Intro To PHP
David Lash
Getting Started
With PHP
1
Objectives

To understand what PHP is
» What is HTML
» How PHP compares with CGI

Getting Started with PHP
» Your first script
» PHP syntax and embedding in HTML
» Finding out about your PHP configuration

Using PHP variables
» Numerical variables and operators
» String variables, operators and a few functions

Separating PHP from HTML using <?=
2
Competencies

At end of unit be able to
» Understand how PHP compares with other
dynamic technologies
» Create a Web Page with PHP embedded
» Receive input into PHP script with variables
Competency
Alert:
You need to
!
know this
Common
Problem
Area!
People seem to forget this
3
Ummm, What is HTML used for?

HTML primarily . . .
» Provides instructions to browser on how file should display.
– Has a set of markup language commands
– Can include graphical image files

HTML documents are Static.
» For example, cannot use HTML alone to:
– have a document display current time
– receive results of a form, query a database, and display the results
– Open an input file and based on its contents, display different
document content
4
Accessing HTML Files
Your PC
Web Server
(Internet connected)
http protocol
(Internet connected)
Web browser
URL:
www.myserver.com/
funstuff.html
Find
Web
se
rver
at w
ww.
m
yser
ver
.com
Web server receives
request
Sends file with
funstuff.html
Web browser
Here are some fun
things to do:
1. Play baseball.
2. Go swimming.
3. Go to a concert.
l
ff.htm
u
t
s
n
u
le f
The fi
Note2:
HTML tags
interpreted on
client by
browser.
Note:
The file is just
retrieved no code is
executed on server
5
HTML?

The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
» used coded HTML tags
» provide Web browsers display instructions.

HTML is
»
»
»
»
It is simple to use and understand
It provides ways to include things like text,
graphics, sounds, links.
It is STANDARD
Its creation (and use) is one of the big reasons
the WWW became popular
6
Displaying HTML
Document
Title
Blue
Text
Bold
and
italic
Text
7
Major Server-Side Web Technologies

CGI - Computer Gateway Interface
» Web Servers enable computer variety of computer
languages to dynamically generate HTML
» E.g. Perl, C, Unix Shell, C++

Web Server add-on
» Builds on to existing web servers – E.g., Cold Fusion

Embedded Web server
» Web server has scripting language built into it.
» Comprises most modern scripting technologies
– ASP, JSP, PHP
Competency
Alert:
You need to
!
know this
8
Often the Choice Depends on Web Server

If running a Microsoft Web Server (e.g., IIS)
» More likely to use ASP or ASP.net

If running UNIX/Linux (e.g., Apache)
» more likely to use PHP, or JSP.
Source netscrat http://www.netscraft.com
9
What Is PHP?
Advantages of Using PHP to enhance Web pages:
» Easy to use.
» Open source.
» Multiple platform.

Started around 1996 when
» Rasmus Lerdorf (a consultant) wanted to know number of people viewing his online resume.
» Developed a CGI/Perl script that counted visitors and logged some visitor
information.
» He received many inquires for his CGI/Perl toolset so started giving it away for
free (and called it Personal Home Page).
» Got so many requests for additions, developed a next release of toolset (called
PHP 2.0)
» PHP 2.0 became popular and PHP moved to open source model.
10
How PHP Pages are Accessed
and Interpreted
Your PC
WebServer
(Internet connected)
(Internet connected)
1. Web Browser
2. Se
nd R
eque
Please Enter
A
Phone
Number
s t fo r
PH P
fi l e
Web Server
Software
3. Receive
request, find
file and read it.
Submit Erase
4. Execute
PHP
statements
7. Web Browser
5. Send
results
back.
Web Browser
Phone Query
Results:
That is
John Doe's
Phone
Number
6. R
e tu
es
rn R
u l ts
11
Objectives

To understand what PHP is
» What is HTML
» How PHP compares with CGI

Getting Started with PHP
» Your first script
» PHP syntax and embedding in HTML
» Finding out about your PHP configuration

Using PHP variables
» Numerical variables and operators
» String variables, operators and a few functions

Separating PHP from HTML using <?=
12
Getting Started with PHP
To develop and publish PHP scripts you need:
» A Web server with PHP built into it
» A client machine with a basic text editor and
Internet connection
» FTP or Telnet software
Its worth noting:
There are a couple good IDEs for PHP.
They basically allow you create PHP scripts on PC, syntax
check them, see output, and then copy to Web server
13
Common PHP Development
Configurations
Windows/
Apache/IIS
Linux/Apache
Development
PC
Development
PC
PC Running
Windows
Apache/IIS
Note, you can go to apache2triad.net and download php,
mysql, apache onto your PC. It will install like any other PC
program. It is big (70 MBs). It will allow you to run
EVERYTHING WE DO without students.depaul.edu.
PC Running
Linux
Apache
14
Creating a PHP Script File and
Saving It to a Local Disk
You can use a number of different editors to
create your PHP script files.
» The PHP script starts with a <?php tag and ends with ?>.
» Between these tags is a single PHP print statement.
15
On a Linux/Apache Web Server
Typically you:
1. Save files with a .php suffix
(myfile.php).
2. Place files under public_html (e.g.,
/home/dlash/public_html/
Save in public_html like any html file but use
php suffix
16
PHP Proper Syntax
Need to be syntactically correct.
 For example, the print statement syntax:

Enclose message
in quotation
marks
End in a
semi-colon
print ( "Your message to print" );
Message to Output
Parenthesis are
optional
17
If Use Improper Syntax

Suppose you use the wrong syntax:
1. <?php
2. print ( “A simple initial script);
3. ?>
18
A Little About PHP's Syntax

Some PHP Syntax Issues:
» Be careful to use quotation marks, parentheses, and
brackets in pairs.
» Most PHP commands end with a semicolon (;).
» Be careful of case.
» PHP ignores blank spaces.
19
Embedding PHP Statements
Within HTML Documents
1. <html>
2. <head>
3. <title>HTML With PHP Embedded</title> </head>
4. <body>
5. <font size=5 color=”blue”>Welcome To My Page</font>
6. <?php
7.
print ("<br> Using PHP is not hard<br>");
8. ?>
9. and you can learn to use it quickly!
10. </body></html>
This statement runs first and THEN the
output with other HTML is returned to
browser
20
Using Backslash (\) to Generate
HTML Tags with print()

Sometimes you want to output an HTML tag
that also requires double quotation marks.
» Use the backslash (“\”) character to signal that the
double quotation marks themselves should be
output:
print ("<font color=\"blue\">");
» The above statement would output:
<font color="blue">
Note! . . . You could also output the above line using the
following PHP line:
print (‘<font color="blue">“’);
We will examine the meaning between “ and ‘ later.
21
Using Comments with
PHP Scripts
 Comment
Syntax - Use //
<?php
// This is a comment
?>
 Can
place on Same line as a statement:
<?php
print ("A simple initial script"); //Output
a line
?>
Note: Comment lines are ignored when the script runs. They do
not slow down the run-time
22
Alternative Comment Syntax
PHP allows a couple of additional ways to
create comments.
<?php
phpinfo(); # This is a built-in function
?>

Multiple line comments. <?php
/*
A script that gets information about the
PHP version being used.
*/
<? phpinfo(); ?>
23
More on phpinfo()

Use a script with the following to find out
about your PHP installation:
The php version
» <? phpinfo(); ?>
This build does NOT
have mysql!
Location of PHP main
config file
Other interesting items:
Apache version &
configuration, php
config variables,
environment.
24
More on phpinfo()
Allow ASP style tages
Manual strongly
recommends setting to off
Flag values indicates
Value
constant to display/log
which
errors
1
E_ERROR
2
E_WARNING
4
E_PARSE
8
E_NOTICE
16
E_CORE_ERROR
32
E_CORE_WARNING
64
E_COMPILE_ERROR
128
E_COMPILE_WARNING
256
E_USER_ERROR
512
E_USER_WARNING
1024
E_USER_NOTICE
2047
E_ALL
2048
E_STRICT
25
Error Definitions . . .
Value
Constant
Description
Note
1
E_ERROR (integer)
Fatal run-time errors. These indicate errors that can not be recovered from, such as a
memory allocation problem. Execution of the script is halted.
2
E_WARNING (integer)
Run-time warnings (non-fatal errors). Execution of the script is not halted.
4
E_PARSE (integer)
Compile-time parse errors. Parse errors should only be generated by the parser.
8
E_NOTICE (integer)
Run-time notices. Indicate that the script encountered something that could indicate an
error, but could also happen in the normal course of running a script.
16
E_CORE_ERROR
(integer)
Fatal errors that occur during PHP's initial startup. This is like an E_ERROR, except it is
generated by the core of PHP.
since PHP 4
32
E_CORE_WARNING
(integer)
Warnings (non-fatal errors) that occur during PHP's initial startup. This is like an
E_WARNING, except it is generated by the core of PHP.
since PHP 4
64
E_COMPILE_ERROR
(integer)
Fatal compile-time errors. This is like an E_ERROR, except it is generated by the Zend
Scripting Engine.
since PHP 4
128
E_COMPILE_WARNING
(integer)
Compile-time warnings (non-fatal errors). This is like an E_WARNING, except it is
generated by the Zend Scripting Engine.
since PHP 4
256
E_USER_ERROR
(integer)
User-generated error message. This is like an E_ERROR, except it is generated in PHP
code by using the PHP function trigger_error().
since PHP 4
512
E_USER_WARNING
(integer)
User-generated warning message. This is like an E_WARNING, except it is generated in
PHP code by using the PHP function trigger_error().
since PHP 4
1024
E_USER_NOTICE
(integer)
User-generated notice message. This is like an E_NOTICE, except it is generated in PHP
code by using the PHP function trigger_error().
since PHP 4
2047
E_ALL (integer)
All errors and warnings, as supported, except of level E_STRICT.
2048
E_STRICT (integer)
Run-time notices. Enable to have PHP suggest changes to your code which will ensure
the best interoperability and forward compatibility of your code.
since PHP
26
‘Overriding’ php.ini settings
<?php
ini_set('error_reporting', 2047);
phpinfo();
?>
Global is ’85’ Local is
2047.
27
Apache2triad provide config administrator
Show errors in browser
Include HTML errors
Note: Has option at bottom to save configuration. Also must restart apache for
28
changes to take effect.
Setting Your own Configuration
Options
<?php
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);
$x = $y + 1;
print " x=$x $y=$y"
?>
2047
E_ALL (integer)
All errors and warnings, as supported, except of level
E_STRICT.
2048
E_STRICT
(integer)
Run-time notices. Enable to have PHP suggest changes to
your code which will ensure the best interoperability and
forward compatibility of your code.
since
PHP
29
Visit www.php.net
Quick function search
Function manual
30
Objectives

To understand what PHP is
» What is HTML
» How PHP compares with CGI

Getting Started with PHP
» Your first script
» PHP syntax and embedding in HTML
» Finding out about your PHP configuration

Using PHP variables
» Numerical variables and operators
» String variables, operators and a few functions

Separating PHP from HTML using <?=
31
PHP allows creating variables on the fly

For example,
<?php
$days = 3;
$newdays = 100;
$days = $newdays;
?>

A PHP variable names must:
» Use a dollar sign ($) as the first character
» Use a letter or an underscore character (_) as the
second character.
32
Combining Variables and the
print Statement

Use print statement with double quotes:
$age=6;
print ("Bryant is $age years old.");
print (‘but george is $age years old.’);
Double quotes
output any
variable’s value
Single quotes
output any
variable’s name.
Would output:
Bryant is 6 years old but george is $age years old.
33
Using Arithmetic Operators


PHP supports various arithmetic operators.
For example
<?php
$apples = 12;
$oranges = 14;
$total_fruit = $apples + $oranges;
print ("The total number of fruit is $total_fruit");
?>
These PHP statements would output
The total number of fruit is 26.
34
Common PHP Numeric Operators
Table 2.1 Common PHP Numeric Operators
Operator
Effect
Example
Result
+
Addition
$x = 2 + 2;
$x is assigned 4.
-
Subtraction
$y is assigned 2.
/
Division
$y = 3;
$y = $y – 1;
$y = 14 / 2;
*
Multiplication
$y is assigned 16.
%
Remainde
(modulus)
$z = 4;
$y = $z * 4;
$y = 14 % 3;
$y is assigned 7.
$y is assigned 2.
35
Common PHP Combined
Assignment Operators
Operator
Effect
Example
Result
+=
Addition and
assignment
$y += 3;
$y = $y + 3;
-=
Subtraction and
assignment
$y -= 3;
$y = $y – 3;
*=
Multiplcation and
assignment
$y *= $x;
$y = $y * $x ;
/=
Division and
assignment
$y /= 12;
$y = $y / 12;
%=
Modulus and
assignment
$z %= $x;
$z = $z % %x;
.=
Catenation and
assignment
$happy .=
‘hello’ ;
$happy = $happy .
‘hello’;
36
A Full Example
1. <html>
2. <head> <title>Variable Example </title> </head>
3. <body>
4. <?php
5. $columns = 20;
6. $rows = 12;
7. $total_seats = $rows * $columns;
8.
9. $ticket_cost = 3.75;
10. $total_revenue = $total_seats * $ticket_cost;
11.
12. $building_cost = 300;
13. $profit = $total_revenue - $building_cost;
14.
15. print ("Total Seats are $total_seats <br>");
16. print ("Total Revenue is $total_revenue <br>");
17. print ("Total Profit is $profit");
18. ?> </body> </html>
37
WARNING: Using Variables with
Undefined Values
Use a variable without a value assigned will have no value
(called a null value).
PHP will NOT generate an error and will complete the
expression.
For example,
<?php
$y = 3;
$y=$y + $x + 1; // $x has a null value
print ("x=$x y=$y");
?>
Will output
x= y=4.
38
PHP Precedence Rules

PHP follows the precedence rules listed
below.
» First it evaluates operators within parentheses.
» Next it evaluates multiplication and division
» Finally it evaluates addition and subtraction
For example, the first 2 statements evaluate to
80 while the last to 180.
$x = 100 - 10 * 2;
$y = 100 - (10 * 2);
$z = (100 - 10) * 2;
39
Objectives

To understand what PHP is
» What is HTML
» How PHP compares with CGI

Getting Started with PHP
» Your first script
» PHP syntax and embedding in HTML
» Finding out about your PHP configuration

Using PHP variables
» Numerical variables and operators
» String variables, operators and a few functions

Separating PHP from HTML using <?=
40
Working with PHP String
Variables
Use character strings for data such as
customer names, addresses, product names,
and descriptions.
 E.g.,

» $name="Christopher";
» $preference="Milk Shake";
Note: Technically it is more correct to write:
$name=‘Christopher’;
$preference=‘Milk Shake’;
Since there are no variable values to evaluate.
41
WARNING: Be Careful Not to
Mix Variable Types

Be careful not to mix string and numeric
variable types.
<?php
$x ="banana";
$sum = 1 + $x;
print ("y=$sum");
?>
No error will occur instead will output:
y=1
42
Using the Concatenate
Operator
The concatenate operator combines two
separate string variables into one.
 For example,

» $fullname = $firstname . $lastname;
will receive the string values of
$firstname and $lastname connected together.
 For example,

$fullname
$firstname = "John";
$lastname = "Smith";
$fullname = $firstname . $lastname;
print ("Fullname=$fullname");
43
TIP: Different ways to concatenate strings.

A couple different ways to concatenate strings:
» Concatenation operator

$Fullname2 = $FirstName . " " . $LastName;
» Double quotes

$Fullname2 = "$FirstName $LastName";
» Concatenation combination operator

$comment = ‘I love this job’;

$comment .= ‘but the hours and not that good’;
» Mix and match:

$name = ‘George’;

$comment = “$name said: I love this job”;

$comment .= ‘but the hours and not that good’;
44
The strtolower() and
strtoupper() Functions
These functions return the input string in all
uppercase or all lowercase letters, respectively.
 For example,

<?php
$inquote = "Now Is The Time";
$lower = strtolower($inquote);
$upper = strtoupper($inquote);
print ("upper=$upper lower=$lower");
?>
Would output
“upper=NOW IS THE TIME lower=now is the time”.
45
Objectives

To understand what PHP is
» What is HTML
» How PHP compares with CGI

Getting Started with PHP
» Your first script
» PHP syntax and embedding in HTML
» Finding out about your PHP configuration

Using PHP variables
» Numerical variables and operators
» String variables, operators and a few functions

Separating PHP from HTML using <?=
46
Evaluation delimiters
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
<?php
$url = '<a href=http://mysite.com> mysite.com </a>';
$store = '<font color=red> toy store </font>';
$special = 'boxed block sets';
?>
<html>
<head> <title> this is a title </title> </head>
<body> <font color=blue size=4>
Welcome to the <?= $store ?>
our special today is <i> <?= $special ?> </i>
<br> Visit our home page at <?= $url ?>
</font> </body> </html>
Can separate PHP from
HTML and use <?=
delimiter. It
automatically outputs
any PHP variables
found.
47
Getting input data

To receive data with REGISTER_GOBALS OFF
you use a special variable called $_GET.
» $mynm =
$_GET[“name”];
Enclose in square
bracket and then quotes
Name of HTML form CGI
variable (note do not use $)
Special PHP Global variable. Technically it
is an associative array (covered in chptr 5.)
PHP variable name that you want to receive
the HTML form input.
48
Sending Input From URL

You can send data to your application by:
» http://www.indelible-learning.com/php/module1/input.php?special=Baseball Bats

If needed to send multiple input variables could:
»
http://www.indelible-learning.com/php/module1/input.php?special=Baseball Bats&myname=Dave
Use & sign
49
Objectives

To understand what PHP is
» What is HTML
» How PHP compares with CGI

Getting Started with PHP
» Your first script
» PHP syntax and embedding in HTML
» Finding out about your PHP configuration

Using PHP variables
» Numerical variables and operators
» String variables, operators and a few functions

Separating PHP from HTML using <?=
50
Module 1 Hands on Assignment

Create a php script that calculates the total possible
revenue of a theater. Suppose that:
»
»
»
»
The theater charges $5 per seat
The theater has with 10 rows and 8 seats per row.
Output the total possible revenue.
Set the seat cost, rows and seats per row at top of script
and separate PHP from HTML code.
51
One possible solution
1 <?php
2
$cost = 5; $rows = 10;
3
$cols = 8; $total = $rows * $cols;
4
$rev = $cost * $total;
5 ?>
6 <html>
7 <head> <title> Theater Calculation </title> </head>
8 <body> <font color=blue size=4>
9 We have <?= $total ?> seats in the house
10 <br>
11 At a costs of $<?=$cost ?> our total possible revenue is
12 <?= $rev ?>.
13 </font> </body> </html>
52
Lab 1 Extension Exercise

Modify that same script to receive the
values of $rows and $cols from the
Web URL.
» Send different input values from the web
53
One Possible Solution
<?php
$cost = 5;
$rows = $_GET[rows];
$cols = $_GET[cols];
$total = $rows * $cols;
$rev = $cost * $total;
?>
<html>
<head> <title> Theater Calculation </title> </head>
<body> <font color=blue size=4>
We have <?= $total ?> seats in the house
<br>
At a costs of $<?=$cost ?> our total possible revenue is
<?= $rev ?>.
</font> </body> </html>
54