Introduction to PHP

Introduction to PHP

Adam Majczak

C. Adam Majczak, 2013, All Rights Reserved

Smashwords English Edition

E-Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal use only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

ENGLISH EDITION

Using PHP and based on this book:

* You can check real connection speed with your remote server in any your application:

* You can implement interactive data processing in real time:

* You can generate HTML pages in real time with dynamically self-changing graphics:

* You can create interactive games in PHP to use on your Web pages,

// A. Majczak: The shortest interactive PHP game in the World :-)

* You can simply create boxes inside your web pages like this:

* You can rotate plot coordinates and drawings.

… and much more…

CONTENTS:

CHAPTER 1: Introduction to the e-book edition

Similarities and differences: PHP vs. C/C++

What and how can PHP do for us?

What for? To get visitor’s IP, for example

What do I need for beginning?

How to use a web host with PHP support?

How to use PHP?

Embedding PHP

Comments in PHP

How to use PHP interpreter online

Running PHP from the command line

Command line input (STDIN)

CHAPTER 2: PHP variables

Case sensitivity

Error messages and warnings

Data types in PHP

Using constants in PHP

Integer data type

Floating-point numbers

Bool type (Boolean values)

Null type variable and type checking in PHP

Dynamic variables

CHAPTER 3: Operators

Arithmetic operators

Assignment operator and combined operators

Pre / post - increment and decrement operators

Comparison operators

Logical operators

Base converting functions and bitwise operators

Operator precedence

CHAPTER 4: PHP Arrays, array constructor, array types in PHP

Numeric indexed arrays, runtime array size change

Associative arrays and string arrays

Character strings as 1D array

Mixed arrays

Multi-dimensional arrays, hash table

Array elements can be sorted

Internal pointer and some useful functions

CHAPTER 5: If we need conditional statements or loops

If statement (if-elseif-else) and switch-case statement

The while and do-while loops

The for and foreach loops

The break, continue and goto keywords

Filtering mask with binary operators

CHAPTER 6: PHP functions

Argument passing by value and using default values

Variable argument list

Argument passing by reference

Returning an array or modifying values by reference

Locals vs. globals

Variable scope in PHP vs. JavaScript

Math functions

Searching and sorting

Quick binary search

PHP runtime-created functions

Date and time

CHAPTER 7: Introduction to OOP

Properties

Creating an object (a class new instance)

Constructor

Destructor

Included and required file(s)

CHAPTER 8: Programming practice

Static methods

Declaring constants within classes

Magic constants

Static properties in use

Recommended OOP practice and The Gold Rule

BC Math functions vs. PHP operators

CHAPTER 9: Object-oriented programming

Inheritance – first glance

Overriding class members

Final keyword and instanceof operator

Access levels before and after inheritance

Generating HTML page using PHP functions

Generating the same HTML page using classes and methods

A few words about PHP scope

Interfaces, abstract classes and traits

Abstract data types (ADT) and the abstract keyword

Traits

CHAPTER 10: Data input in PHP

How HTML forms work

Variables and superglobal PHP arrays

Processing forms in PHP

Simple form example and a little more about form processing

Intermixing HTML and PHP

Using PHP interpreter online and JavaScript codes

PHP intermixing with JavaScript, how it works

Information Feedback: Client-Server-Client-Server dialogue

The precise Real Time Clock in PHP

CHAPTER 11: PHP interaction with operating system and file system

PHP interaction with operating systems being system-dependent

Pointer to an external process

Basic file-related functions

More about opening a file by fopen() function

SPLFileObject, SPLFileInfo objects

Directory – related functions

STDIN and STDOUT streams and piping

A simple way to place an image in PHP

How to create graphs and function plots in PHP

CHAPTER 12: Effective programming in PHP

Algorithm complexity and recursive functions

Fibonacci sequence and factorials

Programming errors

Type setting and casting to avoid some errors

CHAPTER 13: Using local storage in JavaScript and with PHP

Counting views in JavaScript on the client side

Single file PHP calculator

PHP Cookies

Creating Cookies in PHP

$_COOKIE[] array and $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS[] array

Deleting cookies

Checking a cookie value in JavaScript

Sessions

CHAPTER 14: Advanced object oriented programming

Using __set() and __get() methods

Property and function overloading

More about lambda functions and closures

Namespaces

Namespace aliases

CHAPTER 15: Data validation and error handling

Listing form variables

Error handling

Switching form On/Off using a single flag (the simplest validation)

Data validation on the client side (JavaScript)

Validation on the server side using PHP

The NaN and Infinity errors

Exception handling

CHAPTER 16: XML, TCP/IP and Real Time data processing

SimpleXML in PHP

XML processing in PHP

The DOM and SimpleXML examples

TCP/IP

How to evaluate real speed of our Client-Server feedback loop

Function call time measuring

Random numbers and a simple PHP game

CHAPTER 17: Simple examples

Shared operating memory in PHP

Login and password – why data encryption is needed

A few words about data encryption in PHP

APPENDIX

Polymorphism example

Converting relative path to absolute path

How to get visitor’s IP?

File uploading from user’s disk

Setting timeout on the client side and on the server side

Regular expressions – what it is and what for?

Creating and showing an image gallery

Drawing boxes by intermixing PHP, HTML and CSS

Drawing y = cos( x ) graph in PHP

Unicode in PHP

Simple geo-location based on IP

Some useful links

An ERROR in PHP5 discovered

Backward incompatibilities of PHP 5.5.x

A simple HEREDOC example (drawing rotation clockwise)

Besides of numerous PHP examples this e-book contains also some simple JavaScript code snippets to show how to perform data processing on the client side by JavaScript and on the server side by PHP. I have compared hereby some popular programming techniques being frequently used and providing complementary solutions. Because this e-book and these examples were written by and for programmers, PHP comes here with an extensive set of features and functions. PHP is one of the world’s most popular programming languages for web programming. If you work in the cloud, you can create, test and deploy your PHP projects from your browser using cloud IDEs.

CHAPTER 1: Introduction to the e-book edition

PHP is like C and C++, but interpreted (not compiled) server-side universal programming language (named also the server scripting language) used for dynamic websites and interactive web applications. PHP codes as input produce HTML as output. The PHP script is executed on the server, and the plain HTML result is sent back to the browser. Users do not need to install any additional software to be able to view PHP generated web pages. All being required is that the web server has PHP installed in order to interpret PHP scripts.

What is a PHP File?

* PHP files can contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP code.

* PHP codes are executed on the server, and the result is returned to the browser as plain HTML.

* PHP files have extension *.php (* = file name, php = reserved extension).

* So named pure PHP files contain PHP codes only (without HTML, JavaScript, CSS).

In contrast with static HTML sites, PHP sites are dynamically generated. Instead of the site containing a large number of static HTML files, a PHP-based site may consist of only a few template files (even Single PHP pages are in use). With PHP we are not limited to output HTML. We can output images, PDF files and Flash movies or any text, such as XHTML or XML. Even all HTML code can be dynamically generated by pure PHP files.

The simplest way to think of PHP is as it would be an interpreted C++ that you can embed in HTML pages. PHP itself is written entirely in C. The language itself is a lot like C and C++, except a lot of Web-specific built in functions. The syntax of statements and functions should be familiar for C/C++ programmers, except that variable names are always preceded by $ sign. At the beginning I would like to list some important similarities and differences between PHP nad C/C++.

Similarities and differences: PHP vs. C/C++

Similarities:

* Syntax: basic (excluding OOP) PHP syntax is the same as in C: Code is blank insensitive (i.e. additional spaces and additional Enters do not change code interpretation in any way), statements are terminated with semicolons, and function calls have the same structure.

* Operators: The assignment operators (=, +=, *=, and so on), the Boolean operators (&&, ||, !), the comparison operators (<,>, <=, >=, ==, !=), and the basic arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /, %) all behave in PHP as they do in C/C++.

* Control statements: The control statements (if, switch, while, for) behave as they do in C/C++, including goto, break and continue, but switch-case in PHP can accept strings as case labels.

The key differences:

* All variables are denoted with a leading $ sign. Variables do not need to be declared in advance of assignment, and they have no intrinsic type.

* PHP has only two numerical types: integer (corresponding to a long in C++) and float (corresponding not to float, but to a double in C++). There is no separate short nor char type for short integers in PHP.

* Instead, variables and values are automatically converted across types as needed based on context.

* Arrays have syntax similar to C++, but they are implemented differently. They are associative arrays or hashes, and array index can be either a number or a string.

* There are no pointers available in PHP, but PHP does support references.

* PHP is more forgiving than C++, especially about data types.

* PHP does not use struct (-ures) / records nor union (-s), but data records / structures can be indirectly implemented using parallel arrays, multidimensional mixed arrays or directly using classes.

I hope this e-book could be helpful and useful in practice for many users creating own web pages and beginning programming in PHP. See CHAPTER 2: Running PHP from the command line (CLI) to know how to get additional help about PHP syntax and PHP native functions.

What and how can PHP do for us?

PHP is universal programming language so it is the Functionally Complete System like C++ or C#. In each Functionally Complete System we can implement all tasks and all algorithms which belong to certain category. But we know that sometimes it is easier and sometimes it could be more difficult and complicated. Take it easy. PHP is a convenient and effective programming tool. That is why PHP is so popular and so commonly used. Using ready to use native built-in functions in PHP you can easy implement the following.

* PHP runs on various platforms (Unix, Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, so on)

* PHP is compatible with almost all servers available (IIS, Apache, so on)

* PHP supports a wide range of databases

* PHP can create, open, read, write, and close files on the server

* PHP can send and receive cookies

* PHP can collect form data and add, delete, modify data in our database

* PHP can restrict users to access some pages on your website

* PHP can encrypt data

* PHP can compress and decompress data

* PHP comes with an extension called SimpleXML to share data and to format data into structures

* Associative and mixed multidimensional arrays allow implementing easy data records, data structures and database queries.

* Another way to implement data structures / data records in PHP is using classes or parallel arrays.

PHP was originally developed in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf to replace a set of Perl scripts He had been using to maintain his web site. The acronym originally stood for Personal Home Page, but when he released a version to the public the following year it was recursively re-titled PHP: Hypertext Processor. Today PHP comes with numerous extension libraries available through the PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository) add-on. But even without these extensions, PHP comes supplied with hundreds of ready-made functions, more than in most other programming languages, making it a rich and convenient development platform.

Since 1995 PHP has evolved from a simple scripting language to a fully featured web programming language. The official implementation is now released by The PHP Group, with PHP 5.5.6 being the most recent version (released: 14 Nov 2013). The language is open source, allowing developers to extend it for their own use. PHP is the most popular server-side programming language used today. One of the reasons (and the most important one) is its platform independence. PHP has simple-to-use syntax based on C and Perl, which is easy to learn for a newcomer and for C/C++ programmers.

PHP is developed as a project of the Apache Software Foundation - thus, it works best with Apache. PHP also works properly with Microsoft IIS / PWS, iPlanet, and others.

When creating websites using PHP a Content Management System (CMS) is generally considered and used (see also: APPENDIX). A CMS tool provides a fully integrated platform for website development consisting of a backend and a frontend.

* The frontend is what visitors see when they arrive to the site,

* The backend is where the site may be configured, updated and managed by an administrator.

The most popular examples of free PHP-based CMS tools include WordPress, Joomla, ModX and Drupal.

What for? To get visitor IP, for example

Many www programmers want to know first who their visitor is. It is simple to get the visitor's IP in PHP, just using the $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] variable.

print 'Your IP is: '. $ip; ?>

If the code above returns the IP of the server, there is also another way. This function returns the visitor IP (even if the $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] contains the server IP) because it gets the IP from $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'].

if (array_key_exists('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR', $_SERVER))

{ $x = array_pop(explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'])); }

return ($x); } $myVar = get_IP(); print $myVar; ?>

This is a short and simple (but a little exciting) example of PHP power. I would like to show you at the beginning that PHP really can be interesting and useful in practice for many of us (see also geo-locaton example in Appendix). The visitor’s IP can be sent to you using HTML mailto or PHP mail() function like this:

$Name = Sender's name from a form; //senders name

$email = example@email.com; //his / her e-mail

$recipient = your@mail.eu; //recipient: You

$mail_body = The text for the mail...; //mail body

$subject = Subject for review; //subject

$header = From: . $Name . < . $email . >\r\n; //optional header

$msg = (int) mail($recipient, $subject, $mail_body, $header); // PHP mailto command :)

if($msg = 0) { echo ERROR; } else { echo OK;}

// mail() returns true if the mail is accepted to send, else - false

?>

Inside our pages we can also of course use classic HTML-based methods to send data selected by users. For example:

action=mailto: adam_majczak@mydomain.eu>

rating size=1>

5>1 - User selection on your page to email you

4>2 - User selection on your page to email you

3>3 - User selection on your page to email you

submit value=Mail it to me.>

(More details – see: examples in Appendix).

What do I need for beginning?

To start using PHP, you should:

* Find a web host with PHP support

* Install a web server on your own PC, and then install PHP

* or choose the most convenient for you cloud-based online IDE for PHP

(I have used IDEONE.COM and WWW.COMPILR.COM running and testing examples used in this book, but it is up to you, in accordance with your preferences. See also: Appendix: Some useful links.)

How to use a web host with PHP support?

If your server has activated PHP, just create php files, place them in your web directory, and the server will automatically parse them. Else, set up PHP on your own PC. If your server does not support PHP, you should:

* Install a web server

* Install PHP

* Install a database, such as MySQL

The official PHP website (PHP.net) has installation instructions. A number of WAMP, MAMP, LAMP, XAMP (Windows/Mac/Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) and similar packages have sprung up.