Introducing PHP

Learn the Most Popular Server-Side Language

PHP is the most popular server-side language used to build dynamic websites, and though it is not especially difficult to use, non-programmers often find it intimidating. This workshop from author and trainer David Powers is designed to change that by teaching you PHP through a series of clear, focused, easy-to-follow lessons. After briefly explaining what PHP is and how it integrates with HTML, David will guide you through the setup and configuration of a PHP development environment on both Windows and Mac OS X. Then you’ll learn the features of the PHP language through a series of hands-on exercises before embarking on a larger project that involves building a script to validate and email user input from an online form. Through this project you’ll come to understand the value of creating reusable code, the importance of PHP security, and how to deal with multiple-choice form fields.

Trainer: David Powers

Publication date: Jan 25, 2012

$39.99

Duration: 4 hrs 50 min

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Welcome to Introducing PHP

In this chapter you'll learn how to install and configure a PHP testing environment on your local computer, with instructions for both Windows and Mac OS X.

Setting Up a PHP Development Environment
- This introductory video describes the role of PHP in building dynamic web pages and explains what you need to start developing with PHP.
  
  What Is PHP and What Do I Need?
  
  06:30
- This lesson guides you through the process of installing a local testing environment using XAMPP on Windows operating systems.
  
  Installing XAMPP on Windows
  
  08:04
- It is possible you will find that Apache fails to start after you install XAMPP. In this video you'll learn how to fix this by changing the default Apache port if there's a conflict on your system.
  
  Troubleshooting XAMPP
  
  03:45
- For Mac users, MAMP offers a quick and easy way to set up a PHP testing environment. This lesson shows how to install MAMP and set the correct ports for Apache and MySQL.
  
  Installing MAMP on Mac OS X
  
  06:03
- PHP contains many features, but they might not all be enabled on your server, so it's important to check the configuration. In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the phpinfo() function and check the most important settings for your testing environment.
  
  Checking the PHP Configuration
  
  08:12
- This lesson demonstrates how to change PHP configuration settings by editing php.ini. The video shows important changes that need to be made to the MAMP defaults, but the information is also relevant to Windows users.
  
  Changing Configuration Settings
  
  07:40
- If you're using Dreamweaver as your PHP script editor, this lesson will show you how to define a PHP site in Dreamweaver, allowing you to test PHP pages directly in the Document window.
  
  Setting Up a PHP Site in Dreamweaver
  
  04:01
This chapter lays the foundation for working with PHP by describing the basic building blocks of the language.

PHP Basics
- Before we dive into the details of how to write PHP scripts, this lesson will clarify some essential points that frequently confuse beginners.
  
  PHP: The Big Picture
  
  03:32
- Variables play a fundamental role in PHP. In this lesson, you'll learn what a variable is and what the rules are for naming them in PHP.
  
  Naming Variables
  
  03:25
- This practical exercise shows how to store text and numbers in variables and display the values in a browser. You'll also learn what happens if you give a variable an invalid name.
  
  Displaying Text and Numbers
  
  09:15
- Comments not only make maintenance easier by reminding you what the code does, they're also useful for temporarily disabling sections of code. This video explains how comments work, and also how PHP treats white space.
  
  Comments and White Space
  
  06:37
- Choosing whether to enclose strings (text) in single or double quotes can make a big difference. In this video, you'll learn how they differ, as well as how to prevent problems with quotes and apostrophes that occur within a string.
  
  Storing Text as Strings
  
  05:44
- Strings can be joined using the concatenation operator, double-quoted strings, or the combined concatenation operator. This last technique is particularly useful for sending email through PHP, as you'll see in this video.
  
  Joining Strings
  
  08:29
- In addition to standard arithmetic operators, PHP has increment and decrement operators that behave differently. You'll learn all about them in this lesson, including the modulo operator and combined assignment operators that perform a calculation on a variable and reassign the result to the same variable.
  
  Doing Calculations with PHP
  
  05:37
- As this video demonstrates, it's often convenient to store multiple values in a single variable using an array. Indexed arrays automatically assign numbers to array elements, while associative arrays store key/value pairs.
  
  Storing Multiple Values in Arrays
  
  08:24
This section dives deeper into the structure of PHP, explaining how to perform different actions based on conditions and comparisons, as well as how to use loops for repetitive actions and accessing the contents of an array.

Using Control Structures and Loops
- PHP treats certain values as being implicitly true or false. Understanding this concept is vital to working with conditional statements, as this video will explain.
  
  The Truth According to PHP
  
  02:58
- In this lesson, you'll learn how to control the output of your PHP scripts using conditional statements and comparison operators.
  
  Making Decisions with Conditions and Comparisons
  
  07:41
- Switch statements and the ternary operator offer alternative ways of controlling decision-making in PHP. The ternary operator is commonly used as shorthand for simple conditional statements, as you'll see in this lesson.
  
  Using Switch Statements and the Ternary Operator
  
  05:31
- This video demonstrates how to use loops to handle repetitive operations. It covers the three basic types: the while loop, the do...while loop, and the for loop.
  
  Using Loops for Repetitive Actions
  
  09:58
- In this lesson you'll learn how the foreach loop offers a convenient way of accessing every element of an array. It takes two forms: One handles just the element values, while the other gives access to both the key and value of each element of an associative array.
  
  Looping Through the Contents of an Array
  
  05:26
This chapter looks at using PHP's built-in functions and objects with the help of the PHP online manual. You'll also learn how to create your own custom functions and how to decipher PHP's often cryptic error messages.

Functions, Objects, and Errors
- PHP has a huge number of built-in functions. This lesson explains the importance of capturing the return value of most functions, as well as how to use a function as an argument to another function and how to use optional arguments.
  
  Using PHP's Built-In Functions
  
  08:43
- The PHP online manual contains a wealth of information about built-in functions, complete with examples. This lesson explains how to find your way around the Function Reference and understand the conventions it uses.
  
  Understanding PHP Documentation
  
  05:02
- In this lesson, you'll learn how to define a custom function to convert seconds to minutes and seconds.
  
  Creating Custom Functions
  
  06:02
- Server-side includes allow you to merge files on the server, providing access to external code libraries and simplifying the process of updating common page elements. This video explains why PHP has four separate include commands and suggests which ones you should use.
  
  Including External Files
  
  09:46
- Normally variables are passed to functions by value, leaving the original value unchanged. However, you can also pass variables to a function by reference, which results in the original value being permanently changed throughout the script.
  
  Passing Values by Reference to a Function
  
  05:54
- Since PHP 5, many core features have uses classes and objects. This video uses the DateTime and DateTimeZone classes to demonstrate how to instantiate PHP objects and access their methods.
  
  Understanding PHP Classes and Objects
  
  05:47
- PHP error messages can be difficult to interpret. This lesson looks at some of the most common error messages and how to identify the cause of the problem.
  
  Deciphering Error Messages
  
  09:27
This chapter steps you through the process of building a reusable script to validate and email user input from an online form. Each video builds on the previous one, so it's recommended that you watch them in sequence. Complete start and end files are provided for each lesson.

Emailing the Contents of an Online Form
- Forms can be submitted using the GET or POST methods. This lesson describes the difference between them and explains how to access form data using the superglobal $_GET and $_POST arrays.
  
  Understanding the Difference Between POST and GET
  
  07:38
- Magic quotes insert unwanted backslashes in data submitted through a form. This feature has been deprecated, but is still implemented on many servers. This video explains how to deal with the problem if it affects your server.
  
  Eliminating Unwanted Backslashes
  
  07:08
- This lesson explains the arguments expected by the mail() function and the format for each one.
  
  How PHP Sends Email
  
  07:38
- The processing script uses arrays to store details of errors and required fields that have been left blank. Checking if those arrays are empty controls the display of error messages alongside each form field, as you'll see in this video.
  
  Displaying Error Messages Conditionally
  
  04:51
- A loop is used to check the value of each form field, and if a required field is empty, its name is added to the $missing array. The loop also creates new variables based on the name of each form field using a technique known as variable variables, which is covered in this lesson.
  
  Making Sure Required Fields Aren't Blank
  
  09:24
- This video will show you how to safely redisplay user input using the htmlentities() function. You'll also learn how to prevent accented characters and nonalphabetic scripts from being corrupted.
  
  Preserving User Input When a Form Is Incomplete
  
  08:04
- In this lesson you'll see how a mail processing script is strengthened by creating a function to detect suspect phrases used in an email header injection attack. If a suspect phrase is detected, the script stops processing the form input.
  
  Blocking Suspect Phrases
  
  09:20
- In this video you'll learn how to add additional headers to the mail processing script and incorporate the user's email into a Reply-to header without exposing the form to an email header injection attack.
  
  Adding Headers and Automating the Reply Address
  
  08:50
- Once the form input has been validated, you can build the message body using a foreach loop and variable variables. This video shows you how.
  
  Building the Message Body
  
  10:41
- After verifying that the message body and headers are correctly formed, it's time to remove the testing script and pass the form input to the mail() function, as this lesson demonstrates.
  
  Sending the Email
  
  06:02
This chapter builds on the mail processing script created in the previous chapter. Each type of multiple-choice form field is explained separately, so you can watch the videos in any order.

Dealing with Multiple-Choice Form Fields
- Radio button groups allow users to select only one option from several. This lesson discusses how to handle radio button groups when a default value is specified and when one isn't.
  
  Handling Radio Button Groups
  
  06:49
- In this video, you'll learn how to deal with a single checkbox that's a required field, such as one that asks the user to agree to the site's terms and conditions.
  
  Handling Single Checkboxes
  
  05:30
- A checkbox group allows a user to select zero or more options. This video will show you how to process a checkbox group and set a minimum number of options to be selected.
  
  Handling Checkbox Groups
  
  08:21
- A select menu always defaults to the option displayed onscreen when the form is submitted. This lesson explains how to reject the form if the user doesn't make a valid selection.
  
  Handling Select Menus
  
  06:28
- Multiple-choice lists use the same HTML markup as select menus, but are more like checkbox groups in the way they behave, as you'll see in this video.
  
  Handling Multiple-Choice Lists
  
  08:10

Welcome to Introducing PHP

This workshop will introduce you to PHP, the most popular server-side language used to build dynamic websites. The contents of this course include:

Setting Up a PHP Development Environment
In this chapter you’ll learn how to install and configure a PHP testing environment on your local computer, with instructions for both Windows and Mac OS X.

PHP Basics
This chapter lays the foundation for working with PHP by describing the basic building blocks of the language.

Using Control Structures and Loops
This section dives deeper into the structure of PHP, explaining how to perform different actions based on conditions and comparisons, as well as how to use loops for repetitive actions and accessing the contents of an array.

Functions, Objects, and Errors
This chapter looks at using PHP’s built-in functions and objects with the help of the PHP online manual. You’ll also learn how to create your own custom functions and how to decipher PHP’s often cryptic error messages.

Emailing the Contents of an Online Form
This chapter steps you through the process of building a reusable script to validate and email user input from an online form.

Dealing with Multiple-Choice Form Fields
This chapter builds on the mail processing script created in the previous chapter.

The lessons are wrapped in a feature-rich interface that lets you jump to any topic and bookmark individual sections for later review. Full-Screen mode provides a hi-def, immersive experience, and Watch-and-Work mode shrinks the video into a small window so you can play the videos alongside your application. Also included are exercise files that give you an easy way to try out the techniques you learn.

System Requirements

Broadband internet connection
Up-to-date browser with Flash plug-in
Screen resolution 1024x768 or higher
Sound card with speakers or headphones attached
Pentium 4 2.6 GHz or higher, or Apple Mac G5
512 MB RAM

HTML5 Player-Ready

This course can be played with an HTML5 Player, which means it can be viewed online with your iPad and iPhone 4.

Project Files (Downloadable Feature)

Project files are included with this course so you can practice what you learn and work right along with the videos.

Powerful, Feature-Rich Interface

This course features video2brain’s interactive interface. As you navigate the course, rolling over a chapter or video brings up text describing that item.

Full-Screen mode provides a hi-def, immersive experience. And Watch-and-Work mode puts the video into a resizable window that you can shrink so you can watch the lessons on one side of your screen while you’re following along and applying what you’ve learned on the other.

HD Video

This course comes in crisp 1280 x 720 high definition video.

Bookmarks (Downloadable Feature)

Available in the downloadable version of our courses, this feature makes it easy to create a custom bookmark in any lesson to mark where you left off or to make note of something you want to refer back to later. You can even add a name or short note to remind yourself what the bookmark is for.

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