Elven PHP

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Overview

In this Document

PHP is a scripting language used primarily on the web. Unlike JavaScript, PHP always runs on the server. The browser never sees your PHP script. Instead, the web server passes PHP files to the PHP compiler, and it produces HTML or XML that the web server passes over the Internet to your browser. The web server knows to pass a file to the PHP compiler when that file has the extension PHP. Therefore all PHP files have names like MyFile.php. These files are usually a combination of normal HTML, with PHP script embedded inside them. Here is a simple example:

<html>
<head>
<title>Sample PHP File</title>
</head>
<body>

<?php
Print "This is PHP script";
?>

</body>
</html>

 Click here to run this script: Simplest.php 

Installing PHP on Windows

Download PHP. There is an automated install.

If you want to do it by hand, then download the zip file rather than the automated msi. On the FAQ page click Installation and go to theInstallation and Configuration page and from there to the Manual Installation page. They explain that you should unzip your download file into a directory, typically off your root: j:\php. Copy php.ini-production to php.ini and open it in an editor. There are a set of required directives that you need to configure. Just go through them patiently, one at a time. It is not so bad. Next, go through the steps to get PHP working in IIS.

Linux: Setting up PHP for User Directories

Unlike Python files, you do not need to put PHP files in a specific directory, such as[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}cgi-bin. If you want to run a PHP file out of /var/www, you need only copy the file to that location, and supply a link to it. Unfortunately, things are not quite so simple when working out of user directories such as a /home/$USER/public_html directory.

[ To get started setting up user directories, place your PHP file in the[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}public_html[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}directory or one of its subdirectories. Create a link to it so the user can find the page. So much for the preliminaries.]{}

[ In addition, we have to turn on support for PHP in user directories. This is necessary because PHP is a programming language, and can be dangerous in the wrong hands. In other words, you don't want just any user on a machine to run PHP files. In some cases, however, we are the only user on the system, so we can safely turn on PHP support for everyone who logs on to the system. ]{}

To turn on PHP support for user directories, go into[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}/etc/apache2/mods-enabled[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}and find[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}php5.conf. Comment out the lines that turn off the PHP engine by putting a # sign in front of them. In particular, you will need to comment out five lines of code, as shown here in bold:

# To re-enable php in user directories comment the following lines
# (from <IfModule ...> to </IfModule>.) Do NOT set it to On as it
# prevents .htaccess files from disabling it.
# <IfModule mod_userdir.c>
# <Directory /home/*/public_html>
#   php_admin_value engine Off
#   </Directory>
# </IfModule>

If you want to turn off support for a particular user, you can supply their name rather than the wild card (*). After you comment out these lines, then you will be able to run PHP scripts from your[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}public_html[ ]{.Apple-converted-space}directory. 

First Moves

After installing PHP, you can go to the Getting Started page to learn a few simple facts about how to work with a PHP script. Also look at the PHP Database page.

PHP In Action

Click here to run a PHP Script

The following script should also run correctly on the Elvenware site: Presidents01.php.

PhpMyAdmin

You will probably find it helpful to install PhpMyAdmin, as it can help you create databases, create tables, create users, grant permissions, query tables, and even edit tables.

The simplest way to install the product is on Linux with apt-get:

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

The manual install for this product is perhaps a bit convoluted, but most of it will go okay if you have a bit of luck or gain some experience. You need to download the files from their site at http://phpmyadmin.net, then unzip the file and copy its contents to your web server. You can then follow the Quick Install instructions from their wikie site:

http://wiki.phpmyadmin.net/pma/Quick_Install

The essence of it is to create a folder called config in the phpMyAdmin directory. (On Linux, chmod o+rw config) Then copy the sample config.inc.php file from the phpMyAmdin folder into that directory. (On Linux, chmod o+w config.inc.php.) Now use your browser to browse to that location, which might look something like this:

http://localhost/myphpadmin/config

Spend some time setting up a few features in the nice tools you find on this page in your browser. When you are done, save your work, download the new config.inc.php file using the supplied tools and save it in the phpMyAdmin folder. Finally, delete your config folder. Then browse to your myphpadmin folder:

http://localhost/myphpadmin

You might have two problems. One looks like this:

The mcrypt extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.

You may see a red error about mcrypt. If you are on Windows and have PHP 5.2 or later, you will find a file called php_mcrypt.dll in the ext folder where php is installed. Go up one folder closer to the root, where is the base PHP folder, and you will find php.ini. Near the very bottom of the file, you will find the ExtensionList. Add this line to the extensions already listed:

extension=php_mcrypt.dll

You may also get an error about various extensions not working. To fix that, open the config.inc.php file and make sure these lines are included:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma_bookmark';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma_relation';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig'] = 'pma_userconfig';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma_table_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma_column_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma_history';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma_tracking';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma_table_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma_pdf_pages';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = 'pma_designer_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = 'password';

You also have a user called pma who has full permissions on a database called phpmyadmin that has the tables listed above in it. Go to the scripts directory in phpmyadmin to find a SQL script that will create all these tables for you. Use the scripts on this page to create the user and grant them permissions:

http://wiki.phpmyadmin.net/pma/control_user

For instance:

GRANT USAGE ON mysql.* TO 'pma'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pmapass';
GRANT SELECT (
    Host, User, Select_priv, Insert_priv, Update_priv, Delete_priv,
    Create_priv, Drop_priv, Reload_priv, Shutdown_priv, Process_priv,
    File_priv, Grant_priv, References_priv, Index_priv, Alter_priv,
    Show_db_priv, Super_priv, Create_tmp_table_priv, Lock_tables_priv,
    Execute_priv, Repl_slave_priv, Repl_client_priv
    ) ON mysql.user TO 'pma'@'localhost';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.db TO 'pma'@'localhost';
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.host TO 'pma'@'localhost';
GRANT SELECT (Host, Db, User, Table_name, Table_priv, Column_priv)
    ON mysql.tables_priv TO 'pma'@'localhost';

Also do this:

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON phpmyadmin.* TO 'pma'@'localhost';

Be sure to edit the config.inc.php page and set up the controluser name and password. Once you have done everthing, exit your browser and then reload it and go back to the phpmyadmin page.