG image was modified
as you wanted.
 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 531

Figure 14-14 Displaying a modified image in a Web page

Tiling Images
You can also use one image to tile another image, by appearing repeatedly in the background,
with the imagesettile function. Here's how you use this function:

imagesettile(image, tile)

This function sets the tile image to be used by all region-filling functions (such as
imagefilledrectangle and imagefilledpolygon) when filling with the special color IMG_
COLOR_TILED.
How about an example? This script, phptile.php, starts by creating an image that will be
tiled. Here, we'll use imagecreatetruecolor to give the created image the full range of colors
possible, rather than imagecreate, which might inadvertently restrict the number of colors
available in the tiles (when there's any doubt about restricting colors, you should use
imagecreatetruecolor instead of the more simple imagecreate):

<?php
$image_width = 300;
$image_height = 200;

$image = imagecreatetruecolor($image_width, $image_height);

532 PHP: The Complete Reference

Now we'll create the tile. Stile, that will appear inside the image stored in $image. In
this case, we can tile the smiley-face image you just sa w created by first reading in image,
jpg with imagecreatefromjpeg:

<?php
$image_width =300;
$image_height = 200;

$image = imagecreatetruecolor ($image__width, $image_height);

v ’ ‘

$tile = imagecreatefromjpeg ('image.jpg');

?>

You can add the smiley face to this tile with imagearc:

<?php
$image_width = 300;
$image_height = 200;

$image = imagecreatetruecolor($image_width, $image_height);

$tile = imagecreatefromjpeg ('image.jpg');

in
o

imagearc($tile, 50, 50, 50, 30, 150, $drawing color);

imagearc($tile, 50, 50, 70, 70, 0, 360, $drawing color);

H
O

imagearc($tile, 35, 45, 20, 20, 190 , $drawing color);

1

imagearc($tile, 65, 45, 20, 20, 190 , -io , $drawing color);

to

imagearc($tile, 35, 10, 10, -10 , 190 , $drawing color);

imagearc($tile, 65, 42, 10, 10, -10 , 190 , $drawing color);

>

That completes the creation of the tile image, and you can set Stile as the tile for Simage
with imagesettile:

< ?php
$image_width = 300;
$image_height = 200;

$image = imagecreatetruecolor($image_width, $image_height);

$tile = imagecreatefromjpeg ('image.jpg');

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 533

imag^earc ($tile, 65, 42, 10j« 10, -10, 190, $drawing color);

imagesettile($image, $tile);

4
?>

And you can now draw a filled rectangle that will use this tile if you set the fill style to
IMG_COLOR_TILED:

<?php
$image_width = 300;
$image_height = 200;

$image = imagecreatetruecolor($image_width, $image_height);

>

$tile = imagecreatefromjpeg ('image.jpg');

imagearc($tile, 65, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing_color);

imagesettile($image, $tile);

imagefilledrectangle ($image, 0, 0, $image_width, $image_height,

IMG_COLOR_TILED);

?>

All that's left is to display the image and then destroy it in phptile.php:

<?php
$image_width = 300;
$image_height = 200;

$image = imagecreatetruecolor($image_width, $image_height);

$tile = imagecreatefromjpeg ('image.jpg');

imagearc($tile, 65, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing_color);

imagesettile($image, $tile) ;

imagefilledrectangle ($image, 0, 0, $image_width, $image_height,

IMG COLOR TILED);
534 PHP: The Complete Reference

Header("Content-type: image/jpeg");

imagejpeg($image);

imagedestroy ($image);
imagedestroy ($tile);

And here is the HTML page, phptile.html, that displays the tiled image:
V ' '

<html>
<head>
<title>
Tiling images
</title>
</head>

<body>
<hl>
Tiling images
</hl>
This image was tiled on the server:
<br>
<img src="phptile.php">
</body>
</html>

And you can see the result in Figure 14-15, where the tiled image appears.

Figure 14-15 Displaying a tiled image in a Web page

 Chapter 14: Drawing Images on the Server 535

Copying Images
There's more graphics manipulation power available; for example, the imagecopy function
lets you c6py all of, or part of, an image:

imagecopy {dest_image, src_image, dest_x, dest_y, src_x, src_y, src_w,

src_h)
/ • 4
This function copies a part of src_image onto dest_image starting at the x, y coordinates srcjx,
src_y with a width of srcjw and a height of srcji. The portion defined will be copied onto
the x, y coordinates, destjx and destjy.
Copying images lets you perform all kinds of tricks—for example, here's a script,
phpflip.php, that flips an image horizontally. It starts by reading in image.jpg, adding a
smiley face to it, and then creating a blank image, $image_new, of the same size:

<?php

$image_original = imagecreatefromjpeg("image.jpg");

imagearc($image_original. 50, 50, 50, 50, 30, 150, $drawing_color);

imagearc($image_original, 50, 50, 70, 70, 0, 360, $drawing_color);

imagearc($image_original, 35, 45, 20, 20, 190, -io, $drawing_color)

imagearc($image_original, 65, 45, 20, 20, 190, -io, $drawing_color)

imagearc($image_original, 35, 42, 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing_color)

imagearc($image_original, 65, 42 , 10, 10, -10, 190, $drawing color)

$image_width = imagesx($image_original);

$image_height = imagesy($image_original);

$image_new = imagecreate($image_width, $image_height);

?>

Here's where you can flip the image, which the code does by copying the original image
over and flipping it, pixel by pixel, into the flipped image:

for ($col = 0 ; $col < $image_width ; $col++)

{
for ($row = 0 ; $row < $image_height ; $row++)

imagecopy($image_new, $image_original, $image_width - $col - 1,

$row, $col, $row, 1, 1);
}
}
536 PHP: The Complete Reference

Here is the HTML page, phpflip.html, that displays the flipped image:

<html>
<head>
<title>
Flipping images
</title>
</head>

<body> ' '

<hl>
Flipping images
</hl>
This image was flipped on the server:
<br>
<img src="phpflip.php">
</body>
</html>

You can see the result in Figure 14-16, where the flipped image appears.

Figure 14-16 Displaying a flipped image in a Web page

 CHAPTER
XML and RSS
T his chapter takes a look at XML and RSS. There's a lot of support built in for XML in
PHP, and we're going to take a look at it in this chapter.
We're going to start by creating some XML on the server and sending it back to
the browser.

Creating XML
How do you create XML on the server and send it back to the browser? As you recall, we
tackled this problem in Chapter 12, where we created some XML and sent it to the browser.
We'll take a look at this script, phpitems.php, here.
The key point when creating XML in PHP is to set the content-type header to an XML
type, such as text/xml:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

9 >

This example let you construct two XML documents, depending on whether the items
parameter you pass to it holds "1" or "2". Here's what you get with "1":

<?xml version = "1.0" ?>

<items>
<item>PHP book</item>
<item>Television</item>
<item>Radio</item>
</items>

and here's what you get with "2":

<?xml version = "1.0" ?>

<items>
<item>Soda</item>

537
538 PHP: The Complete Reference

<item>Cheese</item>
<item>Salami</item>
</items>

In phpitems.php, this is how you handle the items parameter—by using one of two
different arrays of data:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");
v ' '

if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "1")
$items = array('PHP book', 'Television', 'Radio');
if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese', 'Salami');

?>

Now you have to echo the document's XML declaration, <?xml version="1.0" ?>,
required for all XML documents (legal versions currently are only 1.0 or 1.1):

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "1")
$items = array(1PHP book1, 'Television1, 'Radio');
if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese', 'Salami');

echo '<?xml version="1.0" ?>';

?>

The document element, <items>, contains all the other elements, as is always the case
for document elements in XML documents:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "1")
$items = array('PHP book', 'Television', 'Radio');
if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese', 'Salami');

echo '<?xml version="l.0" ?>';

echo '<items>';
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 539

?>
/'• /

And you re free to echo the data in the $items array to the browser in <item> elements,
and then end the XML document by closing the document element with an </items> tag:

<?php t•*
header (" Content -type : text/xml") ;

if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "1")
$items = array('PHP book', 'Television', 'Radio');
if ($_REQUEST["items"] == "2")
$items = array('Soda', 'Cheese', 'Salami');

echo '<?xml version="l.0" ?>';

echo '<items>';

foreach ($items as $value)

{
echo 1<item>';
echo $value;
echo 1</item>';
}
echo '</items>';
?>

You can take a look at this script by passing it a value for the items parameter, as in this
URL: http://localhost/chl5/phpitems.php?items=l. The results appear in Figure 15-1,
where you can see our XML.
Cool.

Figure 15-1 Creating XML on the server

540 PHP: The Complete Reference

Creating RSS
An XML dialect that is very common to use with PHP is RSS—Really Simple Syndication,
which lets you distribute news feeds that people can take a look at in RSS readers. That's
something you'll often see in PHP, because using PHP, you can automate the RSS-creation
process. For example, you can write a PHP script to scan your blog and create an RSS feed
from it.
Here's an example that creates an RSS feed, phprss.php. For simplicity, we'll embed the
RSS data in this example script, but of course it could scan a bjog or any other file to get the
news items.
This script has to supply a title, an URL, and a description fot each news item;
here's the RSS document we're going to create in this example, which will be readable
by RSS readers:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>

<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Vital News</title>
<link>http://url</link>
<description>The most vital news stories anywhere</description>
<1anguage >en-us </1anguage >
<copyright>Copyright 2007</copyright>
<webMaster>webmaster@url</webMaster>

<item>
<title>Snow in August</title>
<link>http://url</link>
<description>It1s snowing in August. Is this still the northern
hemi sphere ?</description
</item>

<item>
<title>Trees are green</title>
<link>http://url</link>
<descriptionScientists determine that trees are green. Sky suspected to be
blue.</description>
</item>

<item>
<title>Stock market goes up and down</title>
<link>http://url</link>
<description>Yes, the stock market went up and down today. Like
always.</description>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 541

You can create a multidimensional array, $items, to hold the data in the news items in
phprss.php:

<?php ,r. . /
$items[0] = array('Snow in August',
'http://url',
"It's snowing in August. Is this still the northern hemisphere?"
) ;
/ • *

$items[l] = array('Trees are green',

'http://url1,
'Scientists determine that trees are green. Sky suspected to be blue.'
) ;

$items[2] = array('Stock market goes up and down',

'http://url',
'Yes, the stock market went up and down today. Like always.

?>

You can also set up the document by using the header function to make it XML, as well
as including XML and RSS declarations; in this case, we're going to use RSS version 2.0, the
current version:

<?php
$items[0] = array(1 Snow in August1,
'http://url',
"It's snowing in August. Is this still the northern hemisphere?"
) ;

header('Content-type: text/xml');

echo '<?xml version="l.0" ?>';

echo '<rss version="2.0">';

?>

And you can echo the <channel>, <title>, and other elements that start the document off:

<?php
$items[0] = array('Snow in August',
'http://url',
"It's snowing in August. Is this still the northern hemisphere?"
542 PHP: The Complete Reference

header('Content-type: text/xml1);

echo '<?xml version="l.0" ?>';

echo '<rss version="2.0">';

t • •
echo '<channel>';

echo 1<title>Vital News</title>1;

echo ’<link>http://url</link>';
echo '<description>The most vital news stories anywhere</description>1
echo '<language>en-us</language>';
echo 1<copyright>Copyright 2007</copyright>1;
echo '<webMaster>webmaster@url</webMaster>1;

Finally, you can echo the actual data in the feed, and end the document:

<?php
$items[0] = array('Snow in August',
'http://url',
"It's snowing in August. Is this still the northern hemisphere?"
) ;

$items[1] = array('Trees are green',

'http://url',
'Scientists determine that trees are green. Sky suspected to be blue
) ;

echo '<webMaster>webmaster@url</webMaster>';

foreach ($items as $data) {

echo '<item>';
echo "<title>{$data[0]}</title>";
echo "<link>{$data[1]}</link>";
echo "<description>{$data[2]}</description>";
echo '</item>1;
}
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 543

echo '</channel>';

You can see the RSS document this example, phprss.php, creates in Figure 15-2.
And you can take a look at our new RSS feed in an RSS reader in Figure 15-3.
Very cool. Now you re able to create RSS feeds using PHP that users can read in
RSS readers. 1' *

Figure 15-2 Creating RSS on the server

544 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 15-3 Reading RSS in an RSS reader

fc^^»WSa<^f*^g*iiiM8a88S8SS!S!i^«a«S83SS3S8883SSSa^!^ai^

Using the SimpleXML Functions

PHP 5 comes with a great library of functions built in for handling XML—there are the
SimpleXML functions, the XML parser functions, the DOM functions, XMLReader functions,
and so on. We don't have space in this chapter to look at all the XML support in PHP, but
we'll cover the most popular, starting with the SimpleXML functions. Here they are:

• simplexml_import_dom Returns a SimpleXMLElement object from a DOM node.

• simplexml_load_file Loads an XML file into an object
• simplexml_load_string Loads a string of XML into an object
• SimpleXMLElement->_construct) Creates a new SimpleXMLElement object
• SimpleXMLElement->addAttribute() Adds an attribute to a SimpleXML element
• SimpleXMLElement->addChild() Adds a child element to the XML node
• SimpleXMLElement->asXML() Returns an XML string based on a SimpleXML
element
• SimpleXMLElement->attributes() Gets an element's attributes
• SimpleXMLElement->children() Gets the children of given node
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 545

• SimpleXMLElement->getDocNamespaces() Returns namespaces declared in

document
• SimpleXMLElement->getNapie() Gets the name of an XML element
• SimpleXMLElement->getNamespaces() Returns the namespaces used in
document
• SimpleXMLElement->registerXPathNamespace() Creates a prefix/ns for the next
XPath query''4
• SimpleXMLElement->xpath() Executes an XPath query on XML data

You can use these functions to parse and edit XML documents on the fly. Here's the
XML document you'll see for the following few examples, event.xml. This XML document
lists an event, the National Awards event, and its attendees:

<?xml version="l.0"?>
<events>
<event type="fundraising">
<event_title>National AwardS</event_title>
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject>
<date>5/5/2007</date>
<people>
<person attendance="present">
< firs t_name >June</first_name>
<last_name>Allyson</last_name>
</person>
<person attendance="absent">
<first_name>Virginia</first_name>
<1as t_name >Mayo </1a s t_name >
</person>
<person attendance="present">
<f irst_name>Jimmy</f irst__name>
<last_name>Stewart</last_name>
</person>
</people>
</event>
</events>

You can load this XML document into a SimpleXML object using the simplexmlJoad_
file function like this:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

?>

Now the document is loaded into the $xml object. Here's where the simple in SimpleXML
comes into play. Each element in event.xml—with the exception of the document element—
becomes a property of that object.
546 PHP: The Complete Reference

For example, say you wanted to extract the date from event.xml:

<?xml version="l.0"?>
<events>
<event type="fundraising">
<event_ti11e>National Awards</event_title>
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject>
<date>5/5/2007</date>

You can access the text in that date as $xml->event->date:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hlExtracting simple data from an XML document</hl>";

echo "The date of the event is " . $xml->event->date;

?>

And you can see the results of this example in Figure 15-4, where the date has been
successfully extracted from event.xml.
The SimpleXML functions can also read XML data from a string if you pass that string
to the SimpleXMLElement constructor. For example, you might have a script that loads the
text in event.xml into a string named Sxmlstr:

<?php
$xmlstr = <<<XML
<?xml version="l.0"?>
<events>
<event type="fundraising">
<event_title>National Awards</event_title>
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject>

Figure 15-4 Extracting data from event.xml

 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 547

<date>5/5/2007</date>
<people>
<person attendance="present">
<first_name>June</first_name>
<last_name>Allyson</last_name>
</person>
<person attendance^' absent">
<first_name>Virginia</first_name>
< 1 a s t^_name >Mayo < /1 a s t _name >
</person>
<person attendance="present">
<first_name>Jimmy</first_name>
<last_name>Stewart</last_name>
</person>
</people>
</event>
</events>
XML;
?>

Now you can include event.php in a new script, phpxml2.php:

<?php
include 'event.php';

o>

This introduces the $xmlstr into the code of phpxml2.php, and you can pass that string,
including the XML text it contains, to the SimpleXMLElement constructor:

<?php
include 'event.php';

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);

?>

This creates the same object in $xml as if you had used the simplexml_load_file function,
passing that function event.xml. Now you can extract the data in the <date> element as before:

<?php
include 1 event.php';

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);

echo "<hl>Extracting simple data from an XML string</hl>";

echo $xml->event->date;
?>

This script, phpxml2.php, gives you the same results as phpxml.php.

548 PHP: The Complete Reference

How do you handle the case where a document has more than one of the same element?
For example, what if you wanted to extract the first and last names of each person from
these three <person> elements?

<?xml version="l.0"?>
<events>
<event type="fundraising">
< event_ti11e >Nationa1 Awards </event_ti11e >
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject> '
<date>5/5/2007</date>
<people>
<person attendance="present">
<first_name>June</first_name>
<last_name>Allyson</last_naine>
</person>
<person attendances"absent">
<first_name>Virginia</first_name>
<last_name >Mayo</las t_name >
</person>
<person attendances"present">
<first_name>Jimmy</first_name>
<last_name>Stewart</last_name>
</person>
</people>
</event>
</events>

You can't just use the terminology $people->person—how would SimpleXML know what
<person> element you wanted? It turns out that SimpleXML handles this by letting you use
array terminology, like this: $people->person[0], $people->person[l], $people->person[2], and
so on, making things easy
You can loop over multiple elements of the same name using foreach as well. In this
example, we'll do exactly that to extract all the event attendees' names in phpparse.php.
This script starts by loading the event.xml file:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

?>

You can get an object corresponding to the <event> element:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Parsing data from an XML document</hl>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 549

$event = $xml->event;

And you can get an object corresponding to the <people> element this way:

<?php ' 4
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Parsing data from an XML document</hi>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

?>

You can echo the people in an unordered list, so surround the code to display the people
with <ul> and </ul>:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Parsing data from an XML document</hl>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

echo "<ul>";

echo "</ul>";
?>

And you loop over all <person> elements using a foreach loop, easily accessing the text
in the person's <first_name> and <last_name> elements this way (&nbsp; is the HTML code
for a non-breaking space):

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Parsing data from an XML document</hi>";

550 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 15-5 Extracting names from event.xml

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

echo "<ul>";

foreach ($people->person as $person){

echo $person->first_name, '&nbsp', $person->last_narae , "</li>";
}

echo "</ul>";
?>

And you can see the results of this example in Figure 15-5, where people's names have
been extracted from event.xml.

Extracting Attributes
How about extracting attributes from a document using SimpleXML? Turns out that's
easy—you just use array notation.
For example, what if you wanted to extract the attendance attribute's value for each
<person> element?

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<events>
<event type="fundraising">
<event_title>National Awards</event_ti11e>
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject>
<date>5/5/2007</date>
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 551

<people>
<perscn attendance="present">
<first_name>June</first_name>
r< , <last_name>AllyS)On</last_name>
</person>
<person attendance:"absent">
<first_name>Virgina</first_name>
<last_name>Mayo</last_name>
</pers<dr/>
<person attendance="present">
<first_name>Jimmy</first_name>
<last_name>Stewart</last_name>
</person>
</people>
</event>
</events>

You can extract the attendance attribute's value for a <person> element like this:
$person[’attendance'], where $person holds the <person> element. Here's an example,
phpattribute.php, that extracts the attendance attributes and displays them. As in the
previous example, phpparse.php, you can display each person—in this case, each person's
attendance—using an unordered HTML list:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Parsing attributes from an XML document</hl>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

echo "<ul>";

echo "</ul>";
?>

And you can display everyone's attendance like this:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Parsing attributes from an XML document</hi>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

echo "<ul>";
552 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 15-6 Extracting names from event.xml

foreach ($people->person as $person){

echo $person->first_name, '&nbsp', $person->last_name, 11 was ",
$person['attendance 1 ] , ;
}
echo "</ul>";
?>

You can see the results in Figure 15-6, where everyone's attendance attributes have been
extracted from event.xml. Cool.

Using XPath
XPath is an XML specification for a special language that lets you search XML documents.
A full discussion of XPath is beyond the scope of this book. Briefly, to use XPath, you consider
an XML document as a tree of nodes; here are the legal node types:

• element
• attribute
• text
• CDATA section
• entity reference
• entity
• processing instruction
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 553

When you execute an XPath expression on a node, that node is called the context node.
Here are a few XPath examples—say that you have this XML document:

<?xml vqj?siccn=" 1.0" encoding ="UTF-8"?>

<states>

<state>
<name>California</name>
<populati6n units="people">33871648</population><!--2000 census-->
<capital>Sacramento</capital>
<bird>Quail</bird>
<flower>Golden Poppy</flower>
<area units="square miles">155959</area>
</state>

<state>
< name >Massachusetts</name >
<population units="people">6349097</population><!--2000 census-->
<capital>Boston</capital>
<bird>Chickadee</bird>
<flower>Mayflower</flower>
<area units="square miles">7840</area>
</state>

<state>
<name>New York</name>
<population units="people">18976457</population><!--2000 census-->
<capital>Albany</capital>
<bird>Bluebird</bird>
<flower>Rose</flower>
<area units="square miles">47214</area>
</state>

</states>

Then these XPath expression yield the following results:

• * Matches all element children of the context node.

• */*/state Matches all <state> great-grandchildren of the context node.
• . Matches the context node.
• .. Matches the parent of the context node.
• ../©units Matches the units attribute of the parent of the context node.
• .//state Matches all <state> element descendants of the context node.
• //state Matches all the <state> descendants of the root node.
• //state/name Matches all the <name> elements that have an <state> parent.
• /states/state[4]/name[3] Matches the third <name> element of the fourth <state>
element of the <states> element.
554 PHP: The Complete Reference

• @* Matches all the attributes of the context node.

• @units Matches the units attribute of the context node.
• state Matches the <state> element children of the context node.
• state[@nickname and @units] Matches all the <state> children of the context node
that have both a nickname attribute and an units attribute.
• state[@units = "people"] Matches all <state> children of the context node that
have a units attribute that has the value "people". ^ . ,
• state[7] Matches the seventh <state> child of the context node.
• state[7][@units = "people"] Matches the seventh <state> child of the context node
if that child has a units attribute with value "people".
• state[last()] Matches the last <state> child of the context node.
• state[name] Matches the <state> children of the context node that themselves have
<name> children.
• state[name="Massachusetts"] Matches the <state> child nodes of the context node
that have <name> children whose text value is "Massachusetts".
• states//state Matches all <state> element descendants of the <states> element
children of the context node.
• textO Matches all child text nodes of the context node.

Let's take a look at this in code. If you want to create an array of all <person>
elements—no matter where they are in the event.xml document—you can use the XPath
expression / /person. Here, then, is how you can loop over all <person> elements in event,
xml—without having to navigate to those <person> elements by working your way down
through the <event> and <people> elements:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Using XPath in an XML document</hl>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

echo "<ul>";

foreach ($xml->xpath(1//person1) as $person){

}
echo "</u1>";
?>
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 555

Figure 15-7 Using XPath in event.xml

And you can list each person and their attendance at the event like this:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Using XPath in an XML document</hl>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

echo "<ul>";

foreach ($xml->xpath('//person') as $person){

echo $person->first_name, 'SUibsp', $person->last_name, " was ",
$person[1 attendance'], ;
}

echo "</ul>";
?>

You can see the results in Figure 15-7, where the XPath expression was successful in
extracting all <person>elements.

Modifying XML Elements and Attributes

You can also modify elements and attributes using SimpleXML—all you have to do is to
assign a new values to the element or attribute. Here's an example, phpmodify.php, which
assigns the name "Myrna Loy" to each <person> element in event.xml:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Moditying elements in an XML document</hl>";

556 PHP: The Complete Reference

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

foreach ($people->person as $person){

$person->first_name = "Myrna";
$person->last_name = "Loy";

?>

Then this example displays the text in each <person> element—which will be Myrna
Loy three times:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Moditying elements in an XML document</hl>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

foreach ($people->person as $person){

$person->first_name = "Myrna";
$person->last_name = "Loy";

echo "<ul>";

foreach ($people->person as $person){

echo $person->firstname, 'Scnbsp', $person->last_name, " was ",
$person t1 attendance'], "</li>";
}
echo "</ul>";
?>

You can see the results in Figure 15-8, where every <person> element was indeed
changed to contain Myrna Loy.
As you can see, it's possible to make all elements contain Myrna Loy, but that's not the
best way to indicate that she attended the event. How about adding a Myrna Loy element,
instead of overwriting all the others?
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 557

Figure 15-8 Modifying elements in event.xml

Adding New Elements and Attributes

You can create new elements using the SimpleXML package in PHP. For example, you can
add an element to event.xml for Myrna Loy:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<events>
<event type="fundraising">
<event_title>National Awards</event_title>
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject>
<date>5/5/2007</date>
<people>
<person attendance="present">
<first_name>June</first_name>
<last_name>Allyson</last_name>
</person>
<person attendance="absent">
<first_name>Virginia</first_name>
<1a st_name >Mayo</1a s t_name >
</person>
<person attendance="present">
<first_name>Jimmy</first_name>
<last_name>Stewart</last_name>
</person>
<person attendance="present">
< fir s tname>Myrna</firs t_name>
<1astname>Loy</1ast_name>
558 PHP: The Complete Reference

</person>
</peoplKe>
</event>
</events>

You start this new example, phpadd.php, by getting an object corresponding to the
<people> element:

<?php
$xml = simplexml__load_f ile ("event .xml") ; * '

echo "<hl>Adding elements in an XML document</hl>"; •

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>"

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

You can add a <person> element as a child of the current <people> element using the
addChild method:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Adding elements in an XML document</hl>";

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

$person = $people->addChild(1 person1);

?>

And you can add <first_name> and <last_name> child elements to the new <person>
element like this, specifying the text data for each new child element:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Adding elements in an XML document</hl>";

 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 559

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

j t. I
$people = $event->people;

$person = $people->addChild('person') ;

$person->addChild*(1firstname1, 'Myrna1);
$person->addChild(1lastname', 'Loy');

>

Finally, you can add a new attendance attribute to the <person> element with the
addAttribute method, and then display all the elements:

<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("event.xml");

echo "<hl>Adding elements in an XML document*:/hi>" ;

echo "Here are the people who attended the event: <br>";

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

$person = $people->addChild('person');

$person->addChild('first_name', 'Myrna');
$person->addChild(1last_name', 'Loy');

$person->AddAttribute(1 attendance 1, 'present1);

echo "<ul>";

foreach ($people->person as $person){

echo $person->firstname, 'inhsp', $person->last_name, " was ",
$person[1 attendance'], "</li>";
}
echo "</ul>";
?>

You can see the results in Figure 15-9, where the new Myrna Loy <person> element
was added.
560 PHP: The Complete Reference

Figure 15-9 Adding elements to event.xml

Sending XML to the Browser

What if, after you make your modifications to an XML document, you want to send the
modified XML document to a browser? It's going to take some work to decipher the XML
document in its entirety from the SimpleXML object and send it, element by element,
attribute by attribute, back to the browser.
Fortunately, there's an easier way—you can use the asXML method to echo the entire
SimpleXML object as an XML document. Here's an example, phpasxml.php, that reads in
event.xml, modifies it, and sends it back to the browser using asXML:

<?php
$xml = simp1exml_load_file("event.xml");

$event = $xml->event;

$people = $event->people;

$person = $people->addChild(1 person1);

$person->addChild('first_name', 'Myrna');
$person->addChild('last_name', 'Loy');

$person->AddAttribute('attendance', 'present');

header("Content-type: text/xml");
echo $xml->asXML();
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 561

3 http://localhost/ch15/phpasxml.php - Microsoft Internet Explorer

File Edit View Favorites Tools Help

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Address 41) http://localhost/chl5/phpasxml,php

v| £| Go links »

<?xml version=''1.0,, ?>

- <events>
- <event type=“fundfaising">
<event_titie>IMational Awards</event_title>
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject> a
<date>5/5/2007</date>
- <people>
- <person attendance="present">
<first_name>June</first_name>
<last_name>Allyson</last_name>
</person>
- <person attendance="absent">
<first_name>Virgina</first_name>
<last_name>Mayo</last_name>
</person>
<person attendance=“present">
4?) Done
! Local intranet
. _
Figure 15-10 Sending XML to browsers

You can see the results in Figure 15-10, where this script did indeed send the complete
XML document to the browser. Very useful.

Interacting with Other PHP XML Packages

SimpleXML is only one of the XML packages supported by PHP. You can connect
SimpleXML to some of these other packages, such as the DOM (Document Object Model)
package. Here's an example, phpsimpledom.php, that shows how to import a DOM object
into SimpleXML using the simplexmI_import_dorn function.
This example starts by creating a new DOM XML document object, $dom:

<?php
$dom = new domDocument;

?>

Then it loads an XML text string into the DOM object using the loadXML method:

<?php
$dom = new domDocument;
562 PHP: The Complete Reference

$dom->loadXML(
' <people>*gersonxf irst_name>Myrna</f irst_name></personx/people>') ;

>

You can check if the DOM object was indeed created successfully:

<?php ' ' ‘

$dom = new domDocument;

$dom->loadXML(
' <peoplexpersonxf irst_name>Myrna</f irst_namex/personx/people> ') ;

if (! $dom) {
echo 'Error';
exit;
}

?>

That creates a DOM object, with its own methods and properties. You can convert that
into a SimpleXML object using the simplexml_import_dom function, and then dump the
object as XML back to the browser:

<?php
$dom = new domDocument;

$dom->loadXML(
1 <peoplexpersonxf irst_name>Myrna</f irst_namex/personx/people> ') ;

if (!$dom) {
echo 'Error';
exit ;

$xml = simplexml_import_dom($dom);

header("Content-type: text/xml");

echo $xml->asXML();
?>

You can see the results in Figure 15-11, where this script converted a PHP XML DOM
object into a SimpleXML one.
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 563

Figure 15-11 Converting a PHP DOM object into a SimpleXML one

Parsing with the XML Parser Functions

You can use the PHP XML Parser functions to parse XML; these functions act much like an
XML SAX (Simple API for XML) parser, if you're familiar with SAX. Here are the XML
Parser functions:

• xml_error_string Return the XML parser error string

• xml_get_current_byte_index Return the current byte index for the XML parser
• xml_get_current_column_number Return the current column number for the
XML parser
• xml_get_current_line_number Return the current line number for the XML parser
• xml_get_error_code Return the XML parser error code
• xml_parse_into_struct Parse the XML data into an array
• xml_parse Start parsing an XML document
• xml_parser_create_ns Create an XML parser with namespace support
• xml_parser_create Create an XML parser object
• xml_parser_free Free an XML parser in memory
• xml_parser_get_option Return options from the XML parser
• xml_parser_set_option Set options in the XML parser
• xml_set_character_data_handler Register character data handler
• xml_set_default_handler Register default handler
• xml_set_element_handler Register start and end element handlers
564 PHP: The Complete Reference

• xml_set_end_namespace_decl_handler Register end namespace declaration

handler
• xml_set_external_entity_ref_handler Register external entity reference handler
• xml_set_notation_decl_handler Register notation declaration handler
• xml_set_object Use XML Parser within an object
• xml_set_processing_instruction_handler Register processing instruction (PI)
handler . ,
• xml_set_start_namespace_decl_handler Register start namespace declaration
handler i
\

• xml_set_unparsed_entity_decl_handler Register unparsed entity declaration

handler

Here's an example showing how to put these functions to work, phpxmplparser.php.

This example is going to parse event.xml to show how things work, but you can use it to
parse any XML document, and when you know how to parse XML documents, you can
extract any data you want.
When you use the XML Parser functions, the XML data is parsed and passed to a series
of callback functions. For example, when the XML parser sees the beginning of an XML
element, it passes that element on to the callback function you've set up to handle the
beginnings of elements. When the parser sees text, it passes that on to the text-handling
function, and so on.
This example, phpxmlparser.php, starts by storing the name of the file to parse in $file,
and you can modify this line to parse any XML document:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

9 >

One thing that the XML Parser functions don't handle is the XML declarations at the
beginning of each XML document, so we'll print out a standard XML declaration (the PHP
documentation for the XML Parser functions say that you can use a default handler—
coming up soon—to read XML declarations, but in fact that does not work):

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

echo "<hl>Parsing XML with XML Parser functions</hl>";

echo "Here is the parsed files <brxbr>";

echo "&lt;?xml version=11.01?&gt; <br>";

 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 565

Next, you create an XML parser object, using the xml_parser_create function:

<?php
$file = "event.xml"; /
/ r‘ •

echo "<hl>Parsing XML with XML Parser functions</hl>";

echo "Here is the parsed file: <brxbr>";

echo "&lt;?xml'v^rsion=11.0'?&gt; <br>";

$xml_parser_object = xml parser create() ;

Next, you have to register your callback functions with the XML parser object. These are
the functions that will handle the elements, attributes, text, and so on encountered by the
parser as it reads through the XML document.
For example, to set the handler functions that will handle the beginning and end of
elements, you use the xml_set_element_handler function. You pass the XML parser object to
this function, as well as the callback function you want to handle the start of elements,
startElement here, as well as the function to handle the end of elements, endElement here:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

echo "<hl>Parsing XML with XML Parser functions</hl>";

echo "Here is the parsed file: <brxbr>";

echo "&lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt; <br>";

$xml_parser_object = xml_parser_create();

xml_set_element handler($xml_parser_object, "startElement", "endElement");

9 >

To handle the text data inside the elements, you register a callback function with the XML
parser using the xml_set_character_data_handler function, and well use a function named
text here. And to handle any other data that the XML parser encounters that you haven't set
up a handler for, you can register a default handler with the xml_set_default_handler
function. That default handler for us is going to be a function called defaultHandler:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

echo "<hl>Parsing XML with XML Parser functions</hl>";

echo "Here is the parsed file: <brxbr>";

echo "&lt;?xml version=11.01?&gt; <br>";

566 PHP: The Complete Reference

$xml_parser_object = xml_parser_create();

xml_set_element_handler($xml_parser_object, "startElement", "endElement");

xml_set_character_data_handler($xml_parser object, "text");

xml_set_default_handler($xml_parser_object, "defaultHandler");

v ' *

You're responsible for opening the XML document and feeding it to the parser, so you
start the process by opening the XML document and getting a file handle for it, $handle:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

xml_set_default_handler($xml_parser_obj ect, "defaultHandler");

if (!($handle = fopen($file, "r"))) {

die("Error.");
}

?>

Now you can read in some XML data, 1024 bytes at a time, with fread:

<?php
$file = "event.xml

xml_set_default_handler($xml_parser_object, "defaultHandler");

if (!($handle = fopen($file, "r"))) {

die("Error.")•
}
while ($xml_data = fread($handle, 1024)) {

}
}
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 567

You pass the XML data to the XML parser's xml_parse function, passing it the XML
parser object, the text data to parse, and a TRUE/FALSE argument that indicates whether
or not you've passed all the XML data to xml_parse. You can determine if you've passed all
the data *6 xml_parse with feof, so hire's how you pass the XML data to the parser:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

i ■ *

xml_set_defauit_handler($xml_parser_object, "defaultHandler");

if (!($handle = fopen($file, "r"))) {

die("Error.");
}

while ($xml_data = fread($handle, 1024)) {

if (!xml_parse($xml_parser_object, $xml_data, feof($handle))) {

}
}

9 >

If xml_parse returns a value of FALSE, there was an error. You can determine what the
error was with the xml_error_string function, to which you pass the error code—-and you
can get the error code by passing the XML parser object to the xml_get_error_code function.
You can also get the line number in the XML document at which the error occurred with the
xml_get_current_line_number function, and display that as well:

< ?php
$file = "event.xml";

xml_set_default_handler($xml_parser_obj ect, "defaultHandler");

if (!($handle = fopen($file, "r"))) {

die("Error.") ;
}

while ($xml_data = fread($handle, 1024)) {

if (!xml_parse($xml_parser_object, $xml_data, feof($handle))) {
die(sprintf("Error %s on line %d" ,
xml errorstring(xml_get_error_code($xml_parser_object)),
xml getcurrentlinenumber($xml_parser_object)));

}
}
568 PHP: The Complete Reference

At this point, the parser will call your callback functions. All that's left—besides writing
those callback functions—is to finish with the parser by calling xml_parser_free and closing
the XML document with fclose:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

while ($xml_data = fread($handle, 1024)) { v ' '

if (!xml_parse($xml_parser_object, $xml_data, feof($handle))) {
die(sprintf("Error %s on line %d",
xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($xml_parser^object)),
xml_get_current_line_number($xml_parser_object)));

}
}
xml_parser_free($xml_parser_object);

fclose($handle);

?>

We'll start with the defaultHandler function, which handles any XML data not handled
by the other handlers you may have set up. We've registered a default handler function
named defaultHandler with the XML parser; the defaultHandler function is passed the
parser object and the unhandled XML text, so we'll just echo that text to the browser:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";

function defaultHandler($parser, $text)

{
echo $text, "<br>";
}

That handles any XML data not handled by our other handlers. You can set up the
startElement and endElement handlers next. The startElement handler is called when the
parser encounters the opening tag of an XML element. The parser object, name of the
element, and a hash containing its attributes is passed to startElement.
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 569

We're going to indent the parsed XML, and we'll keep track of the indentation level
with a variable named $indent. The first order of business in startElement is to echo the
indentation whitespace—two non-breaking spaces for each level of indentation:

<?php '
$file = "event.xml";
$indent = 0;

!■*

function startElement($parser, $name, $attrs)

{
global $indent;
for ($i =0; $i < $indent; $i++) {
echo "&nbsp; &nbsp; ";
1
S

}
?>

The XML parser converts all element names to uppercase, but they're actually
lowercase in event.xml, so we'll convert the name of each element back to lowercase
with strtolower:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";
$indent = 0;

function startElement($parser, $name, $attrs)

{
global $indent;
for ($i = 0; $i < $indent; $i++) {
echo "&nbsp; &nbsp; ";

}
$lower = strtolower($name);

}
?>

The attributes of the current XML element, if any, are passed to startElement in a hash
we've named $attrs, where the keys are the names of the attributes and the values are the
570 PHP: The Complete Reference

attribute values. You can loop over that hash like this, assembling a text string that holds
the attributes and their values like this: "attrl = valuel attr2 = value2 ...":

<?php
$file = "event.xml";
$indent = 0;

function startElement($parser, $name, $attrs)

{
global $indent;
for ($i =0; $i < $indent; $i++) {
echo "&nbsp; &nbsp;
}
$lower = strtolower($name);
$att_string =
foreach ($attrs as $key => $value) {
$att_string .= strtolower($key) . " = \"» . $value .
}

}
?>

All that's left is to echo the opening tag of the current element—complete with
attributes and their values—to the browser, and then increase the indentation level for
any nested elements:

<?php
$file = "event.xml";
$indent = 0;

function startElement($parser, $name, $attrs)

{
global $indent;
for ($i = 0; $i < $indent; $i++) {
echo "&nbsp; &nbsp; ";
}
$lower = strtolower($name);
$att_string =
foreach ($attrs as $key => $value) {
$att_string .= strtolower ($key) . " = \»» . $value .

}
echo "&lt;${lower} ${att_string}&gt; <br>";
$indent++;
}
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 571

That handles the start tag of elements—how about the end tag? That's handled by a
function we've called endElement, which is called when the parser encounters the end tag
of an element. First, we display the indentation string in endElement:

<?php
function endElement($parser, $name)
{
global $indent;
$indent--; / < *
for ($i =0; $i < $indent; $i++) {
echo "&nbsp; &nbsp; ";

}
?>

Then we display the element's closing tag, after first converting the element name back
to lowercase:

<?php
function endElement($parser, $name)

{
global $indent;
$indent--;
for ($i =0; $i < $indent; $i++) {
echo "&nbsp; &nbsp;

}
$lower = strtolower($name);
echo "&lt;/${lower}&gt; <br>";

}
?>

Okay, we've handled opening and closing tags for XML elements. The final task in
this example is to handle the text inside every element, which is done in the function
we've called text. This function is passed the parser object and the text the parser has
encountered:

<?php
function text($parser, $text)

?>
572 PHP: The Complete Reference

The text method gets passed all the non-markup text in' the XML document—and that
includes the whitespace used for indentation in that document. For example, take a look at
event.xml:

<?xml version="l.0"?>
<events>
<event type="fundraising">
< event_ti11e >Nationa1 Awards </event_ti11e >
<event_number>3</event_number>
<subject>Pet Awards</subject> v . i
<date>5/5/2007</date>
<people> i
<person attendance="present">
<first_name>June</first_name>
<1a s t_name >A1lys on</1as t_name >
</person>

</events>

Note the whitespace between the <events> tag and the <event> tag—that's reported as
text to our text function. As is the text between the <event> and <eventtitle> tags, and so on.
We don't want to display this whitespace in our parsed version of this file—we're handling
the indentation ourselves. To avoid responding to text that's purely whitespace, you can use a
regular expression. In particular, you can insist that at least one non-whitespace character
(which you can check with the regular expression "/S") must appear in the text passed to us
before we'll display it like this:

<?php
function text($parser, $text)

{
if(preg_match("/\S/", $text)){

}
}

Now you can echo the indentation string and echo the non-whitespace text the
parser found:

<?php
function text($parser, $text)
{
global $indent;
if(preg_match("/\S/", $text)){
 Chapter 15: XML and RSS 573

for ($i = 0; $i < $indent; $i++) {

echo "&nbsp; &nbsp;
}
echo "$text <br>";
} - /

Okay, that completes the XML parser. You can see it at work in Figure 15-12, where the
entire parsed version of event.xml appears. Excellent.
That completes this example, and that also completes our book on PHP. Happy
programming!

Figure 15-12 Parsing event.xml

■N

'

.
 /

Index
Symbols access modifiers, 253
$a & $b operator, 52 accessor methods, 252
$a A $b operator, 52 acos function, 43
$a | $b operator, 52 acosh function, 43
$a « $b operator, 52 action attributes, 162
$a » $b operator, 52 Adabas, 361
$items array, 541 addAttribute method, 559
%= operator, 47 addChild method, 558
&= operator, 47 addcslashes function, 82
*= operator, 47 addslashes function, 82
.= operator, 47 advanced e-mails, 418-421
/= operator, 47 Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML),
\n control character, 17 433-500
A= operator, 47 concurrent requests
| = operator, 47 JavaScript inner functions,
~ $a operator, 52 475-479
+= operator, 47 multiple XMLHttpRequest
«= operator, 47 objects, 467-472
-= operator, 47 XMLHttpRequest arrays,
»= operator, 47 472-475
connecting to other domains, 494-496
downloading
images, 479M81
abort method, 438-439
JavaScript, 481-484
abs function, 43
GET method, 450-453
abstract classes, 294-297
Google Suggest, 484-494
access
handling downloaded data,
class member, 264-266
441M45
MySQL database
head requests, 497-500
closing connection, 376-377
logging in, 495-497
connecting to database, 372
overview, 433-434
connecting to server, 371-372
PHP and, 448-449
displaying table data, 374-376
POST method, 453-456
overview, 370-371
starting downloads, 445-447
reading tables, 372-374
warning dialogs, 489
to properties and methods, 253-257

575
576 PHP: The Complete Reference

Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) array_slice function, 105,117

(cont.) array_splice function, 105
writing, 435'-436 array_sum function, 105,119
XML, 456-466 array_udiff function, 105
XMLHttpRequest objects, 436-441, array_udiff_assoc function, 105
446-448 array_udiff_uassoc function, 105
alignment specifiers, 89 array_unique function, 105,120
alternate syntax, 80 array_unshift function, 105
AND clause, 364 array_values function, 105
"and" logical operators, 62 array_walk fuhction, 105
API (application programming interface), arrays, 92-121
Google Ajax, 467 associative, 112
append operations, 352-354 building, 92-95
Apple Safari, 437, 439 comparing, 112
application programming interface (API), custom, 215-218
Google Ajax, 467 deleting elements in, 97-99
arcs, 514-516 explode function, 107
arguments, 132-135 extracting data from, 107-108
array function, 105 flipping, 120
array internal data type, 38 functions, 104-106,119-121
array notation, 550-552 handling with loops, 99-104
array pointers, 116-117 implode function, 106-107
array_change_key_case function, 104 modifying data in, 95-97
array_chunk function, 104 multidimensional, 112-115
array_combine function, 104 navigating, 116-117
array_count_values function, 104 operators, 110-112
array_diff function, 104 overview, 81
array_diff_assoc function, 104 passing to functions, 127-130
array_diff_uassoc function, 104 reading files into, 330-332
array_fil function, 104 returning to functions, 137-139
array_filter function, 104 sorting, 109-110
array_flip function, 104,119 splitting and merging, 117-119
array jntersect function, 104 superglobal, 203
array_intersect_assoc function, 104 XMLHttpRequest, 472-475
array_key_exists function, 105 arsort function, 105
array_keys function, 105 asin function, 43
array_map function, 105 asinh function, 43
array_merge function, 105 asort function, 105,110
array_merge_recursive function, 105 assignment operators, 28, 46-48
array_multisort function, 105 associative arrays, 112
array_pad function, 105 Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. See Ajax
array_pop function, 105 atan function, 43
array_push function, 105 atan2 function, 43
array_rand function, 105 atanh function, 43
array_reduce function, 105 attachments, e-mail, 421-425
array_reverse function, 105 attributes, and SimpleXML functions
array_search function, 105 adding, 557-560
array_shift function, 105 extracting, 550-552
modifying, 555-557
 Index 577

'AUTH_TYPE' server variable, 204 CGI (Common Gateway Interface), 20

_autoload function, 277 channel property, 438
autoloading classes, 277-279 characters, 320, 326
check boxes, 170-172
check_data function, 222, 235
base class methods, 267-271 chop function, 82
base_convert function, 43 chr function, 82
bcc headers, 418—421 . chunk_split function, 82
t ' 4
bin2hex function, 82 _CLASS_constant, 36
binary files, 335-337, 348-352 classes. See also static methods
bindec function, 43 abstract, 294-297
bitwise operators, 51-52 autoloading, 277-279
boolean data type, 37 constants, 306-308
boxes creating, 246-249
box images, 506 inheritance
check, 170-172 base class methods, 267-271
JavaScript alert, 239 constructors and, 266-267
list, 175-179 overview, 262-264
break statements, 68, 77-78 protected access, 264-266
browsers, 203-243 Reflectionfunction, 315
data validation, 221-223, 237-240 clauses, 363-364
determining user, 206-209 CLI (command-line interpreter), 20
form data, 212-220 client-side data validation, 237-240
dumping, 212-215 _clone method, 312
handling on one page, 218-220 cloned objects, 312-315
handling with custom arrays, closing files, 323-324
215-218 command line, 17, 20-24
HTML tags in user input, 241-243 command-line interpreter (CLI), 20
HTTP headers, 205-206, 209-212 comments, 24-25
Common Gateway Interface (CGI), 20
overview, 203
persisting user data, 234-237 compact function, 105
required data, 223-234 comparison operators, 59-60, 304-305
entered by user, 223-226 comparisons, array, 112
concatenation, 18
numbers, 227-230
concurrent Ajax requests, 467-479
text, 230-234
JavaScript inner functions, 475-479
server variables, 203-205
multiple XMLHttpRequest objects,
buttons, 191-201
467-472
overview, 191-192
XMLHttpRequest arrays, 472-475
persistence of data, 192-195
conditional functions, 150-153
radio, 172-175
connectGoogleSuggest function, 486
reset, 163
connections
Submit, as HTML buttons, 195-201
database, 371-372, 376-377
Google Suggest, 484-494
constants
callback functions, 441-442, 479, 565
class, 306-308
casts, 39, 87 PHP, 36-37
cc headers, 418-421 constructors, 257-260, 266-267
ceil function, 43 context node, 553
578 PHP: The Complete Reference

continue statement, 78-79 dechex function, 43

control characters, 17 DECIMAL(totaldigits, decimalplaces) table
controls data format, 367
hidden, 182-184 decoct function, 43
password, 179-182 decrementing values, 48-50
conversion, string, 87-88,106-107 default arguments, 132-133
convert_cyr_string function, 82 DEFAULT_INCLUDE_PATH constant, 36
cookies, 395-402 defaultHandler function, 568
deleting, 400-402 define function, 35
expiration time, 399-400 deg2rad function, 43
overview, 395 deleting
reading, 397-398 cookies, 400-402
setting, 395-397 elements in arrays, 97-99
copy function, 343-344 files, 345-346
copying, image, 535-536 with FTP, 411-413
cos function, 43 MySQL records, 383-385
cosh function, 43 destructors, 260-261
count function, 99,105 development environment, 6-7
count_chars function, 82 die function, 158
counters, loop, 71 directories, 414-415
crc32 function, 82 display function, 482
CREATE DATABASE command, 366 displays
crypt function, 82 image, 506-507
current function, 105 table data, 374-376
custom arrays, 215-218 document elements, 456
'DOCUMENT_ROOT' server variable, 204
do...while loops, 74-76
data formats, 367 downloading
data types, 37-39 with Ajax
data validation, 221-223, 237-240 callback functions, 441-445
databases, 361-394 images, 479-481
MySQL JavaScript, 481-484
accessing, 370-377 with FTP, 406-408
creating, 389-392 drawing. See graphics
deleting records, 383-385 dumping form data, 212-215
inserting data items, 380-382
overview, 364-367
sorting data, 393-394 each function, 103,106
storing data in, 368-370 echo function, 82
tables, 367-368,385-388 echo statements, 14,17-19
updating, 377-380 elements
overview, 361-362 adding with SimpleXML functions,
SQL, 362-364 557-560
DataHandler class, 301 deleting in arrays, 97-99
DATETIME table data format, 367 document, 456
dBase, 361 modifying with SimpleXML functions,
decbin function, 43 555-557
targetDiv, 444-445
 Index 579

ellipses, 513-514 initialization, 339-341

else statement, 63-64 locking, 357-359
elseif statement, 65-66 looping over contents, 322
e-mail, 416-425 opening, 319-322
' f /
adding attachments, 421-425 overview, 319
advanced, 418-421 parsing, 338-341
overview, 416-418 reading
Empress, 361 into arrays, 330-332
end function, 106 binary files, 335-337, 348-352
endElement function, 571 character by character, 325-327
equality operator, 59 entire contents of, 328-329
errors, returning from functions, 158-160 text from, 322-323
executable script, 5 setting pointer location, 343
execution operator, 52-53 size of, 334-335
exp function, 43 stat function, 341-342
expiration time, cookie, 399-400 uploading, 187-191,408-411
explode function, 82,107 writing
expml function, 43 binary files, 348-352
extended Markup Language (XML). See XML file_put_contents, 355-356
extract function, 106-108 strings to, 346-348
extraction, attribute, 550-552 filesize function, 334-335
final keyword, 308-312
Firefox, 437,439
fclose function, 323-324 flipping arrays, 120
feof function, 189, 322 float data type, 37
fgetc function, 325-327 flock function, 357-359
fgets function, 190, 322-323 floor function, 43
fields, defmed, 362 flow control, 63-80
figures, filling in, 518-520 alternate syntax, 80
file function, 330-332 do...while loops, 74-76
else statement, 63-64
file handles, 189
elseif statement, 65-66
file pointers, 343
for loops, 69-72
File Transfer Protocol. See FTP
foreach loop, 76-77
_FILE_constant, 36
if statement, 55-58
file_exists function, 332-334
overview, 41
file_get_contents function, 328-329
skipping iterations, 78-79
file_put_contents function, 355-356
switch statement, 67-69
FilePro, 361
terminating loops early, 77-78
files, 319-359
while loops, 72-74
appending to, 352-354
fmod function, 43
binary, 348-352
fopen function, 189, 319-322
closing, 323-324
for loops, 69-72, 99-100
copying, 343-344
foreach loops, 76-77,101-103, 548-549
deleting, 345-346, 411-413
form data, 212-220
downloading, 406-408
custom arrays, 215-218
file_exists function, 332-334
dumping, 212-215
images, 528-531
handling on one page, 218-220
include, 157-158
580 PHP: The Complete Reference

formatting strings, 88-91 func_get_arg function, 134

fprintf function, 82 func_get_args function, 134
fread function, 33S-337, 348-352 func_num_args function, 134
FrontBase, 361 _FUNCTION_constant, 36
fscanf function, 338-339 functions, 123-160. See also individual functions
fseek function, 343 by name
FTP (File Transfer Protocol), 402-415 accessing global data, 145-147
creating and removing directories, array, 104-106,119-121
414-415 conditional, 150-153
deleting files, 411-413 copy, 343-34'4
downloading files, 406M08 creating, 123-125
overview, 402-405 defined, 8
script permissions, 5 FTP, 402-403
uploading graphic, 303-306
files, 408-411 include files, 157-158
PHP pages with, 7 inner, 475-479
ftp_alloc function, 402 math, 43-44
ftp_cdup function, 402 MySQL, 370-371
ftp_chdir function, 402 nesting, 156-157
ftp_chmod function, 402 overview, 123
ftp_close function, 402 passing
ftp_connect function, 402 arguments to, 132-135
ftp_delete function, 402 arrays to,127-130
ftp. _exec function, 402 data to, 125-127
ftp_fget function, 402 by reference, 130-131
ftp_fput function, 402 returning
ftp_get function, 402 arrays from, 137-139
ftp_get_option function, 402 data from, 135-137
ftp_login function, 402 errors from, 158-160
ftp_mdtm function, 402 lists from, 139-141
ftp_mkdir function, 402 references from, 141-143
ftp_nb_continue function, 402 SimpleXML
ftp_nb_fget function, 403 adding new attributes
ftp_nb_fput function, 403 with, 557-560
ftp_nb_get function, 403 adding new elements
ftp_nb_put function, 403 with, 557-560
ftp_nlist function, 403 extracting attributes
ftp_put function, 403 with, 550-552
ftp_pwd function, 403 modifying attributes
ftp_quit function, 403 with, 555-557
ftp_raw function, 403 modifying elements
ftp_rawlist function, 403 with, 555-557
ftp_rename function, 403 overview, 546-550
ftp_rmdir function, 403 static variables, 147-150
ftp_set_option function, 403 string, 81-86
ftp_site function, 403 variable, 153-155
ftp_size function, 403 variable scope, 143-144
ftp_ssl_connect function, 403 XML Parser, 563-573
ftp_systype function, 403 fwrite function, 346-348, 352-354
 Index 581

mixing PHP and, 10-13

GATEWAYJNTERFACE' server variable, 204 printing, 16-17
gd_info function, 501 tags, 241-243
GET meth6d, 1-65-166, 451-454 html_entity_decode function, 82
get_html_translation_table function, 82 htmlentities function, 82,242
getAllResponseHeaders method, 438-439,498 htmlspecialchars function, 82
getData function, 436, 498 HTTP headers, 205-206, 209-212
getElementsByTagNam^ method, 460 HTTP server variables, 205
getimagesize function, 501 'HTTP_ACCEPT' variable, 205
getrandmax function, 43 'HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET' variable, 205
getResponseHeader method, 438-439 HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING' variable, 205
global data, accessing, 145-147 'HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE' variable, 205
Google Ajax application programming HTTP_CONNECTION' variable, 205
interface (API), 467 'HTTPJTOST' variable, 205
Google Suggest, 481,484-494 HTTP_REFERER' variable, 205
graphics, 501-536 'HTTP_USER_AGENT' variable, 205
arcs, 514-516 Hyperwave Direct, 361
copying images, 535-536 hypot function, 43
creating images, 504-506
creating text, 522-525
displaying in HTML pages, 506-507 IBM DB2, 361
ellipses, 513-514 iDatabase interface, 297
filling in figures, 518-520 identity operator, 304
functions, 501-504 IDEs (integrated development
lines, 507-511 environments), 6-7
overview, 501 if statement, 55-58
pixels, 520-521 image maps, 184-186
polygons, 516-518 image_type_to_extension function, 501
rectangles, 511-513 image_type_to_mime_type function, 501
tiled images, 531-534 image2wbmp function, 501
vertical text, 525-528 imagealphablending function, 501
working with image files, 528-531 imageantialias function, 501
greater-than operator, 55 imagearc function, 501, 514-516
Gutmans, Andi, 2 imagechar function, 501
imagecharup function, 501
imagecolorallocate function, 501, 505
HEAD method, 498 imagecolorallocatealpha function, 501
head requests, 497-500 imagecolorat function, 501
headers, redirection, 211 imagecolorclosest function, 501
hebrev function, 82 imagecolorclosestalpha function, 501
hebrevc function, 82 imagecolorclosesthwb function, 502
here documents, 19-20 imagecolordeallocate function, 502
imagecolorexact function, 502
hexdec function, 43
hidden controls, 182-184 imagecolorexactalpha function, 502
imagecolormatch function, 502
hit counters, 429-431
imagecolorresolve function, 502
HTML
imagecolorresolvealpha function, 502
buttons, 195-201
imagecolorset function, 502
displaying images in, 506-507
582 PHP: The Complete Reference

imagecolorsforindex function, 502 imagepsext'endfont function, 503

imagecolorstotal function, 502 imagepsfreefont function, 503
imagecolortransparent function, 502 imagepsloadfont function, 503
imageconvolution function, 502 imagepsslantfont function, 503
imagecopy function, 502, 535 imagepstext function, 503
imagecopymergegray function, 502 imagerectangle function, 503, 511-512, 529
imagecopyresampled function, 502 imagerotate function, 503
imagecopyresized function, 502 images
imagecreate function, 502, 504 box, 506
imagecreatefromgd function, 502 copying', 535-536
imagecreatefromgd2 function, 502 displaying in HTML pages, 506-507
imagecreatefromgd2part function, 502 downloading with Ajax, 479-481
imagecreatefromgif function, 502,528 drawing, 504-506
imagecreatefromjpeg function, 502,528 image files, 528-531
imagecreatefrompng function, 502, 528 tiling, 531-534
imagecreatefromstring function, 502 imagesavealpha function, 504
imagecreatefromwbmp function, 502,528 imagesetbrush function, 504
imagecreatefromxbm function, 502,528 imagesetpixel function, 504
imagecreatefromxpm function, 502,528 imagesetpixel method, 520
imagecreatetruecolor function, 502,531 imagesetstyle function, 504
image-creating functions, 505 imagesetthickness function, 504, 510-511
imagedashedline function, 502 imagesettile function, 504, 531
imagedestroy function, 502, 505 imagestring function, 504, 522
imageellipse function, 502, 513-514 imagestringup function, 504, 525-526
imagefill function, 503 imagesx function, 504
imagefilledarc function, 503, 518 imagesy function, 504
imagefilledellipse function, 503,518 imagetruecolortopalette function, 504
imagefilledpolygon function, 503, 518 imagettfbbox function, 504
imagefilledrectangle function, 503, 518 imagettftext function, 504
imagefilltoborder function, 503 imagetypes function, 504
imagefilter function, 503 imagewbmp function, 504, 505
imagefontheight function, 503 imagexbm function, 504
imagefontwidth function, 503, 522 implode function, 82,106-107
imageftbbox function, 503 IN clause, 363
imagefttext function, 503 in_array function, 106
imagegammacorrect function, 503 include files, 157-158
imagegd function, 503 incrementing values, 48-50
imagegd2 function, 503 Informix, 361
imagegif function, 503, 505 Ingres, 361
imageinterlace function, 503 inheritance
imageistruecolor function, 503 base class methods, 267-271
imagejpeg function, 503, 505 constructors and, 266-267
imagelayereffect function, 503 overview, 262-264
imageline function, 503, 507-509 protected access, 264-266
imageloadfont function, 503, 522 static members and, 291-293
imagepalettecopy function, 503 initialization (.ini) files, 339-341
imagepng function, 503, 505 inner functions, JavaScript, 475-479
imagepolygon function, 503, 516-518 input, database, 368-370
imagepsbbox function, 503 insertion, database items, 380-382
imagepsencodefont function, 503 installation, PHP local, 5-6
INT table data format, 367
integer data type, 38
lcg_value function, 43
integrated development environments
Lerdorf, Rasmus, 1
(IDEs), 6-7
less-than-or-equal-to operator, 59
InterBase, 361
levenshtein function, 82
interfaces
_LINE_constant, 36
CGI, 20
line-ending characters, 320
Google Ajax API, 467
lines, 507-511
iDatabase, 297 ' *
list boxes, 175-179
OOP, 297-300
list function, 103,106, 108
PHP Iterator, 301
lists, returning to functions, 139-141
internal data types, 37-39
loadXML method, 561-562
Internet Explorer, 437-438
local installation, 5-6
Internet service providers (ISPs), 4-6 localeconv function, 82
interpolation, string, 31-33
locking files, 357-359
iptcembed function, 504
log function, 44
iptcparse function, 504 loglO function, 44
is_finite function, 43 loglp function, 44
is_infinite function, 43 logging in with Ajax, 495-497
is_nan function, 43 logical operators, 61-62
ISPs (Internet service providers), 4-6 logos, 12-13
iterating objects, 301-303 loops, 69-80
iterations, loop, 78-79 alternate syntax, 80
Iterator interface methods, 301 do...while, 74-76
for, 69-72
foreach, 76-77, 548-549
JavaScript. See also Ajax handling arrays with, 99-104
alert box, 239 multidimensional arrays in, 114-
callback function, 479 overview, 41
client-side validation, 237 skipping iterations, 78-79
connectGoogleSuggest function, 486 terminating early, 77-78
display function, 482 while, 72-74
downloading with Ajax, 481-484 ltrim function, 82
inner functions, 475-479
push method, 472
static Web pages, 3 mail function, 416
variables, 27 math functions, 43-44
join function, 82 math operators, 41-46
jpeg2wbmp function, 504 max function, 44
md5 function, 82
md5_file function, 82
key function, 106 merging arrays, 117-119
keywords metaphone function, 82
clone, 312 _METHOD_constant, 36
final, 308-312 methods
list of, 37 abort, 438-439
static, 149 access, 253-257
krsort function, 106,110 accessor, 252
584 PHP: The Complete Reference

methods (cont.) multipart forms, 187, 422

addAttribute, 559 multiple inheritance, 297
addChild, 5*58 multiple select control, 176
base class, 267-271 multiple XMLHttpRequest objects, 467-472
class, 283 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension type
GET, 165-166, 449-452 (MIME), 421
getAllResponseHeaders, 438-439,498 MySQL databases
getElementsByTagName, 459 accessing
getResponseHeader, 438-439 closing connection, 376-377
HEAD, 498 cdnnecting to database, 372
imagesetpixel, 520 connecting to server, 371-372
Iterator interface, 301 displaying table data, 374-376
loadXML, 561-562 overview, 370-371
open, 438 reading tables, 372-374
openRequest, 439 creating, 389-392
overloading, 273-277 deleting records, 383-385
overrideMimeType, 439 inputting data, 368-370
overriding, 271-273 inserting new data items, 380-382
POST, 166,452-456 overview, 364-367
public function current(), 301 sorting data, 393-394
public function key(), 301 tables, 367-368, 385-388
public function next(), 301 updating, 377-380
public function rewind(), 301 mysql_affected_rows function, 370
public function valid(), 301 mysql_change_user function, 370
push, 472 mysql_client_encoding function, 370
send, 438 mysql_close function, 370, 376
static, 281-291 mysqLconnect function, 370, 371
creating, 283-285 mysql_create_db function, 370
overview, 281-283 mysql_data_seek function, 370
passing data to, 285-286 mysql_db_name function, 370
using properties in, 286-291 mysql_db_query function, 370
Microsoft WordPad, 6 mysql_drop_db function, 370
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail mysql_error function, 370
Extension type), 421 mysql_fetch_array function, 370, 375
min function, 44 mysql_fetch_assoc function, 370
Mini SQL (mSQL), 1, 361 mysql_fetch_row function, 371
modifications, with SimpleXML functions, mysql_field_len function, 371
555-557 mysql_field_name function, 371
modified data, arrays, 95-97 mysql_field_seek function, 371
modifiers, access, 253 mysql_field_table function, 371
money_format function, 82 mysql_field_type function, 371
Mozilla, 439 mysql_get_server_info function, 371
mSQL (Mini SQL), 1, 361 mysql_info function, 371
MS-SQL, 361 mysql_list_dbs function, 371
mt_getrandmax function, 44 mysql_list_fields function, 371
mt_rand function, 44 mysql_list_tables function, 371
mt_srand function, 44 mysql_num_fields function, 371
multidimensional arrays, 112-115 mysql_num_rows function, 371
multiline comments, 24 mysql_pconnect function, 371
 Index 585

mysql_query function, 363, 371, 372 overriding methods, 271-273

mysql_result function, 371 overview, 245-246, 281
mysql_select_db function, 371, 372 property access, 253-257
mysql_tabjename function, 371 reflection, 315-317
static methods, 281-291
creating, 283-285
natcasesort function, 106 overview, 281-283
natsort function, 106,110' passing data to, 285-286
navigating arrays, 116-117 using properties in, 286-291
Navigator, 437, 439 objects. See also object-oriented programming
nested comments, 24 (OOP)
nested functions, 156-157 cloning, 312-315
Netscape Navigator, 437,439 comparing, 304-305
newline characters, 326 constructors, 257-260
next function, 106 creating, 250-253
destructors, 260-261
nl_langinfo function, 82
initializing with constructors, 257-260
nl2br function, 82
iterating, 301-303
node types, XPath, 552
XMLHttpRequest
NOT clause, 364
concurrent Ajax requests with
NULL data type, 37
multiple, 467-472
num_points parameter, 517
creating, 436-440, 446-448
number_format function, 82, 91
opening, 440-441
numbers, required, 227-230
octdec function, 44
ODBC, 361
onreadystatechange property, 438-439
object data type, 37 OOP. See object-oriented programming
object-oriented programming (OOP), 245-279,
open method, 438
281-317
opening
classes files, 319-322
abstract, 294-297 XMLHttpRequest objects, 440-441
autoloading, 277-279
openRequest method, 439
creating constants, 306-308
operators, 41-80. See also flow control
creation of, 246-249
array, 110-112
cloning objects, 312-315 assignment, 28,46-48
comparing objects, 304-305 bitwise, 51-52
constructors, 257-260, 266-267 comparison, 59-60, 304
destructors, 260-261 execution, 52-53
final keyword, 308-312 identity, 304
inheritance incrementing and decrementing
base class methods, 267-271
values, 48-50
overview, 262-264
logical, 61-62
protected access, 264-266
math, 41-46
static members and, 291-293 overview, 41
interfaces, 297-300 precedence of, 53-55
iteration, 301-303 string, 50-51
method access, 253-257 ternary, 66-67
objects, 250-253 OR clause, 364
overloading methods, 273-277 "or" logical operators, 62
586 PHP: The Complete Reference

Oracle, 361 pixels, 520-521

ord function, 82 png2wbmp function, 504
overloading methods, 273-277 points parameter, 517
overrideMimeType method, 439 polygons, 516-518
overriding methods, 271-273 port parameters, 403
Ovrimos, 361 pos argument, 406, 409
pos function, 106
POST method, 166, 452-455
pack function, 348-349 PostgreSQL, 361
padding specifiers, 89 pow function) 44
pages, PHP, 8-10 precedence, operator, 53-55
parent:: syntax, 270 precision specifiers, 89
parse_ini_file function, 339-341 prev function, 106
parse_str function, 83 print function, 83
Parser functions, XML, 563-573 print statements, 19
parsing files, 338-341 print_r function, 100-101
password controls, 179-182 printf function, 83, 89
'PATH_TRANSLATED' server variable, 204 printing, 14-17
persisting user data, 234-237 private access modifier, 253-257
Personal Home Page (PHP), 1-39 properties, 245, 253-257, 286-291
command-line, 20-24 protected access modifier, 253
comments, 24-25 public access modifier, 253-254
constants, 36-37 public function current() method, 301
creating pages, 8-9 public function key() method, 301
development environment, 6-7 public function next() method, 301
echo statement, 17-19 public function rewind() method, 301
here documents, 19-20 public function valid() method, 301
internal data types, 37-39 push method, 472
ISP support, 4-6
local installation, 5-6
mixing HTML and, 10-13 'QUERY_STRING' server variable, 204
overview, 1-3 quoted_printable_decode function, 83
printing quotemeta function, 83
HTML, 16-17
text, 14-15
running pages, 9-10
rad2deg function, 44
variables, 26-35
radio buttons, 172-175
overview, 26-27
rand function, 44
storing data in, 27-30
range function, 106
string interpolation, 31-33
reading
variable, 33-35
binary reads, 335-337
PHP. See Personal Home Page
cookies, 397-398
'PHP_AUTH_PW' server variable, 204
files
'PHP_AUTH_USER' server variable, 204
into arrays, 330-332
PHP_OS constant, 36
binary, 348-352
'PHP_SELF' server variable, 204
character by character, 325-327
PHP_VERSION constant, 36
file_get_contents function, 328-329
phpinfo() function, 8
text from, 322-323
pi function, 44
tables, 372-374
 Index 587

readyState property, 438-439, 442 sending, e-mail, 416-421

Really Simple Syndication (RSS), 540-544 sendRPCDone function, 491
records, 362, 383-385 server variables, 203-205
rectangles,f511-513 'SERVER_ADMIN' server variable, 204
redirecting browsers, 209-212 'SERVER_NAME' server variable, 204
references, 130-131,141-143 'SERVER_PORT' server variable, 204
reflection, 315-317 SERVER_PROTOCOL' server variable, 204
Reflectionfunction class, 315 'SERVER_SIGNATURE' server variable, 204
regular expressions, 231 'SERVER_SOFTWARE' server variable, 204
'REMOTE_ADDR' server variable, 204 servers
REMOTE_HOST' server variable, 204 GET method, 449-452
'REMOTE_PORT' server variable, 204 POST method, 452-455
rename function, 344 sessions, 425-431
REQUEST_METHOD' server variable, 204 overview, 395
'REQUESTJJRT server variable, 204 storing data in, 425-429
requests, concurrent Ajax, 467-479 writing hit counters using, 429-431
JavaScript inner functions, 475-479 setcookie function, 395-396
multiple XMLHttpRequest objects, setlocale function, 83
467-472 setproducts function, 458-459,461
XMLHttpRequest arrays, 472-475 setRequestHeader method, 438
required data, 223-234 shal function, 83
entered by user, 223-226 shal_file function, 83
numbers, 227-230 shift operators, 52
text, 230-234 SHOW DATABASES; command, 366
reset button, 163 show_errors function, 225
reset function, 106 show_welcome function, 235
resource data type, 37 shuffle function, 106
responseBody property, 438 similar_text function, 83
responseStream property, 438 SimpleXML functions
responseText property, 438-439 extracting attributes, 550-552
responseXML property, 438-439,459 modifying attributes, 555-557
round function, 44 modifying elements, 555-557
rsort function, 106 new attributes, 557-560
RSS (Really Simple Syndication), 540-544 new elements, 557-560
rtrim function, 83 overview, 544-550
simplexml_import_dom function, 544
simplexml_load_file function, 544
simplexml_load_string function, 544
Safari, 437,439
scoper function, 143 SimpleXMLElement->_construct)
function, 544
script
SimpleXMLElement->addAttribute()
executable, 5
redirection, 211 function, 544
'SCRIPT_FILENAME' server variable, 204 SimpleXMLElement->addChild()
'SCRIPT_NAME' server variable, 204 function, 544
SimpleXMLElement->asXML() function, 544
script-level data, 145
SimpleXMLElement->attributes() function, 544
SEEK_CUR constant, 343
SimpleXMLElement->children() function, 544
SEEK_END constant, 343
SimpleXMLElement->getDocNamespaces()
SEEK_SET constant, 343
function, 544
send method, 438
588 PHP: The Complete Reference

SimpleXMLElement->getName() function, 545 status property, 438-439,442

SimpleXMLElement->getNamespaces() statusText property, 438-439
function, 545 storing data, 27-30, 425-429
SimpleXMLElement->registerXPathNamespace() str_ireplace function, 83
function, 545 str_pad function, 83
SimpleXMLElement->xpath() function, 545 str_repeat function, 83
sin function, 44 str_replace function, 83
single-line comments, 24-25 str_rotl3 function, 83
sinh function, 44 str_shuffle function, 83
sizeof function, 106 str_split function, 83
skipped loop iterations, 78-79 str_word_count function, 83
Solid, 361 strcasecmp function, 83
sort function, 106, 108 strchr function, 83
sorting strcmp function, 83
arrays, 109-110 strcoll function, 83
data, 393-394 strcspn function, 83
soundex function, 83 string data type, 37
specifiers, 89 string operators, 50-51
splitting arrays, 117-119 strings, 81-91
sprintf function, 83, 89 converting to and from, 87-88
SQL (Structured Query Language), 362-364 explode function, 107
SQL CREATE statement, 385 formatting, 88-91
SQL INSERT statement, 381 functions, 81-86
sqrt function, 44 implode function, 106-107
srand function, 44 interpolation, 31-33
sscanf function, 83 overview, 81
startElement handler function, 568 writing to files, 346-348
stat function, 341-342 strip_tags function, 83, 243
statements stripcslashes function, 83
alternate syntax, 80 stripos function, 83
break, 68, 77 stripslashes function, 83
continue, 78 stristr function, 83
echo, 14,17-19 strlen function, 83
else, 63-64 strnatcasecmp function, 84
elseif, 65-66 strnatcmp function, 84
if, 55-58 strncasecmp function, 84
SQL CREATE, 385 strncmp function, 84
SQL INSERT, 381 strpos function, 84
switch, 67-69 strrchr function, 84
static keywords, 149 strrev function, 84
static members, 291-293 strripos function, 84
static methods strrpos function, 84
creating, 283-285 strspn function, 84
overview, 281-283 strstr function, 84
passing data to, 285-286 strtok function, 84
using properties in, 286-291 strtolower function, 84
static text, 26 strtoupper function, 84
static variables, 147-150 strtr function, 84
 Index 589

Structured Query Language (SQL), 362-364 unlink function, 345-346

Submit buttons, 195-201 unpack function, 349
substr function, 84 updating, 377-380
substr_compare function, 84 uploading files, 187-191,408-411
substr_cotmt function, 84 URL encoding, 450
substr_replace function, 84 usort function, 106
Suggest, 481, 484-494 -v option, 4
superglobal array, 203
Suraski, Zeev, 2
switch statement, 67-69
VARCHAR(ZengfZz) table data format, 367
Sybase, 361 vardump function, 58
syntax, alternate, 80 variable numbers, argument, 133-135
variables, 26-35
functions, 153-155
t' flag, 320 overview, 26-27
tables scope of, 143-144
creating, 367-368, 385-388 server, 203-205
displaying data, 374-376 static, 147-150
reading, 372-374 storing data in, 27-30
tan function, 44 string interpolation, 31-33
tanh function, 44 variable, 33-35
targetDiv element, 444-445 Velocis, 361
termination, loop, 77-78 vertical text, 525-528
ternary operator, 66-67 vprintf function, 84
text vsprintf function, 84
drawing, 522-525
printing, 14-15 — yy hh

required, 230-234 Web pages, 164-201

vertical, 525-528 check boxes, 170-172
text areas, 167-170 creating, 8-9
text fields, 164-167 file uploads, 187-191
text strings. See strings handling form data on, 218-220
text-mode translation flag ('t'), 320 hidden controls, 182-184
thickness, line, 510-511 image maps, 184-186
tiled images, 531-534 listboxes, 175-179
timeout parameters, 403 overview, 164
timestamp, Unix, 399 password controls, 179-182
trim function, 84 persistence of button data, 192-195
troubleshooting Web pages, 9-10 radio buttons, 173-175
type specifiers, 89 running, 9-10
setting up for PHP, 161-164
Submit buttons as HTML buttons,
uasort function, 106 195-201
ucfirst function, 84 text areas, 167-170
ucwords function, 84 text fields, 164-167
uksort function, 106 troubleshooting, 9-10
uncreation, variable, 30 Web site, PHP, 3
Unicode, 4 WHERE clause, 363
Unix, 361, 399 while loops, 72-74,103-104
590 PHP: The Complete Reference

width specifiers, 89 xml_get_error_code function, 563

WordPad, 6 xml_parse function, 563, 567
wordwrap function, 84 xml_parse_into_struct function, 563
writing xml_parser_create function, 563
Ajax, 435-436 xml_parser_create_ns function, 563
to files, 346-348 xml_parser_free function, 563
files xml_parser_get_optiort function, 563
binary, 348-352 xml_parser_set_option function, 563
file_put_contents, 355-356 xml_set_character_data_handler
strings to, 346-348 function, 563; 565
hit counters using sessions, 429-431 xml_set_default_handler function, 563
xml_set_element_handler function, 563, 565
xml_set_end_namespace_decl_handler
XML, 537-573 function, 564
creating, 537-539 xml_set_external_entity_ref_handler
declarations, 564 function, 564
handling, 456-466 xml_set_notation_decl_handler function, 564
interacting with other packages, 561-563 xml_set_object function, 564
overview, 537 xml_set_processing_instruction_handler
Parser functions, 563-573 function, 564
Really Simple Syndication, 540-544 xml_set_start_namespace_decl_handler
sending to browser, 560-561 function, 564
SimpleXML functions xml_set_unparsed_entity_decl_handler
adding new elements and function, 564
attributes, 557-560 XMLHttp Request
extracting attributes, 550-552 arrays, 472-475
modifying elements and attributes, concurrent Ajax requests and multiple
555-557 objects, 467-472
overview, 544-550 creating objects, 436-440, 446-448
XPath, 552-555 opening objects, 440-441
XML (extended Markup Language). See XML send method, 445
xml_error_string function, 563 XPath, 552-555
xml_get_current_bytejndex function, 563
xml_get_current_column_number function, 563
xml_get_current_line_number function, 563,567 zcontext, 319
Covers PHP 5.2 ' r. ?

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