PHP

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

[TBD:- this entry is a place holder to be completed]

Typicall Environment, (ie where / what it is use )
PROS: easy to read and learn
CONS:
(Procedural, OO, Interpretive): Interpretive, but when invoked, the Just In-Time compiler is invoked to imporve perfomand and diagnose all syntax
Link to major provider(s) Php.net
Documentation: Online HTML version
Simple configuration file (annontated?)
Sample "Hello World" program

Sample Hello World

  <?php echo '<p>Hello World</p>'; ?>

When your web server is properly configured, you can write HTML like

<html>
 <head>
  <title>PHP Test</title>
 </head>
 <body>
 <?php echo '<p>Hello World</p>'; ?>
 </body>
</html>

and the PHP will be executed inline as the html is being delivered as the response to create
a stream that the browser will see as

<html>
 <head>
  <title>PHP Test</title>
 </head>
 <body>
   <p>Hello World</p>
 </body>
</html>

An example of a template system in PHP

All formating (of the web page) is omitted, but easily added as CSS controls from another echoContent($filename) inserted in the html head.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

   SYSTEM "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head>
<!--  classic 'use if desired meta data;
	notice "==TEMPLATE==" to remind you to edit
	on a per-page basis
-->
<title>Tech-101.com: ==TEMPLATE==</title>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<meta http-equiv="content-style-type" content="text/css" />
<meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en-us" />
<meta name="title" content="==TEMPLATE==" />
<meta name="description" lang="en" content="==TEMPLATE==" />
<meta name="keywords"	content="==TEMPLATE==, , , " />
<meta name="category"	content="general" />
<meta name="robots"	  content="index,follow" />
<meta name="distribution" content="global" />
<meta name="copyright" content="==TEMPLATE==" />
<!-- end meta -->

<!-- user php function to fetch raw html or other php files
	   to be shown on THIS page
-->
<?php
function echoContent($filename) {

  if ($theData = file_get_contents($filename, FALSE)) {
	echo "$theData";
  } else {
	echo '<span class="ERR">Error opening source file :(\n</span>';  # $filename!\n";
  }

}
?>

</head>
<body>
<?php
	<!-- this would include a common HEADER
   		from the parent directory of the site.
   		This might be the look-n-feel CSS or other common presentation
	-->
	echoContent("../siteHeader.html");
	
	<!- this would include a common MENU system for the site
   	   as shown here, as a common 'banner' across
   	   the top of every page.

		  A two column presentation (menus left, body text right)
   	   would only need a change in this template to
   	   implement a table, row, two cells or
   	   a frameset with two frames
	-->
	echoContent("../siteMenus.html");
	
	<!-- every page should have it's own h1
   		using CSS to center h1's would be simple
	-->
	echo "<H1>==TEMPLATE==</H1>";
	
	<!-- now we fetch the body presentation itself
	-->
	echoContent("pageContent.html");
	
	<!-- and a common site footer
   		perhaps, copyright, and site-common links
   		eg:  about_us,  contact_us,  terms_n_conditions
	-->
	echoContent("../siteFooter.html");
	
?>
</body>
</html>