Acknowledgements
Introduction
How to Use This Book
Chapter 1: An Introduction to PHP
- An Abbreviated History
- Characteristics of PHP
- User Affirmations
- An Introductory Example
- Downloading PHP/Apache
- Installation and Configuration
- PHP Configuration
- Basic PHP Constructs
- What's Next?
Chapter 2: Variables and Data Types
- Integer Values
- Floating-Point Numbers
- String Values
- Arrays
- Objects
- Boolean, or True/False, Values
- Identifiers
- Variables
- Type Juggling
- Type Casting
- Variable Assignment
- Variable Variables
- Predefined Variables
- Constants
- What's Next?
Chapter 3: Expressions, Operators and Control Structures
- Expressions
- Control Structures
- Project: Develop and Events Calendar
- What's Next?
Chapter 4: Functions
- What Is a Function?
- Function Definition and Invocation
- Nested Functions
- Returning Values from a Function
- Recursive Functions
- Variable Functions
- Building Function Libraries
- What's Next?
Chapter 5: Arrays
- Creating Arrays
- Multidimensional Arrays
- Referencing Multidimensional Arrays
- Locating Array Elements
- Adding and Removing Elements
- Traversing Arrays
- Array Size
- Sorting Arrays
- Other Useful Functions
- What's Next?
Chapter 6: Object-Oriented PHP
- PHP and OOP
- Classes, Objects, and Method Declarations
- Class and Object Functions
- What's Next?
Chapter 7: File I/O and the File System
- Verifying a File's Existence and Size
- Opening and Closing I/O
- Writing to a File
- Reading from a File
- Reading a File into an Array
- Redirecting a File Directly to Output
- Opening a Process File Pointer with popen()
- Opening a Socket Connection
- External Program Execution
- Working with the File System
- Displaying and Modifying File Characteristics
- Copying and Renaming Files
- Deleting Files
- Working with Directories
- Project 1: A Simple Access Counter
- Project 2: A Site Map Generator
- What's Next?
Chapter 8: Strings and Regular Expressions
- Regular Expressions
- PHP's Regexp Functions (POSIX Extended)
- Regular Expression Syntax (Perl Style)
- PHP's Regexp Functions (Perl Compatible)
- Other String-Specific Functions
- Project: Browser Detection
- What's Next?
Chapter 9: PHP and Dynamic Site Development
- Simple Linking
- File Components (Basic Templates)
- Project: Build a Page Generator
- What's Next?
Chapter 10: Forms
- An Introduction to Forms
- Forms and PHP
- Error Checking
- Dynamic Forms Construction
- Project: Create a Guestbook
- What's Next?
Chapter 11: Databases
- What is SQL?
- PHP's Extensive Database Support
- MySQL
- PHP's Predefined MySQL Functions
- ODBC
- Project: Create a Bookmark Repository
- What's Next?
Chapter 12: Templates
- What You've Learned So Far
- Developing an Advanced Template System
- Project: Create and Address Book
- What's Next?
Chapter 13: Cookies and Session Tracking
- What Is a Cookie?
- Unique Identification Numbers
- Session Handling
- Project: Create a Visitor Log
- What's Next?
Chapter 14: PHP and XML
- A Brief Introduction to Markup
- An Introduction to XML Syntax
- PHP and XML
- A Final Note About PHP and XML
- What's Next?
Chapter 15: Javascript & COM
- Javascript
- The Component Object Model
- What's Next?
Chapter 16: Security
- Configuration Issues
- Coding Issues
- Data Encryption
- E-Commerce Functions
- User Authentication
- Conclusion