PHP & MySQL: Novice to Ninja

PHP & MySQL: Novice to Ninja, 7th Edition
Notice of Rights
Notice of Liability
Trademark Notice
About Tom Butler
About SitePoint
Table of Contents
Preface
Who Should Read This Book
Programming Has Changed
It Takes 10,000 Hours to Become an Expert
Resist the Temptation to Skip Ahead
The Concorde Fallacy
You’re Not Learning PHP
Getting Braces and Semicolons in the Right Place Is the Easy Part
You Won’t Get Anything Done by Planning
Okay, Design Isn’t All Bad
Where to Find Help
The SitePoint Forums
The Code Archive
Your Feedback
Let’s Go
Code Samples
Tips, Notes, and Warnings
Hey, You!
Ahem, Excuse Me ...
Make Sure You Always ...
Watch Out!
Installation
Your Own Web Server
Server Setup 1: Manually Installing All the Software Components
Server Setup 2: Pre-packaged Installations
Server Setup 3: Virtual Servers
Server Setup 4: Docker
Getting Started
Installation on Windows
Windows 11 Caveat
Installation on macOS
Installation on Linux
Getting Started with Docker
GitHub and Repositories
Using Git
Apache and NGINX
Compose Yourself
Ups and Downs
Connecting to the Server and Creating Your First File
Folder Levels
Text Editors
We’re All Set Up
Introducing PHP
JavaScript on the Server
Basic Syntax and Statements
Code Editors and Syntax Highlighting
Variables, Operators, and Comments
Variables
Operators
Comments
Control Structures
If Statements
Assignment and Equality
A Lucky Escape
and and or
Loops
For Loops
For Loop Challenges
While Loops
Coding Style
Arrays
The array Keyword versus Square Brackets
Escaping the Apostrophe
User Interaction and Forms
JavaScript and Interactivity
Passing Variables in Links
Converting Code to Escape Sequences
Character Encoding
PHP Constants
Passing Variables in Forms
Styling with CSS
GET or POST?
Hiding the Seams
PHP Templates
Parentheses with Includes
Security Concerns
Many Templates, One Controller
Directory Index
Sessions
Bring On the Database
Introducing MySQL
An Introduction to Databases
Combining Columns as a Unique Identifier
MySQL
MySQL and MariaDB
Using MySQL Workbench to Run SQL Queries
Up versus Start
Case Sensitivity
Creating a Database
Structured Query Language
Dive Deeper into SQL
Case Sensitivity and Convention
Creating a Table
Adding Data
Displaying the Bottom Panel on Low-res Screens
A Word of Warning
Where’s the Darned Backtick Key?
Viewing Stored Data
Using * Instead
Modifying Stored Data
WHERE is Optional
Deleting Stored Data
Again, WHERE is Optional
Let PHP Do the Typing
Publishing MySQL Data on the Web
MySQL and MariaDB
The Big Picture
Creating a MySQL User Account
Connecting to MySQL with PHP
Turning Off Exception Throwing
Uncaught Exceptions
The $e Variable
Schemas
A Crash Course in Object-oriented Programming
Configuring the Connection
Other Ways to Set the Charset
What Happens after the Script Has Finished?
Sending SQL Queries with PHP
Handling SELECT Result Sets
Using foreach
Using the Shorthand
Thinking Ahead
Only Connect to the Database Where Necessary
Inserting Data into the Database
Magic Quotes
Prepared Statements
Deleting Data from the Database
Using a foreach Loop Instead
Why Aren’t the Form and Input Tags Outside the Blockquote?
Prepared Statements Necessary?
Don’t Use Hyperlinks to Perform Actions
Mission Accomplished
Relational Database Design
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
Recreating a Database from Scratch
If You’ve Logged Out or Rebooted
Rule of Thumb: Keep Entities Separate
Both Kinds of INSERT
SELECT with Multiple Tables
Simple Relationships
Many-to-many Relationships
INNER and OUTER Joins
One for Many, and Many for One
Structured PHP Programming
Include Files
Including HTML Content
The .html.php Extension
Including PHP Code
Naming Files
Types of Includes
include vs require
Custom Functions and Function Libraries
Variable Scope
Be Careful Where You Place Your Files
Why Global Variables Are Bad
Breaking Up Your Code into Reusable Functions
Using Functions to Replace Queries
Updating Jokes
Editing Jokes on the Website
Delete Function
Select Function
The Best Way
Improving the Insert and Update Functions
Improving the Update Function
The .= Operator
Writing Functions
Improving the Insert Function
Handling Dates
Avoid Copy/pasting
Displaying the Joke Date
Making Your Own Tools
Generic Functions
Using These Functions
The N+1 Problem
Repeated Code Is the Enemy
Creating a Page for Adding and Editing
Performance Overheads
Further Polishing
Moving Forward
Objects and Classes
Time for Class
Naming Your Class Files
Methods vs Functions
Public vs Private
Protected
Creating Subclasses through Inheritance
Objects
Class Variables
Constructors
Magic Methods
Placing Your Constructor Methods
Type Hinting
Private Variables
Constructor Property Promotion
Using the DatabaseTable Class
Omitting the Closing PHP Tag from Your Files
Updating the Controller to Use the Class
DRY
Creating a Controller Class
Single Entry Point
Keeping it DRY
Template Variables
Only Use extract on Data You Control
Be Careful with extract
Summary
Creating an Extensible Framework
Search Engine Optimization
Configuration: PHP vs Server
HTTP Response Codes
Thinking Ahead: User Registration
1. Include the Relevant Controller
2. Create an Instance of the Controller
Dependencies
What Not to Do
3. Call the Action on the Correct Controller
Done
URL Rewriting
Configuring NGINX and Apache
Tidying Up
Make it OOP
Reusing Code on Different Websites
Generic or Project-specific?
Making EntryPoint Generic
Autoloading
Case Sensitivity
Implement an Autoloader
Redecorating
Namespaces
Autoloading with PSR-4
Composer
And the REST
REST Methods
Non-web Applications
Enforcing Dependency Structure with Interfaces
Error Handling
Your Own Framework
Allowing Users to Register Accounts
Using empty()
Validating Email Addresses
Preventing the Same Person from Registering Twice
Securely Storing Passwords
The Importance of Unique Passwords
Registration Complete
Chapter Summary
Cookies, Sessions, and Access Control
Cookies
Square Brackets
UNIX Timestamps
Using Correct Names
PHP Sessions
Sessions with GET Variables Instead of Cookies
Creating the $_SESSION Variable
Counting Visits with Sessions
Access Control
Logging In
Hashing
Protected Pages
Creating a Login Form
Use POST for Logging In
Failed Login Messages
Logging Out
Assigning Added Jokes to the Logged-in User
User Permissions
Mission Accomplished?
The Sky’s the Limit
Relationships
Object Relational Mappers
Arrays Containing Functions
Public Properties
Methods in Entity Classes
Using Entity Classes from the DatabaseTable Class
Joke Objects
Using the Joke Class
References
Simplifying the List Controller Action
Tidying Up
Caching
Joke Categories
Processing Power vs Memory
List Page
Assigning Jokes to Categories
Aesthetic Choices
Converting Arrays to Objects
Assigning Categories to Jokes
Displaying Jokes by Category
Editing Jokes
User Roles
Constant Conventions
Creating a Form to Assign Permissions
Author List
Edit Author Permissions
Reflection
A Challenge
Setting Permissions
Storing Permissions in the Database
A Crash Course in Binary
Be Bit-wise
Bitwise Permissions
Back to PHP
Storing Bitwise Permissions in the Database
Join Table and Bitwise Approaches: Pros and Cons
Cleaning Up
Editing Other People’s Jokes
Phew!
Content Formatting and Pagination
Regular Expressions
Escaping Delimiters
Use of Single Quotes
String Replacement with Regular Expressions
Emphasized Text
Not Quite Markdown
and vs and
Double Quotes and Dollar Signs in Regular Expressions
The s Pattern Modifier
Paragraphs
Line Breaks and Software
Avoid Using Double-quoted Strings with Regular Expressions
Hyperlinks
Linking in Markdown
Putting It All Together
Why Using Markdown is Cool
Sorting, Limiting and Offsets
Sorting
Pagination with LIMIT and OFFSET
What If I Don’t Know any Jokes?
Pagination in Categories
Achievement Unlocked: Ninja
What Next?