PHP Essentials

1. About this Book
2. The History of PHP
   • The Creation of PHP
   • PHP 3 Hits the Big Time
   • PHP 4 - Optimization, Scalabilty and More
   • PHP 5 - Object Orientation, Error Handling and XML
   • How Popular is PHP?
3. An Overview of PHP
   • What Exactly is PHP?
   • How Does PHP Work?
   • Why is PHP so Useful?
   • Summary
4. Creating a Simple PHP Script
   • The PHP Code Delimiters
   • Testing the PHP Installation
   • Emdedding PHP into an HTML File
   • Embedding HTML into a PHP Script
   • Summary
5. Commenting PHP Code
   • PHP Single Line Comments
   • PHP Multi-line Comments
   • Summary
6. An Introduction to PHP Variables
   • Naming and Creating a Variable in PHP
   • Assigning a Value to a PHP Variable
   • Accessing PHP Variable Values
   • Changing the Type of a PHP Variable
   • Checking Whether a Variable is Set
7. Understanding PHP Variable Types
   • The PHP Integer Variable Type
   • The PHP Float Variable Type
   • The PHP Boolean Variable Type
   • The PHP String Variable
   • Extracting and Writing String Fragments
   • Creating PHP heredoc Strings
8. PHP Constants
   • Defining a PHP Constant
   • Checking if a PHP Constant is Defined
   • Using a Variable as a Constant Name
   • Predefined PHP Constants
   • PHP Script and Environment Related Constants
   • PHP Mathematical Constants
9. PHP Operators
   • PHP Assignment Operators
   • PHP Arithmetic Operators
   • PHP Comparison Operators
   • PHP Logical Operators
   • PHP Increment and Decrement Operators
   • PHP String Concatenation Operator
   • Concatenation of Numbers and Strings in PHP
   • PHP Execution Operator - Executing Server Side Commands
10. PHP Flow Control and Looping
    • PHP Conditional Statements
    • The PHP if Statement
    • The PHP if ... else Statements
    • PHP Looping Statements
    • PHP for loops
    • PHP while loops
    • PHP do ... while loops
    • PHP switch Statements
    • Breaking a Loop
    • Breaking Out of Nested Loops
    • Skipping Statements in Current Loop Iteration
11. PHP Functions
    • What is a PHP Function?
    • How to Write a PHP Function
    • Returning a Value from a PHP Function
    • Passing Parameters to a PHP Function
    • Calling PHP Functions
    • Passing Parameters By Reference
    • Returning Values By Reference
    • Functions and Variable Scope
12. PHP Arrays
    • How to Create a PHP Array
    • Accessing Elements in a PHP Array
    • Creating an Associative Array
    • Accessing Elements of an Associative Array
    • Accessing Elements in a Multidimensional PHP Array
    • Using PHP Array Pointers
    • Changing, Adding and Removing PHP Array Elements
    • Looping through PHP Array Elements
    • Replacing Sections of an Array
    • Sorting a PHP Array
    • Sorting Associative Arrays
    • Getting Information About PHP Arrays & other Array Functions
    • Summary
13. Working with Strings and Text in PHP
    • Changing the Case of a PHP String
    • Converting to and from ASCII Values
    • Printing Formatted Strings in PHP
    • PHP printf formatting specifiers
    • Finding the Length of a PHP String
    • Converting a String into a PHP Array
    • Removing Leading and Trailing Whitespace from a PHP String
    • Comparing Strings in PHP
    • String Comparison Functions Return Value
    • Accessing and Modifiying Characters in String
    • Searching for Characters and Substrings in a PHP String
    • Extracting and Replacing Substrings in PHP
    • Replacing All Instances of a Word in a PHP String
14. PHP, Filesystems and File I/O
    • Opening and Creating Files in PHP
    • Closing Files in PHP
    • Writing to a File using PHP
    • Reading From a File using PHP
    • Checking Whether a File Exists
    • Moving, Copying and Deleting Files with PHP
    • Accessing File Attributes
    • PHP Output Buffering
15. Working with Directories in PHP
    • Creating Directories in PHP
    • Deleting a Directory
    • Finding and Changing the Current Working Directory
    • Listing Files in a Directory
16. An Overview of HTML Forms
    • Creating HTML Forms
    • HTML Text Object
    • HTML TextArea Object
    • The HTML Button Object
    • HTML Check Boxes
    • HTML Radio Buttons
    • HTML Drop-down / Select Object
    • HTML Password Object
    • Summary
17. PHP and HTML Forms
    • Creating the Form
    • Processing Form Data Using PHP
    • Processing Multiple Selections with PHP
18. PHP and Cookies - Creating, Reading and Writing
    • The Difference Between Cookies and PHP Sessions
    • The Structure of a Cookie
    • Cookie Name / Value Pair
    • Cookie Expiration Setting
    • Cookie path Setting
    • Cookie domain Setting
    • Cookie Security Setting
    • Creating a Cookie in PHP
    • Reading a Cookie in PHP
    • Deleting a Cookie
19. Understanding PHP Sessions
    • What is a PHP Session?
    • Creating a PHP Session
    • Creating and Reading PHP Session Variables
    • Writing PHP Session Data to a File
    • Reading a Saved PHP Session
20. PHP Object Oriented Programming
    • What is an Object?
    • What is a Class?
    • How is an Object Created from a Class?
    • What is sub-classing?
    • Defining a PHP Class
    • PHP Class Constructors and Destructors
    • Creating Members in a PHP Class
    • Defining and Calling Methods
    • Subclassing in PHP
    • PHP Object Serialization
    • Getting Information about a PHP Object
21. Using PHP with MySQL
    • Creating a MySQL User Account
    • Creating and Select MySQL Database
    • Creating a MySQL Database Table
    • Inserting Data into a MySQL Database Table
    • Connecting wiht PHP to a MySQL Server
    • Selecting Records from a MySQL Database Using PHP
    • Adding Records to MySQL Database using PHP
    • Modifying and Deleting MySQL Records using PHP
    • Using PHP to get Information about a MySQL Database
    • Summary
22. PHP and SQLite
    • Creating an SQLite Datbase with PHP
    • Using PHP to Add Records to an SQLite Database
    • Using PHP to Select Records from an SQLite Database