There are many reasons for serving up dynamic content from a web site: to offer an online shopping site, create customized information pages for users, or just manage a large volume of content through a database. Anyone with a modest knowledge of HTML and web site management can learn to create dynamic content through the PHP programming language and the MySQL database. This book gives you the background and tools to do the job safely and reliably. Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL, Second Edition thoroughly reflects the needs of real-world applications. It goes into detail on such practical issues as validating input (do you know what a proper credit card number looks like?), logging in users, and using templates to give your dynamic web pages a standard look. But this book goes even further. It shows how JavaScript and PHP can be used in tandem to make a user's experience faster and more pleasant. It shows the correct way to handle errors in user input so that a site looks professional. It introduces the vast collection of powerful tools available in the PEAR repository and shows how to use some of the most popular tools. Even while it serves as an introduction to new programmers, the book does not omit critical tasks that web sites require. For instance, every site that allows updates must handle the possibility of multiple users accessing data at the same time. This book explains how to solve the problem in detail with locking. Through a sophisticated sample application--Hugh and Dave's Wine Store--all the important techniques of dynamic content are introduced. Good design is emphasized, such as dividing logic from presentation. The book introduces PHP 5 and MySQL 4.1 features, while providing techniques that can be used on older versions of the software that are still in widespread use. This new edition has been redesigned around the rich offerings of PEAR. Several of these, including the Template package and the database-independent query API, are fully integrated into examples and thoroughly described in the text. Topics include:

• Installation and configuration of Apache, MySQL, and PHP on Unix®, Windows®, and Mac OS® X systems

• Introductions to PHP, SQL, and MySQL administration

• Session management, including the use of a custom database for improved efficiency

• User input validation, security, and authentication

• The PEAR repository, plus details on the use of PEAR DB and Template classes

• Production of PDF reports

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 59 Ratings

Errata Galore - 2008-09-09
Reviewer Rating:
New to PHP and haven't touched SQL in quite a few years. I was looking for a good beginning PHP book, not overly simplified as I have some programming experience. I needed to see how PHP and MySQL were to interact and how to set up everything on my machine (Mac). I've used MANY O'Reilly books and they're always topnotch, but this one is so disappointing to me as I find it is riddled with errors and typos. It is one thing to see typos in text and another thing altogether to have to figure out what a mistake in a code example is supposed to say. I expected more, especially since it's a 2nd edition. If it wasn't for all the forums on the web, I never even would have gotten Apache/PHP/MySQL up and running. This book isn't useless. Just not good.

Somewhat Sluggish - 2010-02-02
Reviewer Rating:
Here is, in my opinion, the way this book should be used.

First, learn very basic PHP from [...]

Make a few sample pages for yourself using as many techniques on the site as you can. After that, make your way to the book. Up until page 134, it's just dry syntax. You can learn dry syntax much faster from the website I listed. You'll be able to skim across the first 134 pages with your knowledge, and since it will look somewhat familiar, you won't get bored out of your mind.

When you start actually getting in to mysql implementation, you can start reading the page over.

I highly suggest that you read along and make your own project that you will find interesting instead of the project provided. I'm using this book to make an inventory application for a pretend game store website, and it's keeping me much more interested than when I was making the winestore example.

Some of the functions don't work, such as the selectDistinct, but I didn't find that too annoying. The book uses some outdated techniques such as ereg for regular expressions, but that's because the book itself is slightly outdated.

Don't try to read the book cover to cover and then try to go apply what you learned. You'll just end up having to read the book again. Digest the book in chunks and actually CREATE something with it!

One final word: Do NOT attempt to install Apache, PHP, and MySQL using the book. I lost so many hours that way. Just look up some forum posts on how to do it manually using the zip files as opposed to the MSI installer.

Outdated - 2009-12-26
Reviewer Rating:
This book is outdated. Get a newer version for a better understanding of PHP 5. Besides being outdated, the book is written very well. It's set up as a tutorial on how to build an e-commerce site with PHP and MySQL. Along the way the authors teach you valuable lessons about PHP, MySQL, Database design, and application design. If there's a newer version of this book then I would recommend getting that one.

A straight-forward made-easy presentation - 2009-06-29
Reviewer Rating:
This has been my first ever book purchase through Amazon. I was quite fortunate to select this book. Clear cut presentations, abundance of samples and professional reasoning.
I fully recommend this book, both to novice users and IT professionals!

Great book - 2009-02-27
Reviewer Rating:
I think this is one of the best buys you can do, the book is clear, useful and with a just price, 100% recommendable.

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