Using PHPMyAdmin MySQL Database Manager

PHPMyAdmin is the third party web based MySQL database management panel that is provided and installed as standard with both the cPanel and Plesk control panels, and in the case with Plesk it is provided with both versions (Linux and Windows); if you run your own server without a control panel, then it is also available for download and manual installation since it is open source software meaning that anyone is able to download it for use as many times and on as many machines as they want. With the use of PHPMyAdmin, you are able to manage any databases that you have created from either your cPanel or Plesk web hosting account on the fly, since it is an application that is accessible from your control panel’s homepage and can be used through your web browser, which means that you are able to manage your databases from any internet connected location where you are able to use a computer that has a web browser installed on it.

The main features of PHPMyAdmin allow you to create new tables in your database, as well as to edit and delete others which you have created previously in your database; you can also view and modify the data that has been entered into each individual table, which means that you can easily delete a row for example if you think it might be a fraudulent sign up, in the case that you are running an online shop or some sort of membership system for your website or online community. If you have decided to go with your own install of PHPMyAdmin on your control panel-less server, then you are also given the ability to create new databases on the fly through the system if you are logged into it as the server administrator, or if you are running it on a Linux machine - ‘root’; this makes PHPMyAdmin an all in one solution for someone who wants to be able to manage their stand-alone MySQL databases server on the fly without having to use a desktop database management system.

With the use of PHPMyAdmin in conjunction with a hosting control panel, such as cPanel or Plesk, you are able to manage all the MySQL databases that you have created without the need to open a new window or new program session each time you want to administer a different database; this means that if you are wanting to mange multiple databases that you have created for different purposes throughout your website, you are able to do so without having to use a complicated desktop database management system that might not even let you administer multiple databases, forcing you to open a new session to the server that you are wanting to use each time you want to manage a different databases, even if all the databases that you want to manage are hosted on the same server.

If you are using a control panel in conjunction with PHPMyAdmin, then you will not be able to use it to create new databases for your hosting account, since it is a limit that most web hosts choose to put on the web based administration program since it easily allows customers to create more databases than they are allowed to limited by the amount that has been assigned to their web hosting account; in this case you will have to use your web hosting control panel to add, edit and delete MySQL databases for your web hosting account.

In most cases, you will be using PHPMyAdmin to manage MySQL databases that you have created to be used in conjunction with your PHP based website or application that you are hosting within your web hosting account, which in most cases should be either Plesk or cPanel based to give you the most functionality; this is because PHP and MySQL are known to be the best combination when it comes to databases and scripting languages, since both are open source and can run on either the Linux operating system or on Windows based systems, meaning that PHP and MySQL based websites and applications can be hosted in almost any environment - other combinations are only able to run in certain environments, for example MSSQL and ASP.NET based applications will only run on Windows based servers.

As previously mentioned, MySQL is a database technology that is commonly used in conjunction with the PHP server side scripting language to give developers maximum flexibility when it comes to building their websites and what functionality they are able to achieve with the use of MySQL as the database engine to drive the backends of their websites and projects.

Launching PHPMyAdmin From cPanel

PHPMyAdmin comes installed as default with any cPanel installation, meaning that once you have cPanel installed and configured correctly, you can quickly and easily setup a web hosting account and start adding the databases that you want or need; once you have done that, you can then start using PHPMyAdmin to administer your MySQL databases. Launching PHPMyAdmin from cPanel is a relatively easy task, and is one that can be carried out from any internet connected location, just so long that you can access cPanel from the web browser that you are using; in order to launch PHPMyAdmin from cPanel, you will need to select the icon labeled ‘PHPMyAdmin’ from the ‘databases’ section of cPanel:

One thing to note is that through PHPMyAdmin in cPanel, you are able to administer all the MySQL databases that you have created under your web hosting account, meaning that you don’t have to launch a new window of PHPMyAdmin each time you want to administer a different MySQL database that you have under your web hosting account. Once you have selected the appropriate icon, you should be directed to a page notifying you that PHPMyAdmin is loading, then after that to the PHPMyAdmin homepage:

Launching PHPMyAdmin From Plesk

PHPMyAdmin is also available with both the Linux and Windows versions of the Plesk control panel to allow you to manage any MySQL databases that you have created or want to create within your Plesk based website hosting account; this means that you are able to host your PHP based website or application in a Windows or Linux based environment just so long as the Plesk control panel is installed and that the web server has been appropriately configured to allow this. In order to launch PHPMyAdmin for a MySQL database that you have created through Plesk, you will first need to select the ‘databases’ icon from the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to manage the database for:

You will then be presented with a list of databases that you have previously created in your Plesk website hosting account, the following features are displayed along with the databases name:

• database type (circled red) - this is shown as an image: if the database is a MySQL database then a dolphin will appear in the column concerned, and if it is a Microsoft SQL database then the Microsoft Windows logo will be displayed within this column
• name (circled green) - this is the name of the actual database which you chosen when you were creating it, this is the name that you will need to use in your server side scripts if you are wanting to use them in conjunction with a database that you have created
• server (circled blue) - this is the server that the database is hosted on, in most cases this is the local server on which your website is hosted, although the name of the external database hosting server will be displayed if different
• web admin (circled purple) - if you click on the image in this column, it will load the necessary web administration panel for the database that you have selected it for.

In order to launch PHPMyAdmin for a MySQL database that you have hosted within your website hosting account, you will need to select the web administration icon for a MySQL database that you have hosted within your web hosting account; PHPMyAdmin should then load for the database that you have selected to administrate. One thing to note is that unlike the cPanel version of PHPMyAdmin, the Plesk version will only administer one database at a time meaning that you will have to go back to the Plesk control panel and launch a new session of PHPMyAdmin for each individual database that you want to administer.

The PHPMyAdmin Homepage

Once you have launched PHPMyAdmin from either Plesk or cPanel, you should be taken to the homepage where you can then start to administer the database or databases concerned, with ease. PHPMyAdmin is able to provide you with many different details about the server on which you are hosted, and specifically the MySQL installation that is hosted on the same server as your website, these details might be needed when you are developing your PHP based website or application; the main details that the PHPMyAdmin homepage is able to provide you with include:

• MySQL server version (circled red) - this piece of information is important when developing PHP based websites and applications, since newer versions of PHP might not be compatible with older versions of MySQL and newer versions of MySQL might notbe compatible with older versions of PHP, which is normally the case in most situations
• server and username (circled green) - these two pieces of information are important since you will need them when developing server side PHP based scripts and applications which are going to be utilizing the MySQL database that you are administrating - the server name is the server on which the database is hosted, and the username is what you will need to gain access to the database concerned along with the password that you have specified for the username
• MySQL character set (circled blue) - this piece of information might be important to you when you are developing language related applications, which might be using a range of different languages and characters.

If you have decided to go with a stand-alone MySQL server with a manual PHPMyAdmin installation, then you will also be given the ability to create new MySQL databases through the PHPMyAdmin control panel, although this isn’t possible if you are using a cPanel or Plesk installation meaning that you will have to use your hosting control panel if you want to create new databases for use with your dynamic websites or applications. Links are also provided on the homepage to take you to different parts of the control panel to allow you to manage and administer different features of your MySQL databases, these will be discussed further on.

Administrating a Database

To administrate a MySQL database that you have hosted within your web hosting account, you will need to select one that you have created from within PHPMyAdmin. You will see that all the MySQL databases you have created under your hosting account are listed down on the left hand side of PHPMyAdmin if you are using the cPanel version, and if you are using the Plesk version you should notice that the MySQL database that you have chosen to administrate is listed down on the left hand panel as well:

Once you have clicked on the name of the database that you want to administrate, you should be redirected to the following management page for the database that you want to administrate:

From the management page for the database that you have chosen to create, you are able to carry out the following actions to help administrate your MySQL database effectively:

• create new tables - you will probably find that you will need to create new tables for your database every so often if you are looking to expand the functionality of your PHP based website or application, and new tables will be needed to hold the data so that the new parts of your website or application are able to function dynamically like the rest of the website or application
• management of existing tables - if you already have tables created in the MySQL database that you are managing, then you are able to edit and delete them from the same screen where you can create them from - this means that you can manage your tables easily and effectively through your web browser with the help of PHPMyAdmin.

The above options are available under the ’structure’ tab of the database management panel, other available options include:

• SQL (circled red) - you can use this part of the database management panel to execute SQL queries on your database, for example to create a mass of a new tables without doing it manually, or to do a lookup on your database so that you can search and pull up a specific record that you might have stored within your MySQL database
• search (circled green) - you can use this feature of the database management panel to search through all the records which you have stored in your database, and pull up a specific one for modification or deletion if needed
• query (circled blue) - this feature works in the same way as the SQL feature does, although it is much more manual an better for beginners since it allows you to specify the actual search parameters yourself, meaning that PHPMyAdmin will automatically create the necessary SQL query - basically it works in the same way but without the need for you to enter your own complete SQL query
• export (circled purple) - the export feature of PHPMyAdmin creates a ‘dump’ of your database which is basically an SQL file which you can download and use as a backup of your database, meaning that if your database does happen to get deleted for any reason then all you have to do is run the SQL query contained within the dump file which will then automatically recreate your original database for you
• import (circled yellow) - the import feature of PHPMyAdmin is the opposite to the export feature, meaning that it allows you to import any dumps that you have taken of your database.

Creating a New Table

As mentioned previously, you may want to be creating new tables for your database from time to time so that you are able expand the functionality of your PHP based website or application that is interacting with the MySQL database that you are currently managing through PHPMyAdmin. With expanded functionality, you might be able to bring in more visitors to your website if you are expanding it by increasing the number of services that you are able to provide your customers with, for example. In order to create a new table, you will first need to select the structures tab from the database management panel of the database that you are managing:

Once on the structure page, you will then need to scroll down to the section labeled ‘create a new table on database x’, and will need to enter the following details to aid in the creation of your new table:

• name (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give your table, you should make the name relevant to what the table is going to be used for - i.e. you should call it ‘members’ if it is going to be holding information related to the members of your website
• number of fields (circled green) - this is the number of different rows of data that you want your new table to have, a field is individual meaning that one field is dedicated to one piece of information i.e. a telephone number.

You will then be redirected to the management screen for the table that you have just created, where you will be able to create and manage the fields that you want your new table to contain and in order to help manage and organize the data that you want to store in your new MySQL database efficiently. You should create new tables for each different section of your website to help keep the stored data as segregated as possible to ensure maximum ease when administrating your MySQL database in the future. You should also use as many fields as possible to help keep the stored data segregated, just as you would with tables; if you keep your data organized then will be easier to view and find through the PHPMyAdmin MySQL database management system, and it will be much easier for your scripts and web pages to find the data that you want.

Creating a Field

Fields are the individual table rows in which MySQL stores your data, whether it be the data that you have entered into it through PHPMyAdmin or the data that has been added when visitors sign up to your website. Fields are needed to ensure that your database can be used properly, to store data; without fields in tables, data can’t be stored in your database since there isn’t any way that the data can be categorized and stored in the correct place as would be possible with the use of fields. In order to create a new field under the table that you have previously created, you will need to select a table from the ’structure’ tab of the management panel for the database that you are administrating; you will then be prompted to enter the following data in order to create a new field for the table concerned:

• field (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give your new field, you should make the name relevant to the data that is going to be stored within it - you need to give a field a name since it needs to be identifiable so that it can be used in conjunction with your PHP based websites and applications
• type (circled green) - this is the type of data that you are going to be storing in your new field - the two main types of data are varchar and int, a varchar being just regular words including numbers and int being short for ‘integer’ which in other words is a number which means that this would be the type if you are storing phone numbers under your new field
• length/values (circled blue) - this is what you want to limit the length of the data in the field to - if you are going to be using your database in conjunction with a PHP based website or application then you needn’t worry about this option since you can use your own code in your scripts to limit the length of certain fields
• null (circled purple) - if you choose to make the field null, then you are allowing for the field to be empty when used, meaning that you could end up having many blank fields - if you choose to make it not null then there will have to be data in the field for it to be entered into the MySQL database properly
• extra/auto-increment (circled orange) - if you want to make this the primary field which will be the id field for each separate database record, then you might want to turn on auto increment to ensure that each individual record receives an individual id when it is created or entered into the MySQL database that you are managing
• primary key (circled pink) - if you choose to make the field that you are creating the primary key field, then it will be the one which holds the individual key to identify each different record if needed, it is recommended that you make this field auto-increment as well to ensure that each record receives an individual id.

Once you click ‘create’, you should then be redirected to a page hopefully telling you that your new field has been successfully created and that you can start adding data using it. In most cases you are able to create as many different fields in your database tables as you want, although it is recommended that you only create the ones which you need, since too many can start to affect the performance of your database as well as MySQL in general. One thing to note is that every table needs a primary key field which should auto increment to ensure that each individual record which is created within the table receives a unique id so that they can easily distinguished between and sorted easily.

With the use of MySQL databases, you can easily expand the possibilities and functionality of your PHP based website or application since you are able to make use of the dynamics of having a database and using server side components to make the most out of your web hosting account. For example, you could start a membership system for your website to allow visitors to sign up and view premium content, and in this case a MySQL database would come in handy since you would need somewhere to centrally store the details of all the people who have signed up to your website.

Creating a Dump/Backup

You should regularly backup the contents of your database to ensure that if it does happen to get deleted or corrupted for some reason or another, you can easily restore it without experiencing too much unneeded downtime allowing you to get your website up and running again quicker than others who don’t have any sort of database backup might be able to. In most cases, the database is the centre or heart of your website and without it your website wouldn’t be able to run since all the website’s content is stored within it, and if your website has no content or is broken then you ight find your visitors going elsewhere - it is because of this that you should always take regular backups of your database to ensure that you don’t loose any website critical data or information that can’t get deleted. In order to create your dump/backup, you will first need to navigate to the ‘export’ tab of the database that you want to backup:

You will then be asked to select which tables you want to backup in the case that you are backing up an entire database, by default all the tables that your database contains are selected. You are given a number of different formats that your dump or backup can be downloaded as, some of these different formats being:

• CSV - comma separated values - this is a common file format that is usable on almost any operating system because of its age, dating back to the early days of business computing - is normally used with tabular data, such as that which you are trying to backup from your MySQL database
• CSV for MS Excel 2000 - comma separated values for Microsoft Excel 2000 - see above, the only difference being that this one is designed for use with Excel 2000
• Microsoft Word 2000
• PDF - portable document format - created by Adobe to allow easy exchange of documents, in most cases it is a read-only format meaning that you will be unable to modify the data contained within the backup
• SQL - structured query language - this will create an SQL file which will contain the code which you can easily run as an SQL query on another database or on a new one if the database that you happen to be administrating gets deleted or lost for some reason or another - will restore all original data in seconds, although the timescale does depend on the amount of data being backed up or restored
• XML - extensible markup language - this is normally used by developers since it allows them to specify and create their own tags when they are coding websites or applications - with a backup it utilizes custom tags to arrange the data efficiently within the file that you will be able to download.

Conclusion

In conclusion, PHPMyAdmin is a powerful third party web based database administration tool that will allow you to effectively manage all of your MySQL databases with ease from any internet connected location in the world, thus allowing you to manage your MySQL databases whilst you are on the move. With its management features you are given the ability to create and manage both tables and fields within your MySQL databases so that you can effectively manage and organize the data which you want them to hold; this means that can easily access the information held by your database from your PHP based websites and applications, giving your website maximum flexibility when it comes to expanding the functionality of it. You are given many different expansion options for your PHP based website or application when it comes to MySQL since you can easily create different features that utilize a database to hold your data in either the short term or the long term.

PHPMyAdmin is also an industry leader when it comes to open source database management systems, since it is bundled with both the cPanel and Plesk web hosting control panels, meaning that you are given a large amount of freedom to configure your MySQL databases the way you want them to be when it comes down to being hosting on a shared hosting package utilizes either Plesk or cPanel to manage your website as well as the other on the server as well as the server itself on which you are hosted. If you choose to use PHPMyAdmin on a stand-alone MySQL server then you are given even more advanced functionalities, such as the ability to use it to create new databases if you are logged into it as the root or administrator user thus meaning that you don’t need a third party control panel if you just want to administrate the databases that you are hosting on your server.

PHPMyAdmin is the right solution for you if you are looking to administrate your databases whether you are on the fly, at home or in your office; it contains features that make it superior to may desktop database management systems which gives one advantage, but the best advantage has to be the fact that it is web based meaning that you can access it from any internet connected location, and use any of its features - meaning that for example you could be sitting on a beach in Hawaii with a wifi laptop and be creating new tables for your database so that at the same time you are able to expand the functionality of your PHP website or application - although thats the last thing almost anyone would be doing! PHPMyAdmin is an open source application, meaning that it is freely available for download and use by anyone and can be used as many times as one wants to, meaning that you aren’t restricted by any license terms as you would be with a commercial application of the same type.

As mentioned previously, PHP and MySQL make the best programming and database combination since they are both open source and come with a range of tools and add-ons that allow you to make the most out of both. If you are looking to learn a dynamic server side language which you can use in conjunction with a database system, then you should look no further than PHP and MySQL - there are also a wide range of tutorials available in this blog and on the internet that you can use to aid you in the learning process. You can also buy a wide range of commercial books based around teaching you PHP and MySQL.

Scripting languages are a type of programming language that controls a specific software application. One example is JavaScript, that controls slight behaviour of a Web browser. For example, JavaScript in a particular fashion is an event-driven scripting language, so in this way, upon an event taking place, JavaScript “springs into action”. One JavaScript code could wait for an event when the user tries to close the tab or browser, and a message box will appear upon the event happening. As such, JavaScript is a client-side scripting language.

What is a client-side scripting language?

Client-side scripting languages are like any form of scripting language but the browser in some form is the interpreter. As such, a server-side scripting language would be a different type of scripting language genre, but in this case the interpreter is a virtual machine inside a server. In this case, the server is a physical machine that has the virtual interpreter installed on it. Basically, a virtual interpreter reads the scripting code, and translates it to HTML code of that specific result, which the browser can understand, and the same pattern would happen with the browser (HTML code -> bytecode -> screen). In this case, the screen part is where the text is displayed on the users screen.

Why have scripting languages?

Unfortunately computers aren’t like humans, and as a result can’t understand human speech commands that we say. For example, in a command-line interface, if we wanted the computer to open a specific file, we couldn’t just say “open notepad.exe” - the computer would just respond and say “unknown command”. The reason there are scripting languages are for a computer to accomplish a specific task. There are many variety of scripting languages out there, and different scripting languages are for different tasks. For example, JavaScript is a client-side scripting language and mainly an event-driven scripting language, and hence, it usually waits for events to happen. JavaScript is commonly known to be used for pop-ups, and in use with web-forms for validation purposes. Another good purpose of JavaScript is that it is capable of changing images as the mouse moves over them. Much like desktop programming languages which are mostly event-driven as well.

There are other scripting languages that are used for general-purpose activities, for example creating dynamic Web pages to create interactivity to the visitor. In such a sense, we mean that, for example, a page could display two different things. If the user is using Firefox, some text with “You are using Firefox” would be displayed, conversely, if the user is using Internet Explorer, some text would display “You are using Internet Explorer” instead. This is one form of dynamic Web pages, but of course many scripting languages could do things at a much higher-level scale than just this. Another example is creating a text-based game, completely coded in a scripting language.

Just for your information, there is a distinct differentiation between scripting languages and good old HTML. HTML alone cannot create dynamic Web pages, as such some of the examples explained in the preceding sections. HTML was created for the building of Web pages, and as a result, it is a static language, and is the structuring of Web pages (and in some cases the styling of Web pages, too).

How do I learn a scripting language?

First of all you need to understand whatever scripting language you want to go for and what exactly it does. If you want to go for client-side scripting languages, JavaScript may be a good option. And in another criteria, for server-side scripting, PHP may be a good option, as a general-purpose scripting language. Nonetheless, whatever scripting language you go for, you need to look into what exactly it is, and understand the concepts of it first. If you want more information on PHP, you can pop on over to PHP’s official Website, PHP.net and JavaScript resources and tutorials can be found with a little searching with Google.com.

Good luck!

If you want to build a dynamic website which has the ability to communicate with databases and servers to ensure that it is both functional and efficient, then you will need to have knowledge of a programming language to ensure that these tasks can be easily achieved; there are many different programming languages, each of which have been designed for use in specific server environments, and although most possess more or less the same basic features at heart, some do contain more advanced and complicated features that others may not have. When choosing a programming language to learn, you should always consider how easy it will be to learn and ask others who have a good deal of knowledge about the language you are wanting to learn just how long it took them to learn it, and how easy they find it to use within a complicated server environment; you should also take into consideration the server environment in which the code that you produce will be hosted - for example you don’t want to go and learn a language which you then can’t use effectively since it hasn’t been designed to work in a server environment such as the one which you want to host it in. You should also take into consideration the external factors of a programming language which can affect your ability to code in it as well as the dynamic functionality that it is able to achieve; for example you should always consider the external database programs that you are able to use with your chosen programming language - this is because some database programs might not be able to function in the same environment as that in which the programming language that you have chosen to use does, this means that you should consider a database program that it is able to function with both the programming language that you have chosen to use as well as within the same environment as that in which the programming language that you have chosen to learn. Other factors you should consider when choosing a programming language to learn is the amount of support that is available for it; this is because if you are new to programming then you might need some support to help send you in the right direction if you happen to come across a problem or are unable to figure something out when you are in the middle of learning that language that you have chosen to learn. If you are new to programming, and have not learnt any server side scripting language previously, then you will open your website to a whole new set of opportunities which you most likely did not know about previously; this is because with the use of a server side scripting language, you can allow the pages of your website to interact with the server and also configure your pages to work with a database which means that your visitors can have much more interaction with your website if you use these opportunities to add new features to your website such as a password protected area or a forum where people can discuss certain topics with each other.

Features

You should always consider the features that a programming language has when you are looking to learning a language to aid you in the process of a building a dynamic server side script based website; this is because that although more or less every server side scripting language has the core features such as interaction with databases and the server, the more advanced features can settings can easily differ from language to language meaning that some are better suited to one use than another might be. Some languages are starting to incorporate new features that will help them stay up to date with the latest internet trends as they start to grow; for example Microsoft has started to release an AJAX toolkit for its ASP.NET server side scripting language to ensure that developers who use the language for their websites are able to keep their websites up to date in terms of the technology which is used to enable their scripts and web pages to interact with the server on which they are hosted. Most programming languages are able to work with a wide range of database programs which means that you are given a selection of database programs meaning that you can choose one which suits your requirements perfectly, both in terms of specification and the languages that it is able to function with; with the use of a database and a dynamic server side scripting language, you are able to store data which can be accessed by any dynamic script or web page which as the necessary database login details - this means that you could setup a private area on your website which requires a user name and password to gain access, or you could build a content management system to base your website on which will store all the content for your website in a centralized database. Another thing that should you take into consideration is the libraries that are available for the scripting language which you wish to learn; libraries are normally ‘add-ons’ for scripting languages that allow you to expand the capability of the programming language that you have chosen to learn since they are normally made for one purpose which expands on an existing function of the scripting language, or adds a completely new set of functions entirely. You should also consider the operating environment in which the programming language has been designed to run; for example PHP has been designed to allow it to run in both Linux and Windows environments, which means that you can easily install the necessary files in both operating systems to ensure that it can run effectively - on the other hand, ASP.NET has been designed by Microsoft which means that it can only be run on a server which is running Microsoft Windows Server. You should also consider the language’s ability to run alongside other web pages which have been written in different programming languages; for example PHP pages might interfere with the running of ASP.NET scripts and pages within the context of a Windows based web hosting environment.

Environment

One of the main factors that you should consider when choosing a programming language to learn is the environment for which the language you have chosen is able to operate in; this is because some programming languages have been written to allow them to run in a certain operating system only, meaning that you have to be using that operating system in order for you to be able to host and view the files that you have written in the dynamic server side scripting language concerned. For example, if you want others on the internet to be able to view the files or web pages that you have written in either the classic ASP or ASP.NET programming languages, you have to be running a server or computer which has either Microsoft Windows Server installed on it, or Microsoft Windows XP Professional - although it is recommended that you use Windows XP Professional to view server side scripts if you are wanting to test them, since it isn’t as suited to the position as Windows Server is; this is because that Microsoft has designed both programming languages to be run on Microsoft operating systems only and to only be executed through Microsoft’s web server, IIS (Internet Information Services) - this means that you might have to fork out extra for Windows based web hosting in order for you to have the ability to execute and view the classic ASP and ASP.NET web pages and scripts that you have written. On the other hand, programming language such as Ruby on Rails (RoR) and PHP will run on most operating systems, and are open source meaning that they are free; the fact that they are open source means that you can pick up a cheap cPanel and Linux based website hosting account that in most cases should have the ability to run Ruby and PHP based website applications. Although ASP.NET and classic ASP are both free to use programming languages, they are still classed as commercial since the running of them is only possible through the purchase of a Windows Server license, this means that their cores cannot be accessed by the likes of you and me which means that the cores can’t be customized to the way that we want them in order to make the engines behind both languages run more efficiently and faster; however, the source code for both Ruby and PHP can be downloaded which means that any developer with a sufficient amount of knowledge can easily modify the source to the way that they want it to be and then rebuild for use within their own server environment. Other environmental factors for the running of the programming language that you have chosen to learn can include the necessary file permissions which might be required to ensure that the language which you have chosen to learn can run effectively without any problem, which is a must when you are wanting to use the language within your own dedicated server environment; if the correct file permissions are not set then the core of the language might be restricted from accessing the resources that it needs to ensure that it can run effectively and fast.

Support

If you are new to the world of server side programming languages, then you should always take into consideration the support that is available to you if you find that you need help with a certain feature of the programming language that you have chosen to use; this is important because the best known languages have many forums that are dedicated to them which should more than meet your needs, but on the other hand the lesser known languages don’t have such a good amount of support available for them - or the case may be that there is enough support available for them, but the support just isn’t informative enough which isn’t what you need when you’re starting out with something new. For example, Microsoft’s ASP.NET language may be a commercial one, but the company itself doesn’t provide any official support past the regular documentation that you should be able to find with any programming language that you want to learn, especially the best ones; in this case you should be able to rely on internet based communities to help you out in the learning process, since these communities are normally full of many knowledgable members who can give you tips on how best to learn the language as well, since everyone had to learn the language at some point in their development career. You will never find any source of official support for any open source scripting languages beyond the documentation that you should be able to find for almost any scripting language, regardless of whether you choose to learn it or not since everyone needs some sort of official source which they can refer back to; however, you should be able to find more internet based communities which can help you out with the language that you would for an commercial server side scripting language, this is because that people are able to view the source code of the actual language which in turn means that they should be able to tell you exactly what to do if you happen to run into a problem with the language that you have chosen to learn. If this is your first time learning a programming language, then it is important that you try and learn a language which has lots of support available to you; this is because it is inevitable that you will get stuck during the learning process at some stage or another since programming languages are very complicated things to learn. One thing to note is that the documentation that is provided by the makers of the scripting languages for their products are in most cases very complicated; this means that you should try and gain a good amount of knowledge before attempting to read one of the documentation manuals since you should then be able to solve your problem much more efficiently, and at the same time will be gaining knowledge on the language which you have chosen to learn. If you gain a good amount of knowledge of your chosen language, you might end up becoming a programmer - which in most cases is highly paid job because of the skill that is involved.

Commercial and Open Source

Commercial programming languages are ones which require you to purchase something in order for you to have the ability to run them so that visitors to your website are able to view the finished article, and so that the server which is hosted the script or web page concerned is able to process the file in a correct manner so that it can output it to the visitor’s browser in the correct format. Commercial languages are generally made for use on one operating system only, which restricts you from how and where you are able to use your skills if you choose to learn a commercial server side scripting language; an example of a commercial server side scripting language would be Microsoft’s ASP.NET, this is because you can only use it under Microsoft’s web server, IIS, which itself will only run on a Microsoft operating system such as Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 - their more modern counterparts being Windows Vista Business and Ultimate, as well as Windows Server 2008. On the other hand, open source programming languages generally allow you to run them on any operating system, which means that you are able to apply your knowledge and skills across a wide range of operating systems if you do choose to learn and open source server side scripting/programming language; you can also expand open source scripting languages more easily than their commercial counter parts, this is because many developers have spent their time developing free add-ons for the open source languages to help make them much more feature filled, and in tun allowing people who develop using them to build more feature filled and efficient web based applications and websites. You will also find that the support for open source programming languages is much greater than that of commercial programming languages; the main reason for this is that people and developers tend to go more with open source languages for the simple reason that they are free, and because there is a large number of experienced developers who decide to use open source languages, there is a large amount of people who are willing to help out those who are new to the world of server side programming. The amount of support that is available for commercial server side programming languages is very little when compare to that which is available for open source languages; this is because that most developers don’t have the money to invest in the needed technologies to ensure that their scripts and web pages, which means that they normally take up open source programming languages because of the fact that there is little to no cost of getting started with these - you will also find that larger corporations with money will be utilizing commercial scripting languages, and they will be unwilling to provide any outsiders with any sense of support if they have just started out with a new programming language - if you do want to start with a commercial programming language then you should try and pick up a cheap book from your nearest book store.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you are new to the world of developing with server side scripting languages then you should take up an open source programming language to learn since there are far more helpful resources available for you than there are with commercial programming languages; this means that you might find it easier to learn your chosen language, and might even be able to get your dynamic website built much quicker than you would with a commercial programming language which has far less resources available regarding information about it. If you start coding in a language, and you fill that your set up might need expanding so that you are able to use many more functions when you code, then you should choose an open source language to learn since you can easily expand these through the use of freely available function libraries which are in most cases open source as well; this means that if you want to expand the interactivity that your website is able to have with the server on which it is hosted, then you can by simply expanding the base of the language in which you are coding with some simple yet effective function libraries. If you do choose to code in a commercial scripting language, then you might find yourself paying high web hosting costs since the cost of the software which is required to enable commercial scripting languages to run is high, and web hosts have to past the costs on to customers; you might also find yourself paying large amounts of money for resources such as books to aid you in the development process because there is a lack of online resources - if you were to code using an open source language then you would be able to use the vast range of free online resources to help you, and would not have to pay large amount of money for thick and complicated and in some cases almost useless books. With the use of this article, you should have been able to discover the power that programming languages have, and how the use of them can help boost your website in terms of how you manage it, and how much interactivity your visitors are able to have with it since you can use the features of programming languages to help add more features to your website. Also, with the use of a programming language, you might be able to get a job in IT since programmers are very skilled people, and positions for them normally accompany high salaries.

cPanel provides you with a number of integrated software and service features to help you improve your website as well as to aid you along in the process of creating your website; this section of the popular control panel can aid you a lot if you are new to the concept of website design and hosting. There are several different features that can help you along with the installation of certain programs that can help you get your website started; this is perfect for those novices who don’t yet have any professional desktop website building software such as Adobe Dreamweaver to aid them in the development of their websites, there are also smaller features that you can add to your existing website to help spruce if up if you feel that it needs it since the design it is using might be starting to get quite old and outdated. Other features allow you to setup different modules and packages within your web space that are applicable to certain server side scripting languages such as Perl and PHP; this can be helpful for you if you need a custom configuration but are only able to afford a shared website hosting package, and not a more higher level package such as a VPS server or a dedicated server at this point in time. A third party application that helps with the installation of programs that you can use to get your site started will also be discussed; although cPanel provides it’s own solution to aid you with the installation of scripts, the third party one that is used by many web hosts is more powerful than the one that comes packaged with cPanel. It is important to know how to use these tools; this is because you may not have the necessary knowledge to help you build your own website by using a desktop website building program. You can also utilize the features to install a forum or blog for your website so you can expand its possabilties, as well as enable visitors to communicate with each other as well as allow them to comment on the content of your website.

With the use of this article you will be able to expand on your current website by being able to install many different open source programs that can help you create a community in which all of your website visitors can communicate with each, and in the example of a blog, can comment on the contents of your website. You can also set your account up to enable additional modules and packages for your shared website hosting account that you would only be able to set up in the case of a dedicated environment such as VPS server or a dedicated server; these packages can cover server side scripting languages such as Perl and PHP to ensure that your applications are able to function the way you want them to within your shared hosting environment. If you are able to get your applications to work the way you want them to within a shared hosting environment, then it can prevent you from having to dish out more money to upgrade to a higher level package at some time in the future. The use of a third party application which is known as a Fantastico will also be discussed; the main purpose of Fantastico is to allow you to install third party scripts and programs into your web space - the main technical work such as the setting up of the database and the setting of file permissions is done by the program to ensure that you are able to focus on the main purpose which is to get your website up and running as fast as possible - that is unless you have bought your hosting account to help get yourself launched into the website hosting market. You will also learn about how you should apply the features that are included within the software/services section of cPanel to your website in an effective way; this might even help boost the number of visitors your website receives, since it will be more feature packed than it has been previously.

CGI Centre

The CGI centre within cPanel contains many different features that you can easily add to your website to increase its attraction as well as the interactivity that visitors can have with it. There are certain programs that are included within this cPanel feature that can allow you to add a search engine to your site, which visitors can then use to find content within your website; this can be helpful for both you and your website’s visitors if you have a particularly large website which contains many pages, that can’t be gotten to easily - one thing to note is that if you have a dynamic website where the information displayed is retrieved from a database, then this solution won’t work for you since it only bases itself upon the files that are physically contained within your cPanel website hosting space, in your case you would have to build your own searching system that queried the database where the content is stored with the keywords that the the person conducting the search has entered. Other types of programs that are included are guestbooks that you can allow visitors to your website to sign; this can be helpful for you if you want your visitors to comment on your website in general, as well as if you want to get a general idea of where your visitors come from and why they come to your website, as well as why they might find it interesting. You also have the ability to setup a banner rotating system for your website; you can use this feature if you want to display banners/adverts on your website but want them to be rotated over time so that the same one isn’t always displayed. The banner system that is built into cPanel has some disadvantages though; you can only administrate the system through cPanel which means if you want others to control their banners then you have to give the your cPanel password, which means that this isn’t the ideal system for you if you want to sell advertising space on your website - if you do want to sell advertising space on your website then you should decide to take up a PHP based adverts system that will allow users to administrate and add new banners.

Site Software

The site software section of cPanel contains many programs that cPanel will auto-install for you into your web space, dependent upon the options that you choose during the setup; this is a good feature for novices since all the technical work such as the setting up of databases and setting of file permissions is all done automatically by cPanel. You can use the programs that are included within this feature to get your website started; this is because you could use a CMS system that is included in this feature to help get the main part of your site started, since it will allow to add, edit and delete the content of the system as you need to. You can also use the site software feature to install programs on your website that your visitors can use to communicate with each other; these programs include forums that visitors can sign up to so that they are able to create new topics and to also respond to existing ones - other software included within this feature also allows you to install a chat room onto your website so that visitors can talk to each other in real time about any topics that they wish, although you can moderate the chat rooms to ensure that only certain topics are discussed; also, if you want to add a shop to your website then you can quite easily since an PHP/MySQL based shopping cart is included to allow you to install it into your web space so that you can start selling yours or others products through your website with ease. If you feel that you no longer need certain applications on your website that you have installed through the site software feature, then they can be easily removed; this means that you can easily test software that is contained within the site software feature on your website, and if you feel that you don’t need it then you can easily remove it through the site software feature since it acts as a manger.

Perl Module Manager

You can use the Perl module manager section of cPanel to view the Perl modules that are installed server wide for all users to use, as well as to view and install the Perl modules that are relevant to your shared cPanel website hosting account only. This feature is great for you if you require special Perl modules to be installed within the context of your shared cPanel hosting account to allow your applications to function correctly; custom modules are only usually installable within a dedicated hosting environment such as that provided by a VPS server and a dedicated server - although both come at a much higher cost than a standard shared cPanel website hosting account. You are able to install any kind of Perl modules that you want to within your hosting account; this is because all you have to do is type in the name of the module that you want to install, and as long as it exists cPanel will automatically install it into your hosting environment so that you can use it for any applications and website that are Perl based which you might want to host within your shared cPanel website hosting account. Although most web hosts provide a lot of Perl modules that are already install system wide, there are some that they might miss out which you can easily install yourself; they might be missed out since they might interfere with applications that people want to host in their shared website hosting account - but although others want to use it, it can’t be removed if it is installed system wide - therefore, if the people who want to use it install it within their own accounts, then it doesn’t affect the websites and applications of those who don’t want to use it for the reason that it might interfere with their websites and applications that they have hosted on the server.

PHP Pear Packages

PHP Pear packages are collections of functions that allow you to carry out different tasks via the use of PHP. Most web hosts provide you with a large selection of pear packages that are installed server wide so that any website that resides on that hosting sever can make use of the pear packages to carry out different tasks with the use of PHP; if you require a pear package that your web host has not installed server wide then you can easily install it by using the package manager that is included with cPanel. There are certain packages that your web host might not have installed server wide for many reasons including the fact that they might have corrupted the running of some applications or websites that are run by people with their shared cPanel website hosting accounts on the same server as you; in this case, if you require the use of these certain packages then you can make use of the package manager to ensure that you can install them within your shared cPanel website hosting account. Since you are installing the packages within the surroundings of the web space that has been assigned to you, they do not effect the running of other websites and applications that might be hosted on the same server as your website is; this also means that the actions of the packages are exclusive to your account meaning that they do not have any influence on pear packages that other users might have installed on their shared cPanel website hosting account. Pear packages have many different uses within the context of PHP; this is because there are many different developers who develop using PHP and have developed their own pear packages which they have decided to share with the general public - this also means that you can extend the possibilities of your website or application since there are many more features that you can add to it if you are using PHP because of the many different pear packages that are available.

PHP Configuration

The PHP configuration that is assigned to your web hosting account is only editable by the server administrator, since it is usually applied to every account that is hosted on the web hosting server - in other words the PHP configuration. The PHP configuration option that is available within cPanel allows you to see the PHP configuration for the web hosting server that your shared cPanel website hosting account is hosted on, and can be very helpful to reference to when you are building a PHP based application for hosting with your cPanel website hosting account; this is because that in some cases the final PHP application that you build might not work on the server that you are hosted on because the PHP configuration has put certain restrictions on how PHP applications are able to run within the server. However, via the use of .htaccess, you can create your own PHP configuration file (also known as php.ini) which you can then assign to your own website hosting space, and will not have any effect on other websites that are hosted on the same server that you are; this can be helpful is you need to enable or disable certain PHP options since they are conflicting with the operation of your PHP based website or application - you can also use this option to change the settings of certain PHP components to ensure that your PHP website or application is able to run without any interuption within your shared cPanel website hosting account. One thing to note is that you should always be careful when using a custom PHP configuration within the context of your shared cPanel website hosting account; this is because if you disable certain PHP options or components then you could restrict the running of any PHP based website or application within your hosting account.

Fantastico De Luxe

Fantastico is an auto-installer program that will automatically install certain PHP/MySQL based website applications for you, and works in a similar way to the site software feature that is also part of cPanel; however, unlike the site software feature of cPanel, Fantastico is a third party application that needs to be purchased by your web host in order for them to be able to install on your web hosting server - but many cPanel web hosts provide Fantastico these days as it is seen as one of the most popular cPanel add-ons. Also, Fantastico’s program directory is much larger than that of cPanel’s site software feature. You can use Fantastico to help get your website started, or to even help improve it; this is because it contains a number of programs that can help you form a basic website - for example you could install a blog or a CMS (content management system) to help you to start building up the contents of your website via the means of producing it through the administration area that most programs that fall under either of these categories posess, you can then come back to edit and delete the content if needed at a better date. You could also install a forum or bulletin board through Fantastico; you can then use the forum or bulletin board to help expand your website by allow your visitors to communicate with each other - this can be done via the creation of topics, if your visitors then sign up to either the forum or bulletin board they can then reply to the topics or create new topics - and as more topics get created, more people will sign up and reply to these topics which means that both your website and either forum or bulletin board will expand - you can then cash in on this expansion by putting adverts on your website, if you haven’t already so that you can earn money from the visitors that you receive. One thing to note is that Fantastico is perfect for beginners since the technical work such as the setting up of the database and the setting of file permissions to ensure that the application can run correctly are all done automatically by it.
Conclusion

In conclusion, cPanel provides you with many features that you can take advantage of to ensure that you can get your website kick started without the need for any technical knowledge; it also provides tool which you can utilize to help expand your website and to allow the visitors of your website to communicate with each other. Other tools provided within cPanel allow you to setup custom configurations to ensure that PHP and Perl based websites and applications that you wish to host within the surroundings of your cPanel website hosting account are able to run correctly; this is because you are given the ability to setup and configure additional modules that you might require for your PHP and Perl based websites and applications, since they might need them to ensure that they can be run reliably. You can also use the PHP configuration feature of cPanel to find out details of certain PHP options and components that might be installed on your hosting server; this information might be able to aid you in the development of PHP based websites and applications that will be one day deployed within the environment of your shared cPanel hosting account - this is because your code might require some tweaking to an extent to make sure that it can be run reliably within your shared cPanel website hosting account. You can also use the CGI program feature of cPanel to extend the interaction that visitors can have with your website; for example you can install a search engine to help your visitors find information within your website when they need to, without having to troll through many pages just to find the information that they want to find, you could also install a banner program to enable you to rotate different banners and adverts within the content that you have on your website.

Since cPanel is made to run on the Linux operating system, it’s main database features are based around the hugely popular open source MySQL database system; MySQL is best known for being used with the open source programming language (PHP). cPanel provides you with many tools to aid you in the creation of MySQL databases, as well as the management and editing of them which allows you to ensure that the data that they contain will not be stale which means that the database won’t be using up any unneeded disk space that you have assigned to your web hosting package. Most people uses databases in web hosting to allow them to build dynamic websites so that people are able to do activities on their site that require dynamic database interaction; these kind of activities include signing up as a member, as well as writing on a forum and commenting on a blog post. Others might also use a dynamic in the form of a CMS (content management system) to allow them to edit and change the contents of their website quickly and easily from any internet connection computer in any part of the world. Databases allow you to store information and allow you to access it at any time; most of the actions mentioned previously will make use of the MySQL database system within the context of a shared cPanel hosting environment where the Linux operating system is used, and will make use of a scripting language such as PHP or Perl to ensure that the data can be retrieved from the database and manipulated as needed into the context that will allow it to be displayed on an ordinary website. In some cases other programming languages such as Ruby on Rails (RoR) can be used in conjunction with MySQL to provide a better coded website solution; other database systems might also be deployed in conjunction with other programming languages, for example PostgreSQL has been deployed in some cPanel shared website hosting environments.

With this article you will be given the ability to create and manage MySQL databases within the environment that has been provided for you by your shared cPanel website hosting account. You will be able to deploy MySQL databases which you can then use in conjunction with the applications that you might choose to host within your web hosting account; these applications might be based on open source programming solutions such as PHP and Perl that can both be easily integrated and used with MySQL databases. The ability to manage your MySQL databases via the web based PhpMyAdmin solution that is incorporated with cPanel will also be taught; this includes the ability to execute MySQL queries on the database itself to ensure that tables can be easily setup with scripts that might be provided by programs that have been bought from third party developers, and which you want to use on your website to either help your visitors communicate with each other or to allow you to manage the content that you publish on your website with ease. If you have your own MySQL server or if you want to use the services of a third party MySQL hosting provider, then you will also be able to setup and configure the connection to a remote MySQL server from within the surroundings of your cPanel shared website hosting account; this means that any MySQL databases you setup within your hosting account will actually be setup on a remote server, if you want them to be, and will not be hosted locally on the server that your shared cPanel website hosting account is on - you can also use this feature to configure a backup MySQL server to be used in the event that the local MySQL server fails for some reason or another.

MySQL Databases

The MySQL database section of cPanel allows you to setup and configure MySQL databases as well as the users to go with them to ensure that they can be accessed successfully within your cPanel shared website hosting environment. MySQL databases allow you to store data in a centralized location that can then be accessed by applications that you might have installed on your website; applications that utilize MySQL databases might include bulletin boards, CMSs (content management systems) as well as blogs - basically any type of application that is written in a dynamic server side scripting language such as PHP that needs information to be stored in one centralized location so that it can be called on multiple web pages within the same application. Like most database programs, MySQL allows for the information that is stored in it to be encrypted (normally using the MD5 aglorathim) to ensure that if the database is accessed by a malicious attacker such as a hacker for whatever reason, the important data is encrypted meaning that it will be of no use to the attacker unless they have a method which they can utilize to decrypt the information. As mentioned previously, server side scripting languages such as PHP or Perl can be used to access and display the data that is stored within a MySQL database, as long as the correct MySQL login details are used. One thing to note when using MySQL databases is that you should always ensure that the important data that they store such as credit card details or the names and addresses of customers or members of your websites, then encryption should be used to ensure that this data is unreadable and useless to a malicious attacker such as a hacker if they some how manage to gain access to the database.

MySQL Wizard

The MySQL wizard allows you to easily create and manage both MySQL databases and the users that are required to access them by third party scripts; the wizard is for people who might find the actual MySQL database creation to confusing and in a sense ‘intimidating’. Unlike the main MySQL management panel, it takes you through the creation of a MySQL database and it’s users in steps, and instructions are included with each step to ensure that you are not confused by the process of the creation of a MySQL database. MySQL is utilized by many web based applications that are based on open source programming languages such as Perl and PHP to ensure that they have a centralized location where they can store all their necessary data and configuration settings. Like the programming languages that are used to access it, MySQL is an open source application; open source means ‘free’ and most open source products are ones that are maintained by a community of developers at no cost in most cases. Unfortunately for those of you who might find the actual MySQL panel a little daunting, then the bad news is that you can only use the MySQL wizard for the creation of MySQL databases and the users needed to go with them - you cannot utilize it to manage, edit and delete databases that you have already created using it. One thing to note about the MySQL wizard is that you can only use it for the creation of MySQL databases and the users that access it; you cannot utilize the wizard to manage databases and users that you have already created - that includes the editing and deletion of them.

PHPMyAdmin

PHPMyAdmin is a program that is based on the PHP server side scripting language and is included within cPanel to allow you to manage and administrate the databases that you have created within your cPanel shared website hosting account through your browser. PHPMyAdmin can be run if several different languages which is dependent on yourself, and gives you much needed information about MySQL server on the web hosting server in which you account resides; this information includes facts such as the MySQL version number that your web host has running on the server as well as the PHP extensions that it is utilizing. When a MySQL database is selected for editing or management, PHPMyAdmin allows you to carry out many different actions on the database so that you can manage it effectively; these include the running of SQL queries to create new tables within the database or to clean the database up if you believe that the information it contains may be stale to an extent. If you want to move your database or table to another server, or wish to take a backup of it, then you can easily use the backup tab that is displayed when you look at an individual database within PHPMyAdmin; this option creates a ‘dump’ of the database or table which is infact a t simple text fie that contains the MySQL query that can be used to recreate the database or table on another MySQL server. PHPMyAdmin also gives you many different actions that you can carry out on individual tables that you have hosted within the database; information about the individual tables is also displayed such as the coolation that has been used on it as well as the type of table it is, how many records it contains and its actual size. One thing to note is that when using PHPMyAdmin, you should always be careful as to which options you choose; this is because it is almost a ‘warren’ of many different pages that you could easily muck a database up because you have chosen an incorrect option.

Remote MySQL Server

The remote MySQL server option within cPanel allows you to setup a second custom MySQL server within cPanel that you can use to either create your MySQL databases on, or to backup the MySQL databases that you currently have hosted within your shared cPanel website hosting account to. You can also use the feature to allow other MySQL database servers or regular web servers that you might have you gain access to your databases by adding their IP address or subnet with the use of wildcards. You should only use this feature of cPanel if you have the required technical knowledge to enable you to configure the two servers to ensure that any type of data transfer is done successfully and securely; another reason for this is because you could easily mess up the other MySQL server if you do it incorrectly, and might even end up reinstalling the other MySQL server if you do not set the access rights and permissions in the correct way. The advantages of using this feature are high though; if you backup your MySQL databases to another server then you can set your scripts up to use the other server to retrieve and store the data if for some reason the local MySQL server that is on the hosting node on which you shared website hosting account resides on fails. One thing to note is that you should always be careful when transferring databases over since the data could be easily intercepted by a malicious attacker such as a hacker, who then might be able to use it for harmful purposes such as identity fraud.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cPanel provides you with a number of features which you can use to allow you to create and manage any MySQL databases that you want to have hosted under your shared cPanel website hosting account. You can also use other features to ensure that you can back your databases up to an external database server to ensure that they are safe; you can then use this other server as a database server if needs be - this might be because that the main MySQL database server that is hosted on the hosting server in which your cPanel shared website hosting account resides has failed for whatever reason. With the use of a third party application such as PHPMyAdmin which is incorporated into cPanel, you are able to view and manage all the MySQL databases that you have hosted under your hosting account on the fly; this can be helpful for you if you need to see if any new information has been added to your database via the means of your website, or to check if records that you have stored in your database are beginning to become stale. The use of open source scripting languages to interact with MySQL databases from a website has also been discussed; you can use server side scripting languages such as PHP, Ruby on Rails and Perl to interact with your databases from your website to ensure that your website is dynamic in a sense and to also make sure that the information that is displayed is up to date.

Title: What is PHP?

You hear all those articles about how good PHP is, and how it’s the best Web development kit you’ll ever need, which of course is true – but you may not even know what it is about and how it is used.

For starters, let’s just compare what you can do with HTML and PHP – with HTML, you can make static Web pages that are not interactive to the visitor and with PHP, you can make dynamic Web pages that are interactive to the visitor. Remember, you’ll always need HTML in your PHP development, as HTML, as we know, structures (and possibly styles, in some cases) our Web pages. Luckily enough PHP is an HTML embedded scripting language, so, unlike other scripting languages, HTML can be embedded inside PHP files (or, in other terms, the PHP code).

I must stress – PHP is not anything to do with HTML, and isn’t used to build Web pages like HTML can do, however it is used to build dynamic Web pages. Okay, let’s make an example:

• You build the online form using HTML

• You set it to your e-mail address

• You save the file

Okay, fair enough, what’s the big deal then? This isn’t dynamic – as when a visitor visits the Web page, upon clicking the button to submit the form, their favourite e-mail program will open up with the e-mail contents, and they’ll have to manually submit the e-mail themselves.

However, with PHP, that’s a little different. Using the HTML form as normal, we submit the form data to a different page on your Website and some PHP pre-defined variables as we call them POST or GET hold the form data and then sends the contents of those pre-defined variables to your e-mail inbox, without the visitor having to do a thing! Now, that is a dynamic Web page, as it’s interactive to the visitor.

Now, if you think about it – if PHP can do that, it can do a lot of other things too! Well, you’re absolutely right! PHP could display the form data they submitted on the second page (where the form data is e-mailed to you), by simply (as us programmers call it) “echoing” the contents of the variables to the Web page, using the echo function.

What are functions?
The best thing about PHP is it is quicker to setup a dynamic Web page than other scripting languages. Why, you ask? Simply because of the wide use of functions PHP have. Unlike other scripting languages, PHP has functions for almost anything you can think of, including to prevent exploitations in your code, to check string lengths (for submitted forms, for instance), to check particular variables values are integers, and so much more. Whenever you want to look up a function in PHP, usually just typing it in on Google will get you the results you need, but go to the official PHP Website (which is www.php.net) where you’ll find tutorials on every single function. You can also find the PHP manual there (which is incredibly step by step and easy to understand).

Hmm, I’m not really sure, I mean, all this “fish talk” seems a bit too complicated!
If you haven’t noticed already, PHP is the most widely supported language on the Web, and you’ll find hundreds, upon thousands of resources over the Internet as well as community forums devoted to PHP, which I am sure would be able to help you on your PHP footpath. There are also PHP mailing lists at PHP.net, which you can signup to, absolutely free, for whenever you need help. And, not to mention, eUKhost.com community forums, we are here to help – if you have any PHP specific problems or questions, we have quite a few PHP competent members on our forum which would be happy to help you, join in at www.eukhost.com/forums

I hope you enjoyed this article and found out why PHP is such a good language, and what it is about. There are so many resources over the Web related to PHP you’ll never become lost; Google.com is the only thing you’ll need to find the resources you need ;). Good luck!