ECA 236
Open Source Server Side Scripting
PHP & MySQL
Open Source Server Side Scripting
show source
show_source( )
or highlight_file( )
takes
one parameter, the path to a .php filename
prints a colored, highlighted version of the code in the
browser
<?php
highlight_file( name_of_file );
?>
CAUTION: do
ECA 236
not reveal sensitive information
Open Source Server Side Scripting
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web database architecture
steps when
a user accesses webpage/database
browser
sends HTTP request to server
web server passes PHP code to PHP engine
PHP engine parses the script
PHP engine finds command to open database connection
PHP opens connection to MySQL server ( local )
MySQL receives query, checks users and privileges,
processes query, returns results
PHP engine finishes parsing script
web server passes HTML to browser
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PHP & MySQL
basic steps to
query a database from the web
check
and filter data entered by user
connect to appropriate database
query the database
retrieve the results
present the results back to the user
we
will use the sitename database
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connect to MySQL server
mysql_connect( )
connects
to server
prototype
$reference = mysql_connect( ‘host’, ‘user’, ‘password’ );
optional arguments
host
username
password
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connect to MySQL server
cont …
mysql_connect( )
host
is usually “localhost”
 connection
to MySQL from local server
user
will have only privileges granted in mysql database
if a connection is made, a link identifier is returned, with
which we can reference the open connection
$dbc = mysql_connect( ‘localhost’, ‘Web_User’, ‘my1230’ );
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specify database
once a
connection has been established, you
must identify a particular database to use
similar to using the use keyword in the mysql
monitor
mysql_select_db( )
Syntax
mysql_select_db( ‘database_name’, link_identifier );
mysql_select_db( ‘sitename’, $dbc );
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security
set the
host, username, password, and database
name to variables or CONSTANTS, save in a
separate file, include this file in the script
save with a .php extension
define( ‘DB_USER’, ‘Web_User’ );
define( ‘DB_PW’, ‘my1230’ );
define( ‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’ );
define( ‘DB_NAME’, ‘sitename’ );
to
include or require file
require( ‘db_params.php’ );
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security
connect to
cont …
MySQL with the following
$dbc = mysql_connect( DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PW );
mysql_select_db( DB_NAME );
test the
connection from the server ( Xitami )
if
it works a blank page will load
otherwise errors will display
the
same values we used in the mysql monitor
should work in the PHP scripts
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error handling
even more
important when connecting to a database
probability
Common
for errors increases
errors
failure
to connect to the database server
failure to select a database
inability to run a query
no results returned
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error handling
PHP functions to
mysql_errno(
 returns
to
handle MySQL errors
)
the error number
mysql_error(
 returns
cont …
)
the textual version of the error
handle errors gracefully
@ sign to suppress error messages
 die( ) function

$dbc = @mysql_connect( DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PW ) or die(
'Could not connect to MySQL: Error number ' . mysql_errno( ) . ': ' .
mysql_error( ) );
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simple query
after connection to the
server, and selection of a
database, we can now execute queries
Web_User
has the following privileges
 SELECT,
INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE,
CREATE, DROP, ALTER, INDEX, FILE
mysql_query( )
function
for executing queries
one parameter: the query
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simple query
DO
cont …
NOT place a semicolon inside your query
$q = 'SELECT first_name, last_name AS n FROM users ORDER BY n';
$result = mysql_query( $q );
INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
$result
will be either TRUE or FALSE
SELECT
$result
will contain the results of the query if successful
$result will be FALSE if query was unsuccessful
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close connection
mysql_close( )
one
parameter, the link identifier
this
function is not required, but it is good
programming to do so
mysql_close( $dbc );
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retrieving results
mysql_fetch_array( )
primary
function for handling the rows returned from a
SELECT query
returns each row as an indexed or associative array
two parameters
 result
of the query, $result in this example
 CONSTANT identifying what kind of array to return
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retrieving results
cont …
mysql_fetch_array( )
CONSTANTs
CONSTANT
EXAMPLE
MYSQL_ASSOC
$row[ ‘column_name’ ]
MYSQL_NUM
$row[ 0 ]
MYSQL_BOTH
$row[ 0 ] or $row[ ‘column_name’ ]
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retrieving results
cont …
mysql_fetch_array( )
returns
one row of data at a time as an array
use within a loop that will run as long as rows are
returned
while( $row = mysql_fetch_array( $result, MYSQL_ASSOC) )
// do something
}
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retrieving results
cont …
mysql_fetch_array( )
return
the first name, last name, and email addresses
of all users in sitename
alphabetize by last name
$q = 'SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY last_name';
$result = mysql_query( $q );
while( $row = mysql_fetch_array( $result, MYSQL_ASSOC ) ){
echo $row['first_name'] . " " . $row['last_name'] . ": " . $row['email'] .
"<br />";
}
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retrieving results
mysql_fetch_row(
cont …
)
equivalent
to mysql_fetch_array( $result,
MYSQL_NUM ).
mysql_fetch_assoc(
)
equivalent
to mysql_fetch_array( $result,
MYSQL_ASSOC)
when
using associative arrays, the keys are case
sensitive
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validate user input
if
we have a form asking the user to input the
following
first
name
last name
email address
username
password
confirm password
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validate user input
cont …
earlier
we had used the isset( ) function to check
that a form element was not empty
we can do something similar with empty( )
empty( )
returns
true if the variable
 is
zero
 is empty
 is NULL
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validate user input
cont …
empty( )
if (empty($_POST['last_name'])) {
$ln = FALSE;
} else {
$ln = $_POST['last_name'];
}
we
can use similar code to check that other
variables are not empty
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validate user input
if
cont …
all values test TRUE we can use an if statement
if( $fn && $ln && $e && $u && $pw ){
then add
the user to the database
$query = "INSERT INTO users (username, first_name, last_name,
email, password, registration_date) VALUES ('$u', '$fn', '$ln', '$e',
PASSWORD('$p'), NOW( ) )";
$result = @mysql_query ($query);
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validate user input
let
cont …
the user know that the data has been added
if ($result) {
echo '<p><b>You have been registered!</b></p>';
} else {
$message = '<p>You could not be registered due to a
system error. We apologize for any inconvenience.</p><p>' .
mysql_error( ) . '</p>';
}
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security
review
of ways to validate user input
user
superglobals to retrieve user input
use regular expressions to validate user input
trim( ) user input
use the function strip_tags( ) to remove HTML and
PHP tags
use the function mysql_real_escape_string( ) to
escape potentially troublesome characters
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mysql_real_escape_string( )
mysql_real_escape_string( )
automatically
escapes special character, such as
single and double quotes, for use in a SQL statement
for example
a
user enters data with an apostrophe, such as the last
name O’Malley
 without escaping the apostrophe, using O’Malley in a SQL
statement will throw an error
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mysql_real_escape_string( )
rather than
cont …
pulling the value from a for using
$ln = $_POST['last_name'];
escape any potentially troublesome characters
$ln = mysql_real_escape_string( $_POST['last_name'] );
returns the value
as
O\’Malley
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stripslashes( )
if
necessary, remove the escaping backslashes
with another function, stripslashes( )
$str = “Is your name Shaun O\’Malley?”;
echo stripslashes( $str );
echoes
Is your name Shaun O’Malley?
Magic
Quotes
when
enabled, automatically escapes single and
double quotes
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mysql_num_rows( )
mysql_num_rows( )
returns
the number of rows retrieved by a SELECT
query
takes one parameter, the result set of the SELECT
query
$q = 'SELECT last_name FROM users ORDER BY last_name';
$result = mysql_query( $q );
echo $n = mysql_num_rows( $result );
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mysql_num_rows( )
a
cont …
simple test to see if a username already exists
$q = “SELECT user_id FROM users WHERE username = ‘$u’ ”;
$result = mysql_query( $q );
if( mysql_num_rows( $result ) = = 0 ) {
// insert the data
} else {
echo “That username is already taken.”;
}
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mysql_affected_rows( )
mysql_affected_rows( )
returns
the number of rows affected by INSERT, UPDATE, or
DELETE query
takes one OPTIONAL parameter, the result set of the query
 if
no parameter is specified, uses previous query
$query = "INSERT INTO users (username, first_name, last_name,
email, password, registration_date) VALUES ('$u', '$fn', '$ln', '$e',
PASSWORD('$p'), NOW( ) )";
$result = @mysql_query ($query);
echo “Records inserted: “ . mysql_affected_rows( );
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UPDATE
to
allow a user to change her password
the
first query returns the user_id if the username and
password match data stored in the users table
to compare the user’s submitted password, re-encrypt
it, then compare with the stored value
if the username and password match, exactly one
record is returned
assign this record to the $row variable
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UPDATE
check for
cont …
username / password match, return
record
$query = "SELECT user_id FROM users WHERE (username='$u' AND
password=PASSWORD('$p') )";
$result = @mysql_query ($query);
$num = mysql_num_rows ($result);
if ($num == 1) {
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_NUM);
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UPDATE
cont …
if
the username and password match, update the
database with a new query
$query = "UPDATE users SET password=PASSWORD('$np') WHERE
user_id=$row[0]";
$result = @mysql_query ($query); // Run the query.
verify the
results of the query
if (mysql_affected_rows( ) == 1) {
echo '<p><b>Your password has been changed.</b></p>';
}
} // end outer if
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