IT250 Enhancing Websites with PHP Support Site

Today is: 2024-11-20 | Current Unit: 02

  Due: 03-13-2013
e Newsletter
A newsletter published by http://php.skillbuilderblocks.com/ to help students succeed!
Course: IT250 Enhancing Websites with PHP | Vol: 1301C | Issue: 2 | Date: 2013-03-07


From the Prof  FAQs

Greetings Class!

In the last unit, you learned how to invoke the php interpreter using the <?php and ?> tags. You also learned to define constants and use the php echo statement to output the values of your constants to the browser and that your echoed string can include html tags.

In this unit you'll learn the real power of php lies in creating user interfaces using html forms. By integrating html forms and cascading style sheets (CSS) with php, you can design very sophisticated user front-ends that, when submitted, process user data and other server requests. The only limit to what you can do is your imagination.

The key to doing so successfully is understanding some very important rules regarding the following:

  • Case sensitivity
  • Consistent and proper naming of form elements, folders, files, variables, and functions
  • Form tag attributes and values
  • Paths and location of project file(s)

Please be sure to review the tutorials for these issues and that you understand them.

Warm Regards,
Kathy

 

Q: When is Unit 2 due?
A: 03-13-2013

Q: How can I get help?
A: You have several options depending on what you need help with as follows:

  1. Go to the Support Site. There you will find:
    • Links to the weekly announcements, including newsletters and seminar recordings
    • Seminar agendas
    • Project demos and sample code
    • Tutorials
    • Help Ticket Application - use to get my help troubleshooting your code
  2. Join me for office hours
  3. Post course related questions in the Virtual Office (I look there first and frequently)
  4. For issues of a more personal nature, use email
  5. If this isn't enough, check out Kaplan's Technology Center for tutoring options!

SEMINAR RECORDING


The seminar recording covering the following topics is here http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/p1tz7v47xh4/

Preliminaries


  • READ the Unit announcements and REVIEW the seminar recording each week, a link to it is also located in a separate announcement.
  • Follow my demonstrations in seminar - you can't go wrong if you do that!
  • TEST, TEST, TEST your projects in the wamp services. You will lose significant points if your projects do not work.
  • Submit a HELP TICKET (see below) if you need help troubleshooting and debugging to get your projects working. Do this BEFORE you submit a project and you'll be sure to ACE it!!
  • READ my gradebook feedback!!! While I do not allow resubmissions (unless I ask for one), many projects build on prior ones, so be sure to make the corrections I point out where it applies!

Big do's and don'ts


  • DO create a separate unit folder for each project in the www folder whether or not it contains only a single file. This will avoid your having a messy root folder in your www area.
  • DO zip the entire unit folder for submitting to the dropbox.
  • DON'T have spaces or non-alphanumeric characters in file, folder, variable or function names.
  • DO treat all names, including files, folders, variables, and functions as CASE SENSITIVE (I recommend getting into the habit of using all lowercase letters. You never have to remember what and if you capitalized!).
  • DON'T copy any code from the support site. You MUST learn to identify what each line of code is for in your own project.

This week's goals


  • Create a simple html form containing one input box and a submit button.
    • Understand the form action and method attributes.
    • Understand form element names.
  • Create a decision code block that echos out something different depending on the value entered into the form.
    • Understand how the value gets passed from the form to the script using variables.
    • $variables: a container that stores a value in memory for use in the application
    • Naming variables
    • Declaring and initializing variables
    • Displaying variables
    • Understand basic data types: string, numeric (integer, floating-point), boolean, array, NULL
  • Understand basic operators:
    • Arithmetic: +, -, *, /, %
    • Assignment: =, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=
    • Comparison and conditional: ==, ===, != or <>, !==, >, <, >=, <=
    • Logical: && or AND, || or OR, XOR, !
    • Understand basic decision control structures: if, if then else
  • Project Demo

Project Instructions


  1. Create a simple html form containing one input box and a submit button.
  2. Understand the form action and method attributes.
  3. Understand form element names.
  4. Create an decision code block that echos out something different depending on the value entered into the form.
  5. Zip the unit01 folder that contains your PHP file and your DB export and submit it in the drop box.
  6. Attach the zip to the Dropbox.

Be sure to refer to the rubrics for details on what's expected to earn full points!

Project Demo


TIPS AS YOU REVIEW THE FOLLOWING TUTORIALS


TUTORIAL 1: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About HTML Forms!


TUTORIAL 2: Forms and PHP!