Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8 [Paperback]

Want to add the power of a database to your websites? Build online forms that send feedback straight to your inbox? Incorporate live news feeds and XML data into your web pages? This book shows you how to do all that and more.

Dreamweaver 8 takes a lot of the hard work out of integrating a database into your websites, but it can’t do everything. So instead of just giving you a series of instructions to click this and click that, this book helps you understand whats going on in the background. As a result, you’re more likely to remember and to get it right.

Most books on PHP concentrate on code and throw all design considerations out the window. This one is different. It makes use of Dreamweaver 8's vastly improved CSS rendering, and shows you how to build a site thats smart in both senses of the word. It looks good and is intelligent too. You’ll learn how to change the entire look of the site, using PHP to serve up different stylesheets each month. You’ll also build a contact form protected against email injection attacks. All of Dreamweaver's PHP server behaviors are put through their paces, and you’ll even make some custom server behaviors that will come in useful on any site you create.

Two chapters take you through the setup process with step-by-step instructions for both Windows and Mac OS X, helping you make the right choices: Apache or IIS? Remote or local testing? There are even instructions on how to set up virtual hosts on your own computer. And in the unlikely event that things go wrong, there’s plenty of troubleshooting advice too.

In this book, we look specifically at using Dreamweaver’s built-in server behaviors to build dynamic web sites using PHP and MySQL, the world’s most popular open source server-side language and database server combination, which are both reliable, powerful, and open source (and therefore free to use). This version of Dreamweaver includes more powerful support for PHP and MySQL than ever before, and we’ll show you how to make this work for you. No previous experience of PHP or MySQL is necessary to use this book.

Examples built throughout the book include a content management system, and an online image gallery. All examples are designed to meet modern usability requirements and be web standards-compliant.

I’ve based the book round a case study that puts all of Dreamweaver’s PHP server behaviors through their paces, and uses techniques that can be applied to a wide range of sites, whether you’re designing for yourself or on behalf of clients. I also equip you with sufficient knowledge of basic PHP to have the confidence to dive into the code generated by Dreamweaver and tweak it to your own requirements. The emphasis is exclusively on PHP, so you don’t waste any time on information that’s not relevant to what you’re doing.

The final chapter takes an in-depth look at the exciting new addition to Dreamweaver 8’s server behaviors, XSL Transformation, which makes light work of incorporating a live news feed and other XML documents into your websites. I’ve had fun writing it. I hope you have fun using it.