Casnocha Turns Geek

Zach Lipton Solves All Problems

First, he taught me that I can't just log in to terminal and pico php.ini. I need to go "sudo pico.ini" which logs me in as a superuser able to edit that file. BUT, my error reporting WAS on, it just wasn't being displayed in the browser. All my errors show up in the "console" utility in apps --> utilities --> Console under "httpd" and then "error_log". Each time I've tried to run scripts I see the errors there. Ah, I will need to work with Console open now going forward.

Steps to edit php.ini

find php.ini file
cd /etc in terminal
ls - list files, where you are
pico php.ini

write out the file

but then i get "no permission"

I just installed phpmyadmin on my computer

Yes, I'm proud of myself. I am going to take a break from the book for a day or two and mess around with phpMyAdmin. Set up tables, etc. Then return to the book and try to get a working script going that can connect to the mysql db.

Onto mySQL...and Road Blocks

Wrote a couple scripts to try to connect to a mySQL db for the first time. I have two files - db.php which tries to create the database "moviesite" and then another one which is supposed to access that db and create a table or two. When i load db.php it's a blank page, which should be ok, b/c it's just supposed to create a db. In fact, when i look at mysql admin i get this image which shows a connection:

But then when I load my other page I just get "no server connection". Richard, it's time for me to cry on your shoulder.

Form validation - failure

tried to do form validation using "strlen" commands but failure. of course can't see any of my errors b/c error reporting is off. Now onto sessions and mySQL.

Still can't modfiy php.ini to turn on all error reporting

I still can't modify php.ini in Terminal, despite getting the file in terminal, locating the error section. The display_errors bit says "on". Even when I tried to modify one add'l thing from off to on, I still can't write the file: "permission denied." So debugging is quite hard at the moment. see screenshots below:

Jeff Nolan on PHP

Jeff Nolan has a good post on PHP. He says it's about the community, not the technology.

The list goes on and in all fairness PHP has some distinct advantages as well, like the fact that it is very easy to get started with because it’s more forgiving than competing languages (e.g. globals used to pass arguments, all variables are “set”).

In the end, the strength of PHP for the investment decision came down to the fact that there were so many developers using it on so many websites. Community, it’s increasingly coming down to the community and not the technology.

Technorati Tags: php

Form Processing with PHP - Lesson 1

This is a helpful page from Richard that i should use when trying to specify a mail server and take advantage of the built-in unix command "sendmail".

Link: Form Processing with PHP - Lesson 1.

We're going to start simple here. Note that it's wise to build in some precautions to prevent abuse by those who would use your server to send bulk unsolicited e-mail marketing messages (SPAM) and very likely get your site pulled. You may also want to build in some validation of the user's input. We'll cover those things in later lessons. First, we just want to illustrate sending a simple e-mail so that you learn the concepts involved.

I Found Php.ini, but now can't turn error reporting on

I found php.ini by using terminal: pico php.ini

In the file it says my error reporting is on, but error reporting doesn't appear on my output pages when I have errors. Any ideas anyone? I just found a place in the file: ;html_errors = off....but when I try to change that to "on" and "write out" of Terminal it says I don't have permission to edit the file.

Also, is there a text editor to use when editing my php.ini file, or must I use terminal?

Now that I can pass a form using POST, I will now turn to linking my form into mySQL.

Trying to Pass Data Through a Form

I have two files: form.html and handle_form.php. Trying to allow user to type in their name, gender, email address, and then have the resulting page say "Thanks Ben for being a male with the email address [email protected]" It's not picking up the variables.

This code creates this web page:

And then I have this code to process the form:

Which spits out this:

Any suggestions? I think this may have to do w/ me "registering globals"???