In the Advanced Dreamweaver class we will be building websites that are dynamic and data-driven.     We will be using Dreamweaver to program components on the webserver in addition to the html, css and js files you may have worked with in other websites.    In particular we will be using:

• php
• MySQL
• Zend Framework for php

Student webserver accounts at SRJC

First you need a webserver account that has php and MySQL.     The SRJC provides free Linux accounts with everything you need and you probably already have one from a previous class.    Get more information here.

PHP

php is a programming language that is processed by the webserver.   Webservers such as Apache and Microsoft IIS include php processor extensions so that web developers can run php pages or pages that contain php code.   Web developers use php for webpages that build their content dynamically on a webserver – for validating and storing data, or calling in content or functions from other pages or sites, for processing information and transactions.     Facebook, WordPress, Drupal & many commercial web applications are built using php. In this class we will use php to develop several very useful website functions – user registration, HTML email distribution, file uploads and content management. There is nothing that you need to do to use php on your webserver.

MySQL

MySQL is an open source relational database server that is owned and marketed by Oracle Corporation and developed by a community of volunteer programmers from around the world.   We will be developing web applications in php and Zend that send and receive data from MySQL for secure permanent storage. The Santa Rosa Junior College offers free webserver accounts that include a MySQL database.   This does require a two command setup step.   You need to use a terminal emulation program to first connect to your webserver account in command line.    For example on Mac OSx, you would run Applications->Utilities->Terminal.     First, from the terminal command line, you enter “ssh myacctname@student.santarosa.edu”.    This should prompt you for your SRJC webserver password and then give you another command line prompt.   At that prompt you enter “sudo sqlme”.   This should return several account names and passwords that you must record.  We will be going over this in the first class.

We will be covering the Zend framework setup in a later post.