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Join Date: May 2005

Posts: 9

Reputation: michaelK5 is an unknown quantity at this point

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michaelK5

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Newbie Poster

Hello Dani Web members

May 20th, 2005

Hello Dani PHP Members.

My name is Michael, I have been looking online for a place to learn php and at this point I have given up.

I am wondering if there is anyone on here that can teach me php and mysql.
Or if you know of any places I can learn from please let me know the web urls.

thank you,
Michael C. :p

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Join Date: Apr 2005

Posts: 138

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sarahk

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Junior Poster

Re: Hello Dani Web members

May 21st, 2005

Hi Michael

How you learn will depend on what other programming languages you know. If you've got significant experience in any other language it's really just a matter of converting the syntax, getting a few new concepts and you're off running.

If you are new to all programming then the learning curve is quite different.

Hunt around for a few tutorials, follow them through. Create guest books, practice applying design. Find a php forum which gets alot of traffic and try answering other peoples questions, or just following through with the answers to see why the recommendations were made.

Sites to watch
PHPClasses.org - a great script repository
Weberdevscripts and articles and Weberforums
Newbies board at PHPBuilder.com
SourceForge
Open Source CMS

A key question to ask yourself is why you want to learn PHP and structure your learning around your goals.

Sarah

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Sarah's SEO Blog

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Join Date: May 2005

Posts: 9

Reputation: michaelK5 is an unknown quantity at this point

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michaelK5

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Newbie Poster

Re: Hello Dani Web members

May 21st, 2005

Hello Sarah.

I would like to learn as much as possible not just on one subject or one goal, I would like to know how to create anything using php/mysql.

I would also like to learn WAP, and some other things, but I would like to learn php and mysql first.

Also there were a few links that you posted but did not say where to look for php stuff.

Please let me know, Thank you
Michael

•

Join Date: Apr 2005

Posts: 138

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sarahk

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Junior Poster

Re: Hello Dani Web members

May 21st, 2005

Oh yeah, I forgot to post a link to the most important site of all http://www.php.net

Not only is it the manual but people contribute code there too.

OK Michael

You have a website right, and a MySQL database? either on your PC at home or on the web somewhere? If not, go get one.

Then create a basic hello world site using these file

index.php

 Help with Code Tags 
 PHP Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
<?php
$title = 'Michaels first page';
 
include 'header.php';
include 'leftnav.php';
//ready to start content
?><h1>Hello World</h1>
<p>My name is Michael</p>
<?php
// no more unique content
include 'footer.php';
?>
<?php
$title = 'Michaels first page';
 
include 'header.php';
include 'leftnav.php';
//ready to start content
?><h1>Hello World</h1>
<p>My name is Michael</p>
<?php
// no more unique content
include 'footer.php';
?>

header.php

 Help with Code Tags 
 PHP Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
<html>
<head>
<title><?php echo $title; ?></title>
<style>
body, table { font: 12px Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Sans-serif; }
a { color: navy; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; }
a:hover { text-decoration: underline }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0'>
<html>
<head>
<title><?php echo $title; ?></title>
<style>
body, table { font: 12px Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Sans-serif; }
a { color: navy; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; }
a:hover { text-decoration: underline }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0'>

leftnav.php

 Help with Code Tags 
 PHP Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
<tr><td><h2>Menu</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href='page1'>Page 1</a></li>
<li><a href='page2'>Page 2</a></li>
</ul>
</td>
<td>
<tr><td><h2>Menu</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href='page1'>Page 1</a></li>
<li><a href='page2'>Page 2</a></li>
</ul>
</td>
<td>

footer.php

 Help with Code Tags 
 PHP Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
</td></tr></table>
<div align='center'>&copy; <?php echo date('Y'); ?> Michael</div>
</body>
</html>
</td></tr></table>
<div align='center'>&copy; <?php echo date('Y'); ?> Michael</div>
</body>
</html>

You'll see that on some files I break in and out of PHP and in others there is none at all. I also refer to page 1 and page 2 which will be copies of index.php with different content.

Now, you get to muck about adding some html onto the page, playing with the stylesheet to display the fonts and colours the way you want.

Notice that if you change something in header it follows through for the page 1 and page 2.
See how I create a variable called $title but I only use it in header.php and it can see it.

Next, add something from the database...

Sarah

•

Join Date: May 2005

Posts: 9

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michaelK5

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Newbie Poster

Re: Hello Dani Web members

May 21st, 2005

Dear Sarah

:eek: :eek: :eek:

I wish I know what you just did, or even said

•

Join Date: Apr 2005

Posts: 138

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sarahk

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Junior Poster

Re: Hello Dani Web members

May 21st, 2005

Each code section needs to be a separate file with the name I've given. Upload them onto your php website and ask it for http://www.mysite.com/index.php where mysite is your actual site name.

Sarah

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Join Date: May 2005

Posts: 9

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michaelK5

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Newbie Poster

Re: Hello Dani Web members

May 21st, 2005

Oh no I have a domains but no hosting right now, Can not find anyone that offers a good thing for a good price.

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Join Date: Jan 2004

Posts: 93

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fsn812

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Junior Poster in Training

Re: Hello Dani Web members

May 21st, 2005

This is a great place to start, espcially if you want to understand the difference of PHP4 and PHP5, and you want to learn PHP:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/

--
Installation and Configuration:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.php
--

--
Language Reference:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/langref.php
--

--
PHP4 Object Oriented:

http://us2.php.net/oop/
--

--
PHP5 Object Oriented:

http://us3.php.net/zend-engine-2.php--

My suggestion to you is to read the documentation section fully, then move into the PHP5 OO section. PHP5 has a few changes from PHP4 especially in how Object Oriented code is handled, so my suggstion is to familiarize yourself with PHP5.