PHP for the Web: Visual Quickstart Guide (3rd Edition)

Description

With PHP for the World Wide Web, Third Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, readers can start from the beginning to get a tour of the programming language, or look up specific tasks to learn just what they need to know. This task-based visual reference guide uses step-by-step instructions and plenty of screenshots to teach beginning and intermediate users this popular open-source scripting language. Leading technology author Larry Ullman guides readers through the new features in PHP 6, focusing primarily on improved support for handling any language in a Web site.

Key Features

• Illustrated with hundreds of screenshots–all updated to reflect the new features in PHP 6.
• Loaded with tips and techniques gleaned from real-world PHP experience by best-selling author Larry Ullman.
• Step-by-step instructions, clear screenshots, and low price point make this an ideal guide to PHP.
• Getting Started with PHP Variables: HTML Forms and PHP Using Numbers, Using Strings, Control Structures, Using Arrays, Creating Web Applications, Cookies and Sessions, Creating Functions, Files and Directories, Intro to Databases, Regular Expressions.

PHP expert Larry Ullman has written several best-selling books on the topic, including the previous edition of this guide. In addition, he serves as the Director of Digital Media Technology at DMC Insights and teaches numerous classes on PHP.

Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
   1. What is PHP?
   2. Why Use PHP?
   3. How PHP Works
   4. What You’ll Need
   5. About This Book
   6. Companion Web Site
2. Chapter 1: Getting Started With PHP
   1. Basic XHTML Syntax
   2. Basic PHP Syntax
   3. Testing Your Script
   4. Sending Text to the Browser
   5. Sending HTML to the Browser
   6. Using White Space
   7. Adding Comments to Scripts
   8. Basic Debugging Steps
3. Chapter 2: Variables
   1. What are Variables?
   2. Variable Syntax
   3. Types of Variables
   4. Assigning Values to Variables
   5. Understanding Quotation Marks
4. Chapter 3: HTML Forms and PHP
   1. Creating a Simple Form
   2. Using GET or POST
   3. Receiving Form Data in PHP
   4. Displaying Errors
   5. Error Reporting
   6. Manually Sending Data to a Page
5. Chapter 4: Using Numbers
   1. Creating the Form
   2. Performing Arithmetic
   3. Formatting Numbers
   4. Understanding Precedence
   5. Incrementing and Decrementing a Number
   6. Creating Random Numbers
6. Chapter 5: Using Strings
   1. Creating the HTML Form
   2. Connecting Strings (Concatenation)
   3. Handling Newlines
   4. HTML and PHP
   5. Encoding and Decoding Strings
   6. Finding Substrings
   7. Replacing Parts of a String
7. Chapter 6: Control Structures
   1. Creating the HTML Form
   2. The if Conditional
   3. Validation Functions
   4. Using Else
   5. More Operators
   6. Using elseif
   7. The Switch Conditional
   8. The For Loop
8. Chapter 7: Using Arrays
   1. What Is an Array?
   2. Creating an Array
   3. Adding Items to an Array
   4. Accessing Array Elements
   5. Creating Multidimensional Arrays
   6. Sorting Arrays
   7. Transforming Between Strings and Arrays
   8. Creating an Array from a Form
9. Chapter 8: Creating Web Applications
   1. Creating Templates
   2. Using External Files
   3. Using Constants
   4. Working with the Date and Time
   5. Handling HTML Forms with PHP, Revisited
   6. Making Forms Sticky
   7. Sending Email
   8. Output Buffering
   9. Manipulating HTTP Headers
10. Chapter 9: Cookies and Sessions
    1. What Are Cookies?
    2. Creating Cookies
    3. Reading from Cookies
    4. Adding Parameters to a Cookie
    5. Deleting a Cookie
    6. What Are Sessions?
    7. Creating a Session
    8. Accessing Session Variables
    9. Deleting a Session
11. Chapter 10: Creating Functions
    1. Creating and Using Simple Functions
    2. Creating and Calling Functions that Take Arguments
    3. Setting Default Argument Values
    4. Creating and Using Functions that Return a Value
    5. Understanding Variable Scope
12. Chapter 11: Files and Directories
    1. File Permissions
    2. Writing to Files
    3. Locking Files
    4. Reading from Files
    5. Handling File Uploads
    6. Navigating Directories
    7. Creating Directories
    8. Reading Files Incrementally
13. Chapter 12: Intro to Databases
    1. Introduction to SQL
    2. Connecting to MySQL
    3. MySQL Error Handling
    4. Creating and Selecting a Database
    5. Creating a Table
    6. Inserting Data into a Database
    7. Securing Query Data
    8. Retrieving Data from a Database
    9. Deleting Data in a Database
    10. Updating Data in a Database
14. Chapter 13: Regular Expressions
    1. What are Regular Expressions?
    2. Matching Patterns
    3. Using Literals
    4. Using Metacharacters
    5. Using Quantifiers
    6. Using Classes
    7. Matching and Replacing Patterns
15. Appendix A: Installation and Configuration
    1. Installing on Windows
    2. Installing on Mac OS X
    3. Using the MySQL Client
    4. Creating MySQL Users
    5. PHP Configuration
16. Appendix B: Resources and Next Steps
    1. Online PHP Resources
    2. Database Resources
    3. Top Ten Frequently Asked Questions (or Problems)
    4. Next Steps
    5. Tables