Hey people,

for the past few months i have been looking into C++, java and php. My web design is mainly about flash, photoshop and dreamweaver so im trying to brush up on my programming skills.

Basically i have a client who wants me to design them a website which is based on his auto repair business. His company also sells its franchise to people. He wants a section where if someones car needs its bumper fixing, they can go on his website, type in their postcode, and the nearest auto repair technicians details will appear. like this site www.revive-uk.com

Is this easy to do? i know its a data driven site, but im a newbie to all this!

Thanks alot
GR Web FX

You should make a MySQL database structure and insert the data of all the post codes & addresses of results for them. Then write the php code to run the queries and display the results.

Is that fairly straightforward to do? i bought a book called PHP & MySQL for dummies but have only just really started reading it.

it's pretty simple to do. I started php a week ago and already got more than that running. But if you need help, we're all here at daniweb!

is it that simple to do the postal code thing... I've seen that sort of engine on the net for sale, and it's no cheap... something about comparing the PC and distance using Longt/Latt etc. ?

Hope it is that simple... might have a go as my first real project!

It is very easy to do something like this and you can do a fopen of a postal site to parse and get all your zip codes.

Do this like once a month so you have the most current data.

Have the parse script insert the data into mysql.

Then use the coordinates to figure out milage from starting point A.

Then its a simple form.. Insert Zip..

Let the PHP find the zip in the table.. find coord's from start point A to ZIPcode end point B.

milage in between and thats your distance.

Check out phpfreaks.com. They have great information there.