PHP for Programmers - A 3 Day Course

Synopsis

A PHP course designed for experienced programmers who want to build dynamic e-commerce web sites using the PHP programming language. Since PHP is such a rich and task-specific language, the course covers in depth the most important range of functions and equips delegates to understand the remaining less essential aspects.

PHP is Open Source and Cross Platform, running on Unix, Linux, MS Windows, Apple Mac, AS/400 and more, and is often used with an OS-CP database and web server such as MySql and Apache. Thus PHP will work on the operating system and hardware that currently suits your applications and organisation.

PHP 5 is the current version of PHP and is what the course teaches. Differences with PHP 4 are explained for those who need to maintain legacy code. There is also a look forwards to the features expected in PHP 6. MySQL 5 is the primary database that is used, the course also covers Oracle and MS-SQL. Delegates should have few problems transferring their learned skills to interacting to other databased from PHP.

Suitable For

Software developers with no PHP experience and possibly no web programming experience. Students must, however, have strong foundation in general programming. Those with knowledge of C-like languages, especially Perl, should be able to progress quickly through the course.

Groups with limited experience of C-like languages may wish to extend PHP courses beyond the usual 3 days.

Prerequisites

A basic working knowledge of HTML is presumed.
Some conceptual knowledge of how web servers and web browsers (clients) interact using HTTP
Good working knowledge of at least one programming language

Delivery

This is a hands-on practical PHP workshop based around the development of fully working website services.

At present this instructor-led PHP course is designed primarily for in-house delivery to corporate groups. This usually takes place on-site, i.e. at the premises of the purchasing company. Information about the setup requirements for in-house courses is available on a separate page.

Arrangements can be made for off-site training at a range of facilities, although this can incur costs which have to be added to our normal charges for tuition and course materials.

Introduction to PHP

History of PHP
Comparison with dynamic content alternatives (Perl, CGI, ASP, JSP, Servlets , CGI, etc)
PHP tools and set up (web browser/server, editor, libraries, etc)
Create a basic PHP Script
Taking user input (HTML forms)
Self Referring Forms
Selecting alternatives
Use PHP to generate HTTP headers
Pass PHP variables via the URL
Debugging Tips
Where to find PHP documentation

Taking User Input from Forms via PHP

Creating forms with PHP
Security Protection from Cross Site Scripting
Using the form GET method
Using the form POST method
Obtaining data from forms through variables
Using hidden fields
Secure Web Forms (HTTPS and SSL)
Calling pages from themselves using forms
Quoting HTML entities in user input

Variables and Expressions in PHP

Identifiers
Data Types (integers, floats, strings and booleans)
Type juggling
Text constants, interpolation (strings, arrays, objects), here documents
Creating Variables
Variable assignment
Variable Scope
Namespaces
User-defined Constants
String constants, variable interpolation into strings
HTTP environment variables
Magic Constants
Variable References

PHP Operators

Arithmetic Operators
Logical Operators
Relational (Comparison) Operators
The Identity Operator
Bitwise Operators
Error Suppression Operator
Execution Operators
Other Operators
Assignment Operators
Operator Precedence and Associativity

Conditional Tests and Events in PHP

True and False
If
Comparing Strings and Numbers
else and elseif
The ? : Operator
Comparing for equality or identity
The switch / case statement
Alternative Syntax for Control Structures

PHP Flow Control

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

PHP Configuration

The php.ini file
Module Vs CGI Usage
register_globals
Control of error logging
Control of resource limits
Commonly set configurations
File system security
PHP4 compatibility in PHP5
A glance at upcoming PHP6

PHP Functions

Purpose of functions
Built-in functions
Declaring functions
Functions Arguments
Default Arguments
Arguments - Call by Reference
Return
Returning References
Variable Scope (global vs local)
Static variables
Recursion
include and require
Variable function calls

Storing Data in Arrays using PHP

What are arrays?
How and when to use arrays
Indexing arrays, numeric and hashes
Initialising arrays
Using foreach
Add/remove elements from arrays
One-dimensional arrays
Multi-dimensional arrays
References to array elements
Arrays in forms
Array operators
Array related functions

Handling Databases with PHP

PHP's database APIs
Error-handling strategies
Connection/disconnection, log in/log out
Escaping strings in SQL statements
Including common access functions
Doing simple SQL queries via PHP
Building HTML tables using SQL Queries
Avoiding SQL Injection attacks
Access to: MySql, MySqli, Oracle & MS-SQL
Using PEAR DB
Using PHP Data Objects - PDO
An Insight to Smart Programming

String Manipulation in PHP

substring and [] operators
Case conversion, trimming
Formatting output data
Regular expressions

Sessions and Cookies in PHP

What is a session?
Dependencies on the php.ini file
Understanding PHP session variables
Create a PHP session variable
Register and modify PHP session variables
Putting PHP session IDs in pages
Good Practise with sessions and PHP
Cookie properties
Setting a cookie in PHP
Retrieving PHP cookies
Expiring/Deleting PHP cookies
Drawbacks to cookies
Using cookies well
Cookie Security Issues

File and Directory Access Using PHP

Opening files, local and remote
Reading and writing files
PHP portability on different Operating Systems
Finding file metadata
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 addresses from visitors
Getting referring URLs from visitors
Environment variables
Showing different content to different browsers (IE, Netscape, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, etc)
Handling HTTP and MIME headers

Object Orientation in PHP

Object basics
Classes in PHP
PHP4 - constructors
PHP5 - constructors and destructors
Inheritance
Accessing instance data and functions
__sleep and __wakeup
__autoload
Class constants
PHP5 OO Additions
Objects: Assignments and References
Try throw catch Exception handling

PEAR, PECL and Smarty

PECL quick tour
APC - Alternative PHP Cache
Xdebug - debugging and profiling
PEAR installation and quick tour
PEAR Config
PEAR Log
PEAR Auth
PEAR HTML_Quickform
Smarty Templates
Smarty and HTML_Quickform
Smarty and Quickform help with security

Handling Email with PHP

Sending email
Sending multi part email - MIME
Accessing mail boxes - IMAP & POP

Graphics in PHP

Graphics basics, referencing a PHP scrip in an IMG tag
Image MIME type
Basic examples, line/box drawing
Creation from an existing image
Image copying and resizing
Drawing text on images
True Type fonts