Codin' for the web: a designer's guide to developing dynamic web sites

CONTENTS......Page 7
INTRODUCTION......Page 15
CHAPTER 1 : CODING PRINCIPLES......Page 21
How PHP Works......Page 23
Variables......Page 25
Naming Variables......Page 26
Using print and echo......Page 27
Numeric Variables......Page 29
Math Operators......Page 31
Increment and Decrement Operators......Page 32
Operator Precedence and Parentheses......Page 34
Strings......Page 35
Indexed Arrays......Page 39
Associative Arrays......Page 41
Functions......Page 42
Writing a Function......Page 43
Code Structures......Page 45
The if-then-else Structure......Page 46
PHP\'s Simple if-then-else Structure......Page 48
The else-if Structure......Page 50
Converting Part of a Script to a Function......Page 51
The for Loop: The Iterator......Page 53
The foreach Loop......Page 56
Objects......Page 59
Summary......Page 61
CHAPTER 2 : PROCESSING FORMS......Page 63
About User-Supplied Data and the Need for Validation......Page 65
Check for Patterns in the Data......Page 67
Creating the XHTML for a Form......Page 69
Creating a Self-Requesting Page......Page 71
Using the $_POST Super-Global Array......Page 74
Sending E-mail to Yourself with PHP......Page 76
Creating Sticky Stay-Filled Forms......Page 78
Combating Magic Quotes......Page 80
Validating Your Forms......Page 82
Checking for Empty Fields......Page 83
Building an Error Message Array......Page 84
Creating an XHTML List of the Error Messages......Page 85
Checking for Specific Characters......Page 90
Validating with Regular Expressions......Page 91
Using Some Simple Regular Expressions......Page 92
Using include to Add the Regular Expressions......Page 94
Working with Flat Files......Page 99
Choosing the Read/Write Mode......Page 100
Storing Flat Files above the Root Folder......Page 101
Writing to a File......Page 102
Creating a File: Code Example......Page 103
Importing a Tab-Delimited File into Excel......Page 105
Creating a Write-to-File Function......Page 107
Reading a File Line by Line......Page 109
Extracting Each Element of the Record......Page 110
Displaying the File in a Table......Page 111
Summary......Page 112
CHAPTER 3 : DATABASES......Page 113
Data Types and Lengths......Page 116
Creating the Database and Tables......Page 117
Creating a Database......Page 118
Creating a Table......Page 119
Opening a connection......Page 122
Using INSERT to Add Data to a Table......Page 124
INSERT: An Example......Page 125
Using SELECT to Read Data from the Database......Page 126
Matching with WHERE in SELECT Statements......Page 130
Using UPDATE to Modify Values in a Record......Page 131
Using DELETE to Remove a Record from a Table......Page 132
Summary......Page 133
CHAPTER 4 : CONTENT MANAGEMENT......Page 135
Public Pages and Administration Pages: Overview......Page 137
Creating the Database Tables......Page 140
Creating the Listings Table......Page 141
Creating the Categories Table......Page 142
Creating the Edit Links Form......Page 143
Setting up the Database Connection......Page 146
Displaying the Categories in the Topic Category Drop-Down Menu......Page 147
Adding Content to the Database Using the Edit Links Form......Page 149
Displaying the Listings Records from the Database......Page 151
Writing the Listings Records in a Table......Page 153
Writing a SQL JOIN Query......Page 156
Adding the Category Headings to the Table......Page 158
Adding Modify and Delete Links to Each Record......Page 160
Coding the Modify and Delete Links......Page 161
Coding the Delete Functionality......Page 162
Four Possible Edit Links Form Activities......Page 165
Retrieving One Record Using a SQL JOIN Query......Page 167
Displaying the Retrieved Data in the Edit Links Form Fields......Page 169
Making the Menu Sticky......Page 170
Updating a Record......Page 172
Sharing Variables between Queries......Page 173
Writing the UPDATE Query......Page 174
Redirecting When a Record Is Successfully Added......Page 176
Adding Finishing Touches to the Links Admin Form......Page 177
Adding CSS Styles to the Links Admin Page......Page 178
Truncating the Displayed URL Strings......Page 179
Adding the Success Messages......Page 182
Creating the Public Listings Page......Page 184
Summary......Page 188
CHAPTER 5 : COOKIES AND AUTHENTICATION......Page 189
Cookies and the Session State......Page 192
Maintaining the Session State......Page 193
Using Cookies......Page 194
Updating and Deleting Cookies......Page 195
Using Single-Session Cookies......Page 196
Setting a Cookie......Page 197
He\'s Baaaack!......Page 198
Using explode and implode to Convert between Arrays and Strings......Page 199
Authentication Basics......Page 201
Creating the Authentication System Architecture......Page 204
Adding Database Functions......Page 209
Creating the Sign-Up Page......Page 212
Creating the Members-Only Page......Page 217
Creating the Not-Signed-In Page......Page 219
Creating the Lost Password Page......Page 221
Creating the Sign-In Page......Page 224
Summary......Page 227
CHAPTER 6 : BUILDING A WEB SITE WITH PHP......Page 229
Using include Files to Build Pages......Page 231
Creating the XHTML include Files......Page 234
Creating the Navigation include Files......Page 235
Creating the Reference Links Folder......Page 237
Creating a Config File......Page 240
Setting Up the Database include Files......Page 242
Activating the Navigation Links......Page 245
Transferring the Admin Page Code to the Page Template......Page 246
Moving the CSS to the Style Sheet......Page 247
Building the Links Form Page......Page 250
Beware the Headers Already Sent Error Message......Page 254
Testing the Form......Page 255
Adding the Admin Link to the Navigation......Page 256
Setting Up the Admin include Files......Page 257
Adding the Member\'s Page......Page 262
Adding the Sign-in Page......Page 264
Securing the Admin Area......Page 267
Adding the No-Credentials Page......Page 268
Adding the Lost Password Page......Page 270
Adding a Downloads Page......Page 272
Improving the Navigation Bar......Page 274
Making a Background Image Clickable......Page 275
Creating Dynamic Navigation......Page 276
Setting Up the Site Navigation Structure......Page 277
Displaying the Contents of the Top-Level Folder......Page 278
Distinguishing between Folders and Files......Page 280
Filtering Out the Unix Folders......Page 281
Changing the Folder Names to Display Names......Page 285
Generating the Links......Page 288
Making the Page Titles Dynamic......Page 290
Adding Dynamic Page Title Code to the Page Top include File......Page 292
Reviewing Our Dynamic Site......Page 293
C......Page 356
D......Page 358
F......Page 359
L......Page 360
O......Page 361
Q–R......Page 362
T......Page 363
W......Page 364
X–Y–Z......Page 365
CHAPTER A : UNLEASHING THE GEEK WITHIN......Page 295
Form versus Function......Page 297
Use Cases......Page 298
Dynamic Web Sites......Page 300
Interface......Page 302
Middleware......Page 303
Interface Components......Page 304
Structure of the Interface: Hierarchical Page Structure......Page 306
Middleware......Page 308
The Concept of Templates......Page 310
The Concept of include Files......Page 312
Database......Page 314
Structure of a Database......Page 315
Structured Query Language: SQL......Page 318
Summary......Page 320
CHAPTER B : CODING THE INTERFACE......Page 322
Writing Code......Page 324
Using XHTML and CSS......Page 325
Writing Good XHTML......Page 326
Writing XHTML Tags......Page 327
Specifying Tag Attributes......Page 328
Rules for XHTML Markup......Page 329
Coding the Interface......Page 331
About Inline Elements......Page 333
Code Element Boxes......Page 334
Using div Tags to Give Content Structure......Page 336
Creating Navigation Elements......Page 340
Setting the Width of Elements......Page 342
Adding a Header......Page 347
Completing the Layout......Page 348
Moving the Styles to a Style Sheet......Page 353
Summary......Page 354