PHP Programming Tips

Smarty is categorized as a “Template engine”, though developers describe it more detailed as a “Template/Presentation Framework”, that offers developers and programmers ample tools to make extensive coding tasks easier by replacing tags with their appropriate counterparts. Smarty is aimed to hasten and make the development process simpler for all who aim to develop pages for the internet. (more…)

There are several platforms on which web pages are deployed and with thousands of people using different versions of software, scripting languages should be endowed with the proper set of tools that determines the proper set of scripts. Scripts for one platform may differ in form in another so a conversion method should be deployed to allow them to properly interface with each other. Though done behind the scenes, it is of utmost importance making the web experience more enjoyable with an example of the script below for reference. (more…)

With many of the internet’s web pages and applications based on PHP, many questions are being raised by the security and robustness of the system so to speak as we go through years of rapid development. Now the scripting language that is PHP isn;t meant to be weak security-wise and the problem lies with the sloppy work programmer have done all through the years that have left quite large and gaping security holes in something we so rely on. One event that greatly tripped the panic meters of developers the world over is the departure of one of the world’s leading authority on PHP, Stephan Esser, one of the founders of the language and a foundation of the web with him stating as an explanation that the security issues that are currently coming out are happening without his knowledge. (more…)

In web development, it is quite necessary to separate the roles of the page designer and the programmer which handles more of the logical or program side of the whole page. Designing a page is the task of making it interesting and quite pleasing to the prospective users who want something that is easy on the eyes yet loaded with functions that performs their needs. The template designer handles the framework onto which the logic is presented visually which is the norm of the internet which relies on graphics and other nifty trinkets to make their users happy customers. (more…)

Image Source: www.ariel.web.id
Looping statements, like Do-While looping statements, While looping statements, and For looping statements, makes programming very easy, even at making PHPs. But did you know that there is something that looping statements can’t loop? That’s right! There is something. Looping statements can’t loop If-Else statements. That’s because when the looping statement starts, it goes through the If-Else statement, and then, whatever the statement the If-Else statement supplies, it will be the new statement the looping statement loops, and the If-Else statement will be left aside. I’ve been creating PHPs in our school and I tell you, it’s very frustrating that your looping statements are not looping the whole statements you put inside it. Thus, your website will not work properly. The only solution that I find is that you have to use Switch statements. Switch statements are like If-Else statements, but the Switch statements are more specific. Try it! It works, even at other programming language

As an example of secure PHP programming, the evolt PHP login system has a list of good features as follows:

Safety – Passwords are not saved in cookies

Levels – Users are identified by different levels (admin, user etc.)

Admin Center – As admin, you have full management of the users. View user profiles, delete and ban users, demote and upgrade user levels.

Tracking – You can now tell how many visitors and registered users are viewing your site. Also it will show how many users your site has.

Account Info – Registered users can edit and view their own information and also view other’s profile as well.

Error Form – If an error occurs, they are redirected to an error form page that they can fill out to inform that there is an error page and error that occurred are displayed.

Password – If users forget their password, they can have a new one generated and sent to their email.

First of all what is a Function? A Function is a small set of statements defined by the programmer to do a specific action. They take input values in the form of ‘arguments‘ and return values after execution. They can be written anywhere in the program. They are used to reduce the programming complexity and to handle the programming structures easily. The function takes an input, performs some operation with it and returns a value after successful execution. Functions are basically of two types, namely:

• Functions with no return value
• Functions with return values

-Source

Here is how to display your page’s loading time:

1. Use the function microtime() to get the time in micro-seconds
2. Use the explode() function to turn the micro-time into an array.
3. Combine the two parts to the array (the micro-seconds to the seconds).
4. Repeat steps 1,2 and 3 for the bottom of the page
5. Take the time taken at the end of the page from the time taken at the top of the page to determine the total loading time.
6. After rounding the microtime, return it to the browser.

At the top of your page, place:

$m_time = explode(" ",microtime());
$m_time = $m_time[0] + $m_time[1];
$starttime = $m_time;
?>

At the bottom of your page, place:

$round = 3;// The number of decimal places to round the micro time to.
$m_time = explode(" ",microtime());
$m_time = $m_time[0] + $m_time[1];
$endtime = $m_time;
$totaltime = ($endtime - $starttime);
echo "Page loading took:". round($totaltime,$round) ." seconds";
?>

In PHP, common tasks like ftp, encrypt passwords in MD5, or send email from a web page all are built in hidden code, and as PHP is Open source there is a lot
of free code available for PHP.

Unlike PHP there is no hidden code with ASP. If you need to upload files, then you would need a third party component like ASP upload, also if you need to send mail you need another component and so on.

Although PHP is better in many aspects, ASP offers more security than PHP.

Price Compared to ASP, PHP installations are absolutely cheaper to install. PHP perfectly runs on Linux (which is a free OS) and programmers use MySQL .(which also comes FREE) ASP runs on the IIS Server (Internet Information Server) which requires Windows N.T/2000/2003 Servers or better. Aside from that ASP mostly uses MS-SQL Server as the back end which is really expensive. PHP obviously is cheaper than ASP.

Cross Platform compatibility
PHP programs run on a wide variety of Operating Systems Unix, Linux, Solaris and Window’s.ASP on the other hand only works flawlessly with Windows and not with other platforms. PHP offers more versatility than ASP.