Building a Database-Driven Web Site Using PHP and MySQL

Your First PHP Script

It would be unfair of me to help you get everything installed and not even give you a taste of what a PHP-driven Web page looks like until next week, so here's a little something to whet your appetite.

Open up your favorite text or HTML editor and create a new file called today.php. Type the following into the file:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Today's Date</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>Today's Date (according to this Web server) is
<?php


  echo( date("l, F dS Y.") );


?>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Save it and place it on your Web site as you would any regular HTML file, then see what it looks like when you view it in your browser. If you haven't yet had time to set up PHP on your Web server, click here to see the results on our server.

Pretty neat, huh? If you use the view source feature in your browser, all you'll see is a regular HTML file with the date in it. The PHP code (everything between <?php and ?> in the code above) has been interpreted by the Web server and converted to normal text before sending it to your browser. The beauty of PHP (and other server-side scripting languages) is that the Web browser doesn't have to know anything about it!

Don't worry too much about the exact code I used in this example. Before too long you'll know it like the back of your hand. :)

Wrap-up

All things going to plan, you should now have everything you need to get MySQL and PHP installed on your Web Server. If the little example above didn't work right (for example, if the raw PHP code appeared instead of the date), then something went wrong with the setup. Drop by the SitePoint.com Forums and we'll be glad to help you figure out the problem!

In the next section, we'll learn the basics of relational databases and get started working with MySQL. If you've never even touched a database before, I promise you it'll be a real eye opener!

Part 2: Getting Started with MySQL

SitePoint.com is a fast growing Web Developer Community. Kevin Yank is the Editor of the SitePoint TechTimes, a fresh, technically oriented newsletter for the serious Webmaster.

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Building a Database-Driven Web Site Using PHP and MySQL