Stories by Gavin Sherry

Security of PHP scripts

Security of applications is one of the most important aspects of programming today - and one of the most overlooked and misunderstood. Now we will look at different security problems that face PHP developers and techniques to solve them.

PostgreSQL address book

We have looked extensively at interacting with the PostgreSQL relational database; now we look at integrating this into our ongoing project - a database-driven address book. First, we will have to create a table in the PostgreSQL database where we can store the data. This is done with the following query:

PHP and PostgreSQL

This column has been looking at ways to simplify the development of a database-driven Web-based address book. Now we look at a complete solution: the PostgreSQL Object Relational Database Management System (ORDBMS).

Search multiple fields with PHP

This column will look at modifying 'Address book in PHP revisited's' AB2 code to allow searching of multiple data fields.

Address book in PHP revisited

In the last column we introduced the use of embedded databases within PHP via the Database Abstract (DBA) Layer. Now, we will re-implement Address Book 1 (AB1) using this superior technology.

Dealing with databases in PHP

Previously we have looked at building a basic address book database system. Address Book 1 stored its data in a flat file format - that is, plain text. The problem with storing data like this is that it is inefficient to search the entire address book line by line to locate a particular entry. Moreover, to search multiple fields of an entry - such as last name and suburb - required additional code.

Dealing with databases

We have looked at building a basic address book database system. Address Book 1 stored its data in a flat file format - that is, plain text. The problem with storing data like this is that it is inefficient to search the entire address book line by line to locate a particular entry. Moreover, to search multiple fields of an entry - such as last name and suburb - required additional code.

Searching address book data in PHP

We have looked at storing address book entries submitted by users. The other requirement of an address book is to be able to locate an address. Now we will look at parsing address book entries and matching a user-supplied string: a search engine.

Advanced Processing of User Data in PHP

The previous column, 'Collecting user data' looked at how to accept data from basic HTML forms and store then in a structured format in a file. As this is such an important topic for those looking to become skilled in PHP development, we will revisit it here. Over the past few columns we have been building up to a complete and useful project powered by PHP: a basic address book which can accept new data and search through existing data.

Collecting user data

There are two stages to receiving data from Web users: the first is to provide an interface to interact with, and the second is to retrieve this information. The most common way to do this is through the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), supported by PHP.

Working with structured data

In this column we look at writing data to files in a structured format and how to read it back in that format.

Strings and PHP

If you read the 'PHP Hypertext Preprocessor' column, you might have been wondering about some of the peculiarities of string handling with PHP. Strings, simply, consist of one or more characters in sequence. In PHP, $s = "string" creates a string variable 's' that contains the string "string".

PHP Hypertext Preprocessor

The remarkable volume of information which has moved to the Web over the last few years, and the complexity of delivering it dynamically to Web users, have resulted in the increased popularity of programming languages designed specifically for delivery of Web content.

XML With Apache

XML is an exciting technology now being realised in online publishing, information serving and content management on the Web. XML looks just like HTML - it is an embedded tag mark-up language. It is not so much meant to replace HTML, but make HTML do what it should: allow document generation and management to be simplified and to seperate the tasks of writing, Web developing and graphically formatting Web pages.

REVIEW: Opensales AllCommerce Suite for Linux

With the rise in popularity of online commerce, more and more companies are looking for solutions to help them become online business-to-business and/or business-to-consumer powerhouses.

However for many organisations, the cost and complexity of online commerce solutions, are barriers to entry.

[]