Interested in becoming a master of the PHP language and MySQL database but don’t know where to begin? This best-selling book ranks among the most thorough and practical guides in print, covering all of the key concepts and features, and showing you how to effectively integrate PHP and MySQL to build powerful web sites.

The book begins with a vast overview of PHP’s capabilities, starting with a survey of the installation and configuration process on both the Windows and Linux platforms. Next, several chapters are devoted to basic PHP concepts, including variables, datatypes, arrays, functions, string manipulation, and processing user input. Other key PHP topics are also covered, including PEAR, session handling, LDAP integration, the Smarty templating engine, Web services, and PDO.

Next up is a presentation of MySQL’s key features. You’re first guided through MySQL’s installation and configuration process, and are presented with an introduction to its storage engines, datatypes, administration utilities, security features, and data import/export facilities. New MySQL 5–specific chapters have been added in this edition, covering triggers, stored procedures, and views. Along the way, you’ll gain insight into PHP’s assortment of MySQL functions (using both the mysql and mysqli extensions), and learn how to create and execute queries, perform searches, and carry out key database tasks from within your Web application.

What You Will Learn from This Book

• Install and configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL on both Windows and Linux.
• Accept and process information submitted via HTML forms.
• Authenticate users and track user preferences and data using PHP’s session-handling capabilities.
• Process web-based file uploads using the HTTP_Upload PEAR package.
• Create your own RSS aggregator using Magpie, and process XML files in amazingly efficient fashion using SimpleXML.
• Use both command-line and graphical MySQL clients to effectively manage your data.
• Secure the MySQL server, creating roles and restricting access even at very granular levels.
• Effectively integrate PHP and MySQL to create dynamic, data-driven web applications.