Creating Interactive Web Sites with PHP and Web Services

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 512 pages
• Published by: Sybex
• Edition: 1st Edition December 19, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0782142796
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0782142792
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.6 pounds

Product Description
Build Dynamic Websites with PHP and MySQL—and Extend Those Sites with Web Services

PHP and MySQL are great tools for building database-driven websites. There's nothing new about that. What is new is the environment in which your site operates—a world rich (and growing richer) in web services that can add value and functionality in many different ways. Creating Interactive Web Sites with PHP and Web Services walks you through every step of a major web project—a content-management system—teaching you both the basic techniques and little-known tricks you need to build successful web sites. And you can use those skills to develop dynamic applications that will meet your special requirements. Here's some of what you'll find covered inside:

• Adding, deleting, and displaying data with a custom content-management system
• Building a template system with PHP
• Interacting with web services using PHP and MySQL
• Creating and managing a user system and a shopping cart
• Processing credit card payments using merchant accounts and third-party payment solutions
• Tracking site statistics using PHP and MySQL
• Enhancing your site with third-party scripts

Tons of examples, complete with explanations and supported by online source code, will speed your progress, whether you're a true beginner or already have PHP experience. This book is platform-agnostic, so it doesn't matter if you're deploying your site on Linux or Windows. You also get PHP and MySQL references, so you can quickly resolve questions about syntax and similar issues.

Back Cover Copy
Build Dynamic Websites with PHP and MySQL—and Extend Those Sites with Web Services

PHP and MySQL are great tools for building database-driven websites. There's nothing new about that. What is new is the environment in which your site operates—a world rich (and growing richer) in web services that can add value and functionality in many different ways. Creating Interactive Web Sites with PHP and Web Services walks you through every step of a major web project—a content-management system—teaching you both the basic techniques and little-known tricks you need to build successful web sites. And you can use those skills to develop dynamic applications that will meet your special requirements. Here’s some of what you’ll find covered inside:

• Adding, deleting, and displaying data with a custom content-management system
• Building a template system with PHP
• Interacting with web services using PHP and MySQL
• Creating and managing a user system and a shopping cart
• Processing credit card payments using merchant accounts and third-party payment solutions
• Tracking site statistics using PHP and MySQL
• Enhancing your site with third-party scripts

Tons of examples, complete with explanations and supported by online source code, will speed your progress, whether you’re a true beginner or already have PHP experience. This book is platform-agnostic, so it doesn’t matter if you’re deploying your site on Linux or Windows. You also get PHP and MySQL references, so you can quickly resolve questions about syntax and similar issues.


Reader Reviews
The title of this book is unfortunately misleading. If you believe, as I do, that "Web Services" has something to do with SOAP (or more specifically, nuSOAP or other PHP-specific library) then prepare to be disappointed if you buy this book! The closest thing you will find is a short discussion of the Amazon API and Google translation services, a slim 24 page chapter out of the entire 400+ page book. These are both already documented online. The rest is an intermediate-level discussion of common PHP applications, which are addressed as well (if not better) in a number of other books... Not recommended. Postscript: Based on the ratings for this review, I felt it necessary to add the following clarifying comments: This book is a decent introduction to general PHP web programming. However (and most PHP newbies would not know this), "Web Services" is a VERY specific programming term used to describe some relatively advanced concepts, e.g. Remote Procedure Calls between hardware-agnostic servers. So what we have here is a book that explicitly claims to provide some specific, advanced programming knowledge. THE BOOK DOES NOT DELIVER ON THE PROMISE IMPLIED BY ITS TITLE! No matter how good an introductory book this is, readers should be warned that they will not come away with any increased knowledge of "Web Services". Caveat Emptor.