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Proposal
Oxford ArchDigital Ltd. (OAD) proposes to give a practical,
'hands-on' workshop at CAA02 on programming dynamic web pages
in PHP and accessing data in a MySQL database. OAD provides
courses in PHP and MySQL to archaeological students and professionals
at its offices in Oxford.
We
have provided here an outline of our regular course - this
will be trimmed as time allows, ideally as a one-day session
at the minimum.
Demand
Although
first created to display static text, the web has since become
the premiere medium for the dissemination of database content.
Great numbers of these dynamic or database-driven websites
are appearing thanks in part to the advent of a easy and free
scripting language called PHP, frequently used in hand with
an extremely powerful database called MySQL. Together, these
two open source solutions allow those with limited programming
experience to create extremely sophisticated and powerful
dynamic websites that allow users to query, edit, add and
delete information over the web. This course provides an introduction
to the PHP programming language, a brief introduction to using
MySQL databases, and general advise on the design and development
of secure and efficient data-driven web applications.
Course
Objectives
The
course aims to provide a practical introduction to the PHP
programming language - a popular and powerful scripting language
used to create dynamic (database driven) web pages. Using
archaeological datasets, the course will focus on the elements
of the language used to connect and retrieve information from
an online database, and display that information in formatted
HTML for delivery over the web. Following the instructor's
examples, students will be asked to write code that performs
specific functions, such as working through arrays, printing
formatted HTML text, or retrieving a record sets from a database.
As the course progresses, the student will combine these functions
to create a fully-functional web site that interacts with
the contents of a MySQL database, allowing users to search,
add, edit and delete records. Students will be able take the
code they write during the course with them on a floppy disk,
providing them with ready-to-use tools for future application
development. Note that although the course will be working
with MySQL, it does not provide instruction in the administration
of MySQL databases.
Target
Audience
The
course is intended for those with some programming experience,
but not necessarily in PHP. Prospective students should be
comfortable in a programming environment, be familiar with
arrays, if/then statements, variables, and functions. The
student must have a working knowledge of HTML, especially
HTML forms, and would benefit from a familiarity with SQL,
although this is not essential.
Content
This
course will cover:
· What are dynamic web pages, and when to use them
· Introduction to PHP and web scripting languages
· How PHP, MySQL and the webserver work together
· Working with PHP variables and arrays
· Online help and development resources
· Using environment variables
· HTML Forms and getting data from the client
· Decision making (if/then/else, switch statements)
· Validating data from the client
· Mathematical operators
· Debugging: handling and avoiding errors
· Working with loops and arrays
· Working with Date and Time
· Defining and calling custom functions
· Documenting and organising your code
· Using cookies and sessions
· Security
· Attaching to a MySQL database
· Querying a database with SQL
· Displaying the results of a query in HTML
· Creating Advanced SQL
· Working with passwords
· Introduction to object-oriented coding: classes,
properties and instances
· Create your own website: input, delete and edit database
records
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