David Powers has been professionally involved with the electronic media for some 30 years, mostly in radio and television—he was BBC Tokyo correspondent in the late 1980s and early 1990s—but more recently with the Internet. He built his first site in 1995, and was instantly hooked. Eventually, the sheer tedium of updating content convinced him there must be a better way. After a brief flirtation with ASP, he experimented with PHP, and found himself hooked yet again.
A fluent Japanese speaker, Powers specializes in building Japanese-English bilingual websites, writing about Japan, and translating Japanese (he’s translated several plays). He co-authored Foundation Dreamweaver MX 2004 (1590593081) and PHP Web Development with Dreamweaver MX 2004 (1590593502). Powers also worked as technical reviewer on a number of web-related titles for Apress.
While most programming books print source code as is, this one distinguishes itself with a keen visual presentation with graphics used to highlight sections of both Flash ActionScript and basic PHP. It also helps that Webster is a notably lively writer. A few guiding principles govern this text. First, all the interfaces are created in Flash and ActionScript, and the book walks you through the steps required to build these designs.
After a basic tutorial of the PHP language, the author uses PHP to add additional functionality to Flash-powered Web applications, from managing user registration to searching news articles using regular expressions. This text provides one of the best (and most truly accessible) tutorials for understanding and using regular expressions. While most writers pass the buck to difficult online resources for regular expressions, the author takes the time to explain and demonstrate how regular expressions really work, with clear examples and a nicely patient presentation style.
Later, the book zeros in on using the MySQL database package for storing and retrieving data from Flash applications. To this end, there's a quick introduction to programming with SQL and how to query and update data using PHP combined with MySQL. Later chapters present case studies of larger Flash applications that make use of techniques demonstrated earlier, like a customizable user poll, a simple event scheduler, plus a threaded discussion forum. With a winning writing style and a concise presentation that makes smart use of graphics, PHP for Flash will put simple PHP programming within reach of anyone who has a little previous familiarity with Flash. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Overview of PHP 4 and scripting essentials, loading external data in Flash (a registration script), PHP language fundamentals (including variables, data types, arrays), using functions (calling conventions), string handling in PHP, in-depth tutorial on PHP regular expressions, using cookies, file I/O tutorial, introduction to the MySQL database platform, basic SQL syntax tutorial, using PHP and MySQL together (a simple content management system), case study for a user poll (including administration modules), event planner scheduler application, case study for a threaded discussion Web application, reference for installing PHP and MySQL, object-oriented programming essentials in PHP, and resources for PHP.
PEAR, the PHP Extension and Application Repository, is a bountiful resource for any PHP developer. Within its confines lie the tools that you need to do your job more quickly and efficiently. You need to be able to quickly assess and determine which PEAR package is the right one for the task you are up against. Then you need to know the API and see some examples of how to best use it. Foundations of PEAR is your one stop for locating the PEAR package you need. Authors Nathan Good and Allan Kent have carefully selected the most useful and widely used packages for this book.
Each package is broken down logically by function, and each one is covered in detail. The book presents each package in a manner that allows you to jump quickly to the key items you need to implement a solution. The authors understand that you need to see the packages in actioneach performing in real-world applications. So theyve included four projects in the book that each use a combination of PEAR packages in their implementations. Once youre armed with the knowledge in this book, youll be set to take your PHP development to a new level.
PHP and MySQL are great tools for building database-driven websites. There's nothing new about that. What is new is the environment in which your site operates—a world rich (and growing richer) in web services that can add value and functionality in many different ways. Creating Interactive Web Sites with PHP and Web Services walks you through every step of a major web project—a content-management system—teaching you both the basic techniques and little-known tricks you need to build successful web sites. And you can use those skills to develop dynamic applications that will meet your special requirements. Here's some of what you'll find covered inside:
Tons of examples, complete with explanations and supported by online source code, will speed your progress, whether you're a true beginner or already have PHP experience. This book is platform-agnostic, so it doesn't matter if you're deploying your site on Linux or Windows. You also get PHP and MySQL references, so you can quickly resolve questions about syntax and similar issues.
