Helpful Information

Category: Server side development

Questions :)

These questions might seem really dumb to most people here, but I'm just starting php and I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer :). I've read the first few pages of lesson one in the Webmonkey php tutorial, and I have one big problem, I don't really understand how to run/use Apache. I've downloaded Apachev1.24.xx (something like that) and v2.xx but the problem is, I'm clueless with what to do with them now. I've downloaded them, then unzipped them and Webmonkey says to change/add words in certain files I can't find, and if I do find them I don't think I have the right program to display them.

I'm not really planning to learn php coding yet, more like copy+paste scripts if that's possible. I'd really like a site with a database, where you can create users, request your password if lost, admin abilities like adding members, adding news scripts, stuff like that. I'm not quite sure if I require MySQL or php, or both?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrew

Edit: One thing I forgot, I don't believe that any free servers I use support php. Would anyone happen to know a free server which does? Thanks again.

http://www.firepages.com.au <= download phpdev here, it's a bundle with apache, mysql and php all in one and it installs itself. :)

At the chance of kicking in an open door here:

Apache = web server software. Needed when you want to create a (local) web server.

PHP = a server-side scripting language. Also: the thingy that runs on a web server that parses PHP-pages and processes the code, yielding a pure HTML-page which is sent to the client.

MySQL = a database package. Needed on the server to be able to create databases and tables, which in turn can be accessed using PHP (scripting, that is).

If you don't want to create an Apache web server, you don't need Apache. You'll need a remote server which runs PHP, though. For the things you described you'd like to do, a server side scripting language is needed, and PHP is as good a choice as any. If you want to store data on the server and use PHP to retrieve it in a flexible manner, a database package is needed; again, MySQL is a good choice here.

I've been using a free account with Lycos (Tripod) Europe (NL, to be precise, but other countries have that to) which runs PHP and a limited form of MySQL. It's not problem free, but for getting the hang of PHP and MySQL it serves it's purpose.

Thanks a lot Ronald, I really appreciate your timely reply. Your information does help but a little more info would help me greatly. Before I begin to actually learn php I'm gonna have to get it set up on my server. I downloaded phpdev posted by mouse, and I'm very clueless as what to do with it. I understand I'll need php and MySQL for my site, but I have no idea as to how to make them function. In MySQL folder there is only a ReadMe file saying this is where MySQL files will be stored. I opened a tripod account like you suggested as well.

I'll ask some questions here perhaps someone could answer. I'd greatly appreciate it.

-Where do I actually type my php code? In notepad and upload it,
or somewhere else?

-What files should I upload to Tripod?

-What is my "localhost"?

-What will need to be edited for php/MySQL to work for me? Not depending on my project, just what has to be edited for the bare minimum functioning?

-Since I'm very clueless with this type of language should I learn another before I learn php? I know so far, JavaScript, DHTML, HTML, and CSS, the basics.

Thanks a lot for any replies helping me out. I greatly appreciate it, you're a great help to me.

Thanks,
Andrew

Here is a good article on building a site using PHP and mySQL:

http://www.mysql.com/articles/ddws/

As for phpdev.... once you have installed it you will place your PHP files in a folder which will be located about here:

C:\phpdev\www

Hi Guy
I am also trying to learn PHP/MySQL
I have tried a few servers but they were all to heavy duty for what I wanted co I got the BadBlue server.

www.badblue.com. It is so simple to setup and you don't need to stuff around with major config changes.

There is a tab on the server config screen that tells you everything you need to modify to get php working.

I had it up and running itn 20 minutes and It is great

Cheers
theGnome

-Where do I actually type my php code? In notepad and upload it,
or somewhere else?
PHP code is inserted into HTML documents, either in the head or in the body section, wherever it is needed (similar to javascript). The code is marked by special PHP-tags.

-What files should I upload to Tripod?

The pages of your site, like before, only they should have the extension .php instead of .htm or .html, to signal the PHP preprocessor that there's PHP code in there. Plus maybe included files. And, if you use a database, tables have to be made and populated.

-What is my "localhost"?

A name tripod uses for its MySQL server. Needed to connect to that server in your scripts.

-What will need to be edited for php/MySQL to work for me? Not depending on my project, just what has to be edited for the bare minimum functioning?

Sheez! That's an unanswerable question, since it ALL depends on what you want to accomplish!

-Since I'm very clueless with this type of language should I learn another before I learn php? I know so far, JavaScript, DHTML, HTML, and CSS, the basics.

What you know sofar will let you make pages, dynamic pages and client-side scripts. PHP will add the power of server-side scripting. Besides PHP there's also CGI, ASP, JSP, etc. but PHP is up-and-coming and is said to be easily learned, one of the reasons i decided to delve into it. It's also open-source software, and therefore free, which makes it very interesting for hosting providers to provide it to their customers, whereas most other server-side solutions cost them (and you!) a lot of cash.