PHP Characteristics

The main characteristics of PHP are:

PHP Programming • PHP is web-specific and open source
• Scripts are embedded into static HTML files
What is PHP?
• Fast execution of scripts
680 681
• PHP stands for PHP Hypertext Processor — A recursive • Fast access to the database tier of applications
definition!!.
• Supported by most web servers and operating systems
• PHP is a server-side scripting language that is embedded in • Supports many standard network protocols libraries available for IMAP, NNTP,
a web page or can be run as script (much Like Perl) from the SMTP, POP3,
command line (Full support since version 4.3) • Supports many database management systems libraries available for UNIX DBM,
MySQL, Oracle,
• Dynamic Output any text, HTML XHTML and any other XML file.
• Also Dynamic Output images, PDF files and even Flash movies
!! • Text processing features, from the POSIX Extended or Perl regular expressions !!
"" to parsing XML documents. ""
! • A fully featured programming language suitable for complex systems !
" development "
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What can PHP do? Three main uses of PHP

As we have just said PHP is a fully featured programming language Server-side scripting — This is the most traditional and main target
so it can do just about anything. field for PHP. You need three things to make this work:
• The PHP parser (CGI or server module),
However it is best suited and is mainly focused on server-side
scripting, so you can do anything any other CGI program can do 682
• A web server — needs a connected PHP installation 683
such as: • A web browser — access PHP page through URL
• Collect form data, Command line scripting — You can make a PHP script to run without
any server or browser. You only need the PHP parser to use it this
• Generate dynamic page content, way. These scripts can also be used for simple text processing
• Send and receive cookies. tasks similar to PERL
• But PHP can do much more than we have not got time to address Writing client-side GUI applications — PHP is probably not the very
here best language to write windowing applications, but PHP-GTK
(PHP Graphics Tool Kit) can be used to write such programs.
– Please refer to recommended course books !! !!
Not dealt with in this course.
– Web sites: http://www.php.org, "" ""
http://www.php-scripts.com, http://php.resourceindex.com, ! !
and others. " "
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PHP support and installation PHP v Perl
PHP can be used on all major operating systems: Let us compare PERL and PHP first
• Linux,
Perl:
• Many Unix variants (including HP-UX, Solaris and OpenBSD),
Microsoft Windows, 684
• Interpreted language optimized to process text files — Ideal for 685
CGI use.
• Mac OS X,
• Using a Perl script as a CGI means that when an online form
• Windows calls the script to be processed, the web server will load the Perl
• RISC OS, script, and pipe the output of the script back to the user, on its
web browser.
• and probably others.
• Simple syntax, similar to C
PHP already installed on School’s Web Server
• Includes advanced functionality through numerous packages
Information on installing PHP on Windows may be found at: !! (CPAN) !!
http://www.php.net "" ""
! !
" "
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PHP v Perl (Cont.) Advantages of Perl/PHP

PHP : Perl has a lot of advantages:
• Server-side scripting language embedded in HTML pages. • General purpose language — functions to do nearly everything.
• Processed by the web server when the HTML page is loaded. • Perl has modules that can be downloaded and loaded in a Perl
686 script. 687
• PHP code included in special HTML tags which are parsed by
the web server. • Scripts can also be made to be processed by the web server and
by a user from the shell (NOT WEB BASED), if needed.
• Syntax is different from Perl (but not that much different)
• PHP also has some very advanced functions.

!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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Advantages of Perl/PHP (Cont.) Disadvantages of Perl/PHP
PHP also has some advantages: Perl:
• It is included inside HTML pages. • Management of simple scripts is more difficult than PHP:
This means that: – Scripts need to be loaded separately from the HTML pages.
– All your work can be done in the same directory, and 688 – Typically scripts also be kept in a special directory — E.g. 689

– A single file can contain HTML and PHP code cgi-lib.pl,

– Much easier to edit/maintain web pages. • PHP integrates itself very well in HTML files —
– This greatly improves tasks like so scripts don’t need to be loaded from a separate location.
∗ Dynamic page processing. • However, if the PHP code is complex it can lead to a complex
∗ Checking and doing simple HTML Form based tasks. mixture of code on the page.
∗ Database connectivity

!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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Disadvantages of Perl/PHP (Cont.) Examples of Uses of Perl/PHP

Neither Perl Nor PHP best for all web tasks:
PHP:
• Horses for Courses
• Great for simple Dynamic web page processing,
• Not so great for more complex tasks
– Harder to parse/understand and maintain lots of code mixed 690 Perl : Heavy CGI Computations, E.g. 691

in with web page (see above). • Search Engines,

– Not as general purpose as Perl. • Data processing,
• PHP requires that the server is configured to parse PHP files. • Heavy File access etc.
– Perl similar but both now widely supported. • Heavy Database Access/Usage
• Also, PHP files need to be parsed by the server at each load, so
they should not be used in files that don’t need to be processed. PHP : Better Suited for dynamic HTML, E.g.
– Perl similar but both slightly less overhead. !! • Simple Form processing !!
"" • Making a complex site integration ""
! E.g. with a database connected — simple database connectivity. !
" "
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Creating, Writing and Executing PHP Using PHP on COMSC Web Server
• COMSC Web server preconfigured to run PHP
• PHP files are simply text files — use any text editor, integrate • Use Unix web space (public html or project html)
with HTML • Create file on Macs (or PCs) ftp or upload via file sharing.
• File has extension .php 692 • Store files with .php extension 693

• Store file the same directory as HTML pages (not cgi-bin) • Run files by accessing through Web browser
• Link from web pages via standard URL – Must be run via web server URL
– Cannot run PHP through local file:// URL.
• Possible to run (test/debug) scripts from UNIX/Mac OS X
command line via Telnet/Terminal.

!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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Including PHP in a Web Page What happens when the page is loaded?
There are 4 ways of including PHP in a web page
When the script is run:
1. <?php echo("Hello world"); ?>
2. <script language = "php"> • The code is executed and
echo("Hello world"); 694 • The tag is replaced the by the output (‘‘Hello world’’) in 695
</script> examples above.
3. <? echo("Hello world"); ?> • Replacement is exactly where the PHP is relation to HTML.
4. <% echo("Hello world"); %> – When you view source of a PHP/HTML page you do not see
the PHP.
You can also use print instead of echo
• Can have more than one PHP tag in a single Web page.
• Method (1) is clear and unambiguous — My preferred method
• Method (2) is useful in environments supporting mixed scripting
languages in the same HTML file (most do not) !! !!
"" ""
• Methods (3) and (4) depend on the server configuration
! !
" "
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A Simple PHP Script Example Basic PHP
Here is first complete PHP script which is embedded in HTML: Comments
• We create a level one header with the PHP output text. PHP supports three types of comments:
• This file is called hello.php:
696 1. Shell style comments - denoted #THIS IS A COMMENT 697
<html>
<head> 2. C++ style comments - denoted THIS IS A COMMENT—
<title>Hello world</title>
3. C style comments - denoted /* ALL THIS COMMENTED! */
</head>
<body>
<h1><?php echo("Hello world"); ?></h1>
<h1><?php print("This prints the same thing!"); ?></h1>

</body>
<html> !! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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Variables PHP Data Types

Variables start with the $ symbol (like Perl). Data types are not explicitly defined:
• Variable type is determined by assignment.
E.g.:
• Different to Perl.
$myInteger = 3; 698
• Strings can be defined with single (’) and double (") quotes.
699
$myString = "Hello world"; – Rules for Strings as in Perl.
$myFloat = 3.145; • PHP has a boolean type:
Defined as false
– An integer or float value of 0 or
– The keyword false
– The empty string ‘‘’’ or the string ‘‘0’’
– An empty array or object
– The NULL value
Defined as true
!! – Any non-zero integer or float value
!!
"" – The keyword true ""
! • Standard operators with standard syntax applied to variables
!
" "
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Arrays Associative arrays
$myArray[0] = "Apples"; $myArray["Monday"] = "Apples";
$myArray[1] = "Bananas"; $myArray["Tuesday"] = "Bananas";
Associative Arrays can also be constructed using the array()
Arrays can be constructed using the array() keyword. keyword.
700 701

$food = array("Monday" => "Apples",

$person = array("Dave", "Adam", "Ralph");
"Tuesday" => "Bananas");

The foreach command can be used to loop through an array: The foreach command can be used to loop through an associative array:
foreach ($food as $day => $item){
foreach ($person as $name){ echo "Today is $day, Eat $item\n";
echo "Hello, $name\n"; }
} A few things to note in the above:

Two things to note in the above:

!! • The use of the array() constructor !!
"" • The syntax of foreach — different to Perl. ""
• The use of the array() constructor. ! • The => delimits the hash name from the hash value !
• The syntax of foreach — different to Perl. " Many array functions also exist, for example: "
Back array_keys, array_merge, array_pop, asort Back
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Scope of Variables Functions

Once PHP variables have been defined they are known for the rest Built in functions
of the Web page:
PHP has many built in functions, E.g.:
• Obeying standard scoping rules of course.
Mathematical functions :
• Variables can be local to functions etc, much like any languages. 702 703
abs, ceil, cos, log, min, rand, sqrt
• Some examples with functions soon.
File handling :
So another version of the “Hello World” program is hello2.php
which uses a variable string: fopen, flock, feof, fgets, fputs, fclose
<?php $outputString = "Hello world"; ?>
<html>
<head> We will meet some more when we study a few practical examples
<title><?php echo($outputString); ?> later.
</title>
</head> !! !!
<body>
"" See references (books, web pages etc.) for more details ""
<h1><?php echo($outputString); ?></h1>
</body> ! !
</html> " "
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User-defined functions Local Variables
Functions defined much like most programming languages: Variables defined in a function are simply local to that function.
function show($myArray) {
E.G.:
echo("<h1>Fruit of the day</h1>\n<ul>"
foreach($myArray as $key => $val) {
704 705
echo ("<li>$key -- $val</li>\n"); function dummy($val) {
} $local_val = $val;
echo("</ul>\n"; return $local_val;
} }

$food = array("Monday" => "Apples", $a = 3;

"Tuesday" => "Bananas"); $b = dummy($a); # Wasted op?
$c = $local_val; # Illegal op.
show($food);
!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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Variable Scope Example: What happens here? Scope Example Explained

$a = 3;

$a = 3; function what() {
++$a;
function what() { 706 echo "a = $a\n"; 707
++$a; }
echo "a = $a\n";
} what();
echo "a = $a\n";
what();
In PHP:
echo "a = $a\n";
• The variable $a in the function what() is different to outside
Is variable $a global/local? variable $a
!! • Not recommended programming practice to have two variables !!
What is the output of both echo(..)s —- Is it 4? "" of the same name. ""
Answer: NO it is 1 and then 3! ! • So the local function prints the value 1 whilst !
" "
We actually have two variables called $a!! • The outer prints 3.
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Global Variables Flow-Control Statements
So how do we share global values with a function? PHP provides the standard Flow-controls statements
• You must declare a variable inside a function as global if, if/else
switch
So our previous example could be phrased as:
708 709
while
$a = 3;
for
function what() {
global $a;
Basic syntax is same as Perl, Java, C, C++.
++$a;
echo "a = $a\n"; We therefore jump over examples here for now
}
!! !!
what();
"" ""
echo "a = $a\n";
! !
" "
Now the output is 4 at both prints. Back Back
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Regular Expressions in PHP Regular Expressions in PHP Example

• Syntax is identical to those found in Perl (and JavaScript) For example, regexp.php:
• Use PHP function calls however to action a Regular Expression. <?php
$test = "This is a Test";
• Having created a pattern, we use one of the following functions:
if (preg_match("/(\ws)\s(\ws)/", $test, $matches)) {
preg match, 710 echo "<h3>Matched</h3>\n"; 711
preg match all, echo "$matches[0], <br>
echo "$matches[1], <br>
preg replace, echo "$matches[2], <br>
preg split } else {
echo "<h3>Did Not Match</h3>";
?>

The output is:

!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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PHP Regular Expression Example Explained
The function preg match():
• Can take just two parameters as well: E.g. Some Practical PHP Examples
if (preg_match($pattern,$test) { A 1 line PHP Script
echo("Match Found\n"); 712 713
} Here a simple 1 line PHP script, phpinfo.php:

• However in this more complex example we use the parenthesis <?php phpinfo() ?>
as memory feature of regular expressions. It prints out information on the PHP system currently running:
• The $matches parameter is used to store the results of matches
in the brackets
• The (\ws) matches any word character followed by a letter s.
• The two matches are separated by a single space \s
• This first element of $matches stores to complete pattern match: !! !!
is is "" ""
! !
• The next two elements are the sub matches (delimited by
" "
parenthesis): two times is
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A 1 line PHP Script (Cont.) Handling HTML Forms

<?php phpinfo() ?> Handling forms could not be much easier than in PHP:
• You only need call a single line to make all form name variables
It is not much use except for: available.
• Testing that PHP is actually installed on the Web server 714 • Variables are given the same name as the name of the form item 715

• Finding Version of PHP that is installed on the Web server • As in Perl ,a forms action references a script, .php in this case.
• Getting other PHP/Server stats • The .php script then extracts the information, making it global.

!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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A Simple PHP/HTML Form Processing Example A Simple PHP/HTML Form Processing Example (Cont.)
Lets Consider the Following HTML Form Source, form1.html: The form clearly looks like this:
<html> <head>
<title>Form 1</title>
</head>
<body>
<form name="whoAreYou" method="GET" 716 717
action="form1.php">
<h2>Who are you?</h2>
<h4>Name:<input type="text" name="username"></h4>
<h4>Address:<input type="text" name="address"></h4>
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
</body> </html>

Not much different from before (Perl/CGI) EXCEPT

• action refers to PHP script URL
http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/user/Dave.Marshall/form1.php !! !!
in this case "" ""
! !
• URL need not link to cgi-bin " "
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A Simple PHP/HTML Form Processing Example (Cont.) Alternatively, you could have
The PHP which processes this is very simple, form1.php:
<html>
<html>
<head> <head><title>form_do.php</title> </head>
<title>form1.php</title> <body>
</head> <?php
<?php extract($_GET); ?> 718 719
<body> extract( $_GET );
<h2>Your name is: <?php echo($username); ?></h2> print("<h2>HELLO</h2>");
<h2>Your address is: <?php echo($address); ?></h2>
</body>
print $username;
<html> print("<h1>address</h1>");
print $address;
The output of the PHP script looks something like this: ?>
</body>
</html>
!! !!
"" • Note that HTML tags may be enclosed in the print statements ""
! • extract($_GET); is used to access form variables. !
" "
• If using POST then use extract($_POST); instead of GET
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Creating and Processing Forms in One PHP file Forms and Processing Forms in one PHP/HTML File Example
Consider the following example, a very basic/limited calculator,
You can have the action of form self-reference the page that <html>
created the form, This: <head>
<title>Very Simple Calculator Indeed...</title>
</head>
720 721
• Keeps all form processing in one file <body>
<h1>CALCULATOR!</h1>
• Is excellent for Web page develop and upkeep if:
<form action = "<?php echo $_SERVER[’PHP_SELF’]; ?>"
– Small PHP Scripts method = "GET">
– Not too many fragments of PHP in single document. Enter a number:
<input type = "text" name = "thenumber" /> <br/>
• Example: Highlights many good features of PHP <input type = "submit" name = "Mul Num"/>
</form>

<?php
!! extract($_GET);
$theanswer = $thenumber* 321;
!!
"" print("The number x 321 is:". $theanswer); ""
! ?> !
</body>
" </html>
"
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Forms and Processing Forms in one PHP/HTML File Example Sending Email from PHP
Explained Again this is a relatively simple task in PHP:
One new PHP point to note: • The mail() function allows your scripts to send email.
• PHP has a variety of special variables — a bit like Perl. For example:
<html>
• $ SERVER[’PHP SELF’] is an associative array that holds 722
<head>
723
information about the server that runs the script. <title>Email</title>
</head>
• PHP SELF refers to the current PHP page that is running and set <body>
the ACTION attribute: <?php
$to = "[email protected]";
– Makes for portable code to use this $subject = "PHP is Great";
$body = "Hello how are you goodbye";
– Can change file name and it still self-references the page $headers = "From: [email protected]\r\n";
• Much better than and explicit URL to the page $sent = mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);

• Need to print the elements to form. Can do this in php script + !! if($sent)
!!
echo "Mail sent to $to";
format with HTML "" else ""
! echo "Error sending mail"; !
?>
" </body> "
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Sending Email from PHP Example Explained Dates in PHP
PHP has many functions for manipulating dates and times.
• Hopefully everything is pretty much self explanatory • The date(date string) function can be used
• Note that mail() – To extract date information out in a variety of formats
724 depending on parameters set in the date string). 725
– Has obvious parameters:
• The date string, date string), may have the following formats
$to, $subject, $body, $headers.
– Returns a boolean value (stored in $sent) which checked by
if statement

!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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Date String Formats Simple PHP Date Example

The following PHP sets the background colour to blue on Tuesdays,
Character
a
Meaning
Display ”am” or ”pm”
tuesday.php
A Display ”AM” or ”PM”
B
d
Swatch Internet time
day of the month, 2 digits with leading zeros; i.e. ”01” to ”31”
<?php
D
F
g
day of the week, textual, 3 letters; e.g. ”Fri”
month, textual, long; e.g. ”January”
hour, 12-hour format without leading zeros; i.e. ”1” to ”12”
if(date("D") == "Tue") $colour = "blue";
726 727
G
h
hour, 24-hour format without leading zeros; i.e. ”0” to ”23”
hour, 12-hour format; i.e. ”01” to ”12”
else $colour = "red";
H
i
hour, 24-hour format; i.e. ”00” to ”23”
minutes; i.e. ”00” to ”59” ?>
I (capital i) ”1” if Daylight Savings Time, ”0” otherwise.
j day of the month without leading zeros; i.e. ”1” to ”31”
l (lowercase ’L’) day of the week, textual, long; e.g. ”Friday”
<html>
L
m
boolean for whether it is a leap year; i.e. ”0” or ”1”
month; i.e. ”01” to ”12” <head>
M month, textual, 3 letters; e.g. ”Jan”
n
O
month without leading zeros; i.e. ”1” to ”12”
Difference to Greenwich time in hours; e.g. ”+0200”
<title>Welcome</title>
r RFC 822 formatted date;
e.g. ”Thu, 21 Dec 2000 16:01:07 +0200” (added in PHP 4.0.4) </head>
s seconds; i.e. ”00” to ”59”
S English ordinal suffix for the day of the month, 2 characters;
i.e. ”st”, ”nd”, ”rd” or ”th”
<body bgcolor = <?php echo($colour) ?>>
t
T
number of days in the given month; i.e. ”28” to ”31”
Timezone setting of this machine; e.g. ”EST” or ”MDT” <h1>Welcome</h1>
U seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
w
W
day of the week, numeric, i.e. ”0” (Sunday) to ”6” (Saturday)
ISO 8601 week number of year, weeks starting on Monday
</body>
Y
(added in PHP 4.1.0)
year, 4 digits; e.g. ”1999” !! </html> !!
"" ""
y year, 2 digits; e.g. ”99”
z day of the year; i.e. ”0” to ”365”
• Here we simply get day by setting the date string to “D”
! !
Z timezone offset in seconds (i.e. ”-43200” to ”43200”).
The offset for timezones west of UTC is always
negative, and for those east of UTC is always positive.

" • if sets up the $colour variable accordingly "

Back • echo $colour to set body background colour bgcolor. Back
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Another Date Example Xmas Date Example Sample Output
xmas.php prints out the current date and works out how long it is When run the following output is produced in a Web browser:
to Christmas:
<html>
<head>
<title>Dates: Days to Christmas</title>
</head> 728 729
<body>
<h1>Dates: Days to Christmas</h1>
<p>
Today is:<br>
<?php
echo(date("l dS F, Y"));
?>
</p>
<p> There are:
<?php
$daysgone = date("z");
$daystoxmas = 358 - $daysgone;
echo($daystoxmas);
!! !!
?> days to Christmas</p> "" ""
! !
<p><b> Better get shopping now!!!!</b></p>
</body>
" "
</html> Back Back
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Xmas Date Example Sample Explained Cookies and PHP

Things to note in the above xmas.php code: • A cookie is a text string stored on the client machine by your
script (to track users and manage transactions)
• We use the date() function twice
• Cookies are automatically returned (by the client), and can be
• Firstly we print out the date in a fancy format as can be seen in accessed using a variable of the same name
the screenshot of the display above. 730 731
• The following script reads and displays a cookie, and sets it with
• The format string "l dS F, Y" cause the long day of the week, a new value (string) that was passed to the script as a parameter.
day of the month with ordinal Suffix followed by a (verbatim)
comma, followed a 4-digit Year. • The cookie will expire after 20 minutes (1200 seconds)
• Secondly date() call loads a variable with the number of days <?php setCookie("CookieTest", $val, time()+1200); ?>
<html>
gone in the year so far. <head><title>Welcome</title></head>
<body>
• Simple to compute days to go to xmas and format HTML output <?php echo("<h2>The cookie is: $CookieTest</h1>
</body>
!! </html> !!
Other date functions include:
"" ""
getdate(), localtime(), mktime(), time() ! !
" "
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Checking for Cookies Database Connections in PHP
• The Cookie can now be used to monitor users on following pages. To complete our brief introduction to PHP lets see how easy it is to
• For example, a proceeding page may only be accessible if a cookie connect to a database.
has been sent. • PHP can connect to a variety of databases
• You could set a cookie after e.g. a successful log-in to a secure site 732 • We will use MySQL which is available in dept. 733

<html> • For info on MYSQL see

<body> hrefhttp://www.mysql.com/documentation/index.htmlhttp://www.mysql.com/doc
<?php
• You will need to see Mr Robert Evans (Dept. System Adim)
if (isset($_COOKIE["uname"]))
Room C 2.14a to get a MySQL account set up
print "Welcome " . $_COOKIE["uname"] . "!<br/>";
else • This is Not a lecture on Databases or SQL
print "You are not logged in!<br />"; • Simple example and study of PHP connection here.
?>
</body> !! !!
</html> "" ""
! !
" "
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MySQL MySQL (Cont.)

• MySQL is a database management system (DBMS) for relational • MySQL manages a system of relational databases
databases, based on the Standard Query Language (SQL)
• A username and password are required to access the database
• MySQL is open source system
• For further information on MySQL see 734 • Once access is permitted, a user is able to query and/or update 735
http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/systems/applications/mysql/ various databases within the system
• Use phpMyAdmin to interact with MySQL scripts providing an • Each database contains tables
administrative interface to MySQL • Each table contains records (rows)
– See http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/phpMyAdmin.php – Records are made up of fields
(Need MySQL account Set Up First)
• Warning don’t use a database unless you need one!
– Also can command line
mysql -h sentinel -u username -p databasename • PHP is good at simple connections and when SQL and database
for MYSQL Access !! to a lot of data processing. !!
"" • Perl is better if after extraction from a database you need to some ""
! heavy processing within the script. !
" "
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MySQL Example: Setting up a MySQL Table MySQL Example: Populating the Database
Lets develop a very simple database application. Next we populate the database with entries:
• Lets look at the SQL side first. mysql> INSERT INTO toys VALUES (NULL, "Woody");
mysql> INSERT INTO toys VALUES (NULL, "Buzz Lightyear");
• First we create a table. mysql> INSERT INTO toys VALUES (NULL, "Emperor Zurg");
mysql> INSERT INTO toys VALUES (NULL, "Bullseye");
– We do this first from the MySQL command line mysql> 736 737
– MySQL output shown. mysql> SELECT * FROM toys;
– Later you could do this from PHP (or Perl).
+--------+----------------+
mysql> create table toys (
| toy_id | toy_name |
-> toy_id int(5) NOT NULL auto_increment,
+--------+----------------+
-> toy_name varchar(50) NOT NULL,
| 1 | Woody |
-> PRIMARY KEY (toy_id),
| 2 | Buzz Lightyear |
-> KEY name (toy_name));
| 3 | Emperor Zurg |
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)
| 4 | Bullseye |
+--------+----------------+
mysql> describe toys;
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)
+----------+--------------+------+-----+---------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | !! !!
+----------+--------------+------+-----+---------+ "" ""
| toy_id | int(5) | | PRI | NULL |
| toy_name | varchar(100) | | MUL | | ! !
+----------+--------------+------+-----+---------+ " "
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
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MySQL Example: PHP Database Querying MySQL Example: PHP Database Query Example Output
Now to the PHP side to query the database and display results on The output of this query is as follows:
screen, toys1.php:
<h2>Toys for sale</h2>
<pre>
<?php
// open database connection 738 739
$connection
= mysql_connect("localhost", "scmxx", "password");
// select the database called "toyshop"
mysql_select_db("toyshop", $connection)
or die("Failed!");
// run the query on the database
$result
= mysql_query("SELECT * FROM toys", $connection);

// loop over each row in the result set

while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {

// print the values of the attributes

for($i=0; $i<mysql_num_fields($result); $i++)
echo $row[$i]." ";
echo "\n";
}
// close the database connection !! !!
mysql_close($connection);
?> "" ""
</pre>
! !
" "
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MySQL Example: PHP Database Query Example Explained 1. Connect to the DBMS (MySQL)
Querying the database • Connect to the DBMS using mysql connect()
• parameters:
In the PHP code there are 6 steps involved in querying a database:
– The hostname of the DBMS server to use
740 – The username of a user having access to the database 741
1. Connect to the DBMS (MySQL)
– The password of the user
2. Select the database required
• Return value
3. Run the query
– A connection handle to the DBMS
4. Retrieve a row of results
• If MySQL is installed on the same server as the scripting engine,
5. Process the attribute values we can use localhost as the hostname
6. Close the DBMS connection $connection
= mysql_connect("localhost", "scmxx", "password");
!! !!
"" For most of our work localhost will be ""
! sentinel.cs.cf.ac.uk or blazon.cs.cf.ac.uk !
" "
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2. Select a database 3. Run a query

• Select a database using mysql select db() • Run a query on the database using mysql query()
• Parameters: • Parameters:
– The name of the database required – An SQL query string
– The connection handle to the DBMS (obtained in step 1) 742 – The connection handle to the DBMS (obtained in step 1) 743

• Return value • Return value

– Nothing – A result set handle - to retrieve the output (result set) of the
– Note the die() function to get out if we cant select the database query
— similar to Perl. $result
= mysql_query("SELECT * FROM toys",
mysql_select_db("toyshop", $connection) $connection);

or die("Failed!"); or
Here we assume that toyshop is the name of database created. !! $query = "SELECT * FROM toys"; !!
$result = mysql_query($query, $connection);
"" ""
! !
" "
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4. Retrieve a row of results 5. Extract attribute values
• Retrieve a row of results using mysql fetch row() • Extract attribute values using mysql num fields()
• Parameters • Parameters:
– The result set handle (obtained in step 3) – The result set handle (obtained in step 3)
• Return value 744 • Return value 745

– The next row of the result set, or false when no more data is – The number of fields of the current row
available. • Use a for loop to retrieve the fields
• Use a while loop to retrieve the rows
for($i=0; $i<mysql_num_fields($result); $i++) {
// process data here
while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result)) { echo $row[$i]." ";
// extract attribute values }
// (step 5) and process
}
!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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6. Close the DBMS connection

• Close the DBMS connection using mysql close()
• parameters: Command Line PHP
– The connection handle to the DBMS (obtained in step 1) Command Line PHP on COMSC Computers
• Return value 746
You can use Command Line PHP on: 747

– nothing • UNIX web server hosts (sentinel andblazon) only.

mysql_close($connection); • Mac OS X machines

Uses of Command Line PHP

• Write standalone (non-web) PHP applications
• Debug/Test PHP scripts prior to Web Delivery — by-pass server
!! !!
"" ""
! !
" "
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Running PHP Scripts from the Command Line Running PHP Scripts from the Command Line (Cont.)
Two basic ways to do this: • 2. Make the php file an executable script
• 1. Use the php command from the command line,e.g. – (Similar to Perl) Make the first line of the script
php my script #!/usr/local/php/bin/php -q
748 749
(The -q option forces php to inhibit HTTP headers)
There are many options that can applied with php.
The exact path may be different on various operating systems
Type man php from the command line to find out more.
(possibly /usr/bin/php) — check with your systems
administrator.

The above path works on Mac OS X.

– Use #!/usr/local/bin/php for sentinel and blazon
!! UNIX/Linux Servers. !!
"" – Make the script executable from the command line by using ""
! chmod +x my script !
" – Run the script by entering its name from the command line "
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