Cursus PHP (Webdesign)

Introduction to PHP

• History of PHP
• What is server side and client programming
• Comparison with dynamic content alternatives ( Perl , CGI , ASP, JSP, Servlets , CGI, etc)
• PHP tools and set up (web browser/server, editor, libraries, etc)
• Have PHP.net up always.
• Create a basic PHP Script
• Taking user input
• Selecting alternatives
• Use PHP to generate HTTP headers
• Pass PHP variables via the URL

Taking User Input from Forms via PHP

• What is GET and POST
• Why you should use $_GET and $_POST vs $variable
• Creating forms with PHP
• Using the form GET method
• Using the form POST method
• Obtaining data from forms through variables
• Using hidden fields
• Calling pages from themselves using forms
• Form Validation not using Javascript.
• Quoting HTML entities in user input

Variables and Expressions in PHP

• Identifiers
• Data Types (integers, floats and strings)
• Creating Variables
• Variable assignment
• Variable Scope
• User-defined Constants
• HTTP environment variables
• What phpinfo() can tell you.

PHP Operators

• Arithmetic Operators
• Logical Operators
• Relational Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Other Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Order of operations

Conditional Tests and Events in PHP

• True and False
• If
• else and elseif
• The switch / case statement
• The ? Operator
• Comparing for equality or identity
• Ereg() regular expressions

PHP Flow Control

• Loops
• while
• do ... while
• for
• break and continue
• exit

PHP Functions

• Purpose of functions
• Built-in functions
• Declaring functions
• Arguments to functions
• return
• Scope (global vs local)
• Recursion
• Variable function calls

Storing Data in Arrays using PHP

• What are arrays?
• How and when to use arrays
• Indexing arrays
• Initialising arrays
• Add/remove info from arrays
• One-dimensional arrays
• Multi-dimensional arrays

Array-related functions

Handling Databases with PHP

• PHP's database APIs
• MySql
• Error-handling strategies
• Connection/disconnection, log in/log out
• Including common access functions
• Doing simple SQL queries via PHP
• Building HTML tables using SQL Queries

Using Cookies with PHP

• Cookie properties
• Setting a cookie in PHP
• Retrieving PHP cookies
• Expiring/Deleting PHP cookies
• Drawbacks to cookies
• What to store in a cookie
• Making a simple language cookie
• Using cookies well
• Cookie Security Issues

Session Management in PHP

• What is a session?
• Dependencies on the php.ini file
• Understanding PHP session variables
• Create a PHP session variable
• Basic PHP SESSION based shopping cart.
• Register and modify PHP session variables
• Putting PHP session IDs in pages
• Good Practice with sessions and PHP
• PHP Sessions and databases

File and Directory Access Using PHP

• Opening files, local and remote
• Reading and writing files
• include
• require
• Handling file permissions
• Handling file ownership
• File locking
• Opening and reading directories
• File uploads from the browser/user

Other I/O Issues in PHP

• Getting IP adresses from visitors
• Getting referring urls from visitors
• Shell Commands that are functions in PHP
• Environment variables
• Showing different content to different browsers (IE, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, etc)
• Debugging
• Handling HTTP and MIME headers

Handling Email with PHP

• Sending email
• Unix and NT setup
• Attachments with PHP
• TEXT email vs HTML email

Objects in PHP

• Object basics
• Inheritance
• Classes in PHP
• Constructor functions
• Accessing instance data and functions

Graphics in PHP

• Graphics basics
• GD LIBRARY
• Image MIME type
• Basic examples
• Creation from an existing image
• Image copying and resizing
• Drawing text on images
• True Type fonts