php from ground up for newbie

Ok, I'm a designer, not a php programmer. I have been interested in learning
php for some time now, I just haven't had a free moment yet.

Someone confronted me about building a site where people register a username
and password, and once registered/logged in, they would be able to fill out
a form/upload images into a 'profile'. Only registered users could do this,
and browse these profiles.

There would need to be search/sort facilities too, for displaying the
profiles.

From my limited knowledge, there would need to be a database entry for each
user, and the php script would need to access this for the site resources.

I've done a fair bit of actionscript/lingo programming, as well as lots of
html, javascript, and I'm quite farmiliar with the theory aspects of general
programming.
I haven't coded any php myself, but I have used server-side technology
before, AND I have used dreamweaver to build sites that can read/write/edit
entries in a database on my test site (though, I have no idea how the
dreamweaver code actually works).

What would you guess my chances are of building a project of this scale? Are
there any books/websites you can recommend? Thanks :)

"Matt McKay" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:%TNib.150336$bo1.90407@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Ok, I'm a designer, not a php programmer. I have been interested in
learning
> php for some time now, I just haven't had a free moment yet.
>
> Someone confronted me about building a site where people register a
username
> and password, and once registered/logged in, they would be able to fill
out
> a form/upload images into a 'profile'. Only registered users could do
this,
> and browse these profiles.
>
> There would need to be search/sort facilities too, for displaying the
> profiles.
>
> From my limited knowledge, there would need to be a database entry for
each
> user, and the php script would need to access this for the site resources.
>
> I've done a fair bit of actionscript/lingo programming, as well as lots of
> html, javascript, and I'm quite farmiliar with the theory aspects of
general
> programming.
> I haven't coded any php myself, but I have used server-side technology
> before, AND I have used dreamweaver to build sites that can
read/write/edit
> entries in a database on my test site (though, I have no idea how the
> dreamweaver code actually works).
>
> What would you guess my chances are of building a project of this scale?
Are
> there any books/websites you can recommend? Thanks :)
>
>

This is not that hard.
The way I learnt how to program php was by doing a project.
Jump in head first and you'll pick up loads of extras along the way.
See learning PHP as a journey and get a good book: Beginning PHP from Wrox.
Hope this helps
RG

I noticed that Message-ID:
<%TNib.150336$bo1.90407@news-server.bigpond.net.au> from Matt McKay
contained the following:

>What would you guess my chances are of building a project of this scale? Are
>there any books/websites you can recommend? Thanks :)


They would be good.

I've come from about the same level and have managed it. I've just
completed a similar project.

Plod your way through as many tutorials as you can find (webmonkey is
good) and of course, read this group. You don't really need a book. but
you will need the manual www.php.net
--
Geoff Berrow
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

Matt McKay wrote:

> I haven't coded any php myself, but I have used server-side technology
> before, AND I have used dreamweaver to build sites that can read/write/edit
> entries in a database on my test site (though, I have no idea how the
> dreamweaver code actually works).

Out of curiosity, how does this work exactly ? What server does it work
on ? is it cold fusion ?

--
luc wastiaux - email: dustpuppy@airpost.net
jabber: luc@jabber.4002.org
ICQ: 76235870

"luc wastiaux" <dustpuppy@airpost.net> wrote in message
news:bmghkv01cft@enews2.newsguy.com...
> Matt McKay wrote:
>
> > I haven't coded any php myself, but I have used server-side technology
> > before, AND I have used dreamweaver to build sites that can
read/write/edit
> > entries in a database on my test site (though, I have no idea how the
> > dreamweaver code actually works).
>
> Out of curiosity, how does this work exactly ? What server does it work
> on ? is it cold fusion ?

It uses php, and a mySQL database... nothing more, afaik.

My testing server is linux, so afaik there is no cold fusion involved

Dreamwever MX can generate code in VBScript ASP, Cold Fusion, generic
JSP and (to a much more limited extent) PHP these days. The PHP support
has been improving, though, and there are cheap 3rd-party extensions
that bring it more or less on par with the other languages. The new MX
2004 version may well bring it on par out of the box. I don't know.

The code generation is limited to simple forms, queries,
reports-and-drilldowns database aplications, but it's happy to let you
tweak and insert your own code beyond that, and you get a palette of all
your database fields and form elements that you can drag and drop into
your code and layouts.

luc wastiaux wrote:

> Matt McKay wrote:
>
>> I haven't coded any php myself, but I have used server-side technology
>> before, AND I have used dreamweaver to build sites that can
>> read/write/edit
>> entries in a database on my test site (though, I have no idea how the
>> dreamweaver code actually works).
>
>
> Out of curiosity, how does this work exactly ? What server does it work
> on ? is it cold fusion ?
>