Dynamic Websites

Dynamic Websites Basics and Setup

There are basically two main types of websites

• static and

• dynamic/database driven website

A static site is one that is usually written in plain HTML and what is in the code of the page, is what is displayed to the user. A database driven/dynamic site is one that is written using a server-side scripting language such as PHP and has most of its content in a database.

Benefits of a Database Driven Website

Database driven websites can provide much more functionality than a static site can. This could include:

• Enabling also non-technical users to provide content for the website.

• Shopping cart

• You can provide advanced search functionality that enables users to filter the results based on a given field. They can then sort those results by a field - say "Price" or "Date".

• Customized homepage

• You can allow your users to perform tasks such as registering for a newsletter, post questions to your forums, provide comments on a blog, update their profile, etc.

To create a database driven website, you need the following skills:

You need to be able to:

• build a static website in HTML/CSS and Javascript

• write basic code using a server side scripting language such as PHP

• You need to know how to write basic SQL

• You need to be able to design/build a database.

In the assessment, you will create a database linked to a website where the material from the database can be displayed on the web page and next your you will be able to update the database via the website.

Setting up the latest web server MAMP on your computer

To be able to build a dynamic website you need : (all are free to download)

• A web server, such as Apache web server

• An application server that runs on your web server, such as PHP module for Apache

• A web application interface language, such as PHP and MySQL database server

You also need a text editor:

Mac

• Atom (available at school)

• TextWrangler/BBEdit

• TextEdit

• Brackets

• Sublime Text

Windows

• Atom (available at school)

• EditPadLite

• Sublime Text

• Brackets

• Any other text editor

REVISION TASK

Download here

Demo and explain

• MAMP (how to download and what it is, help students download software on their devices)

• Start servers/stop servers

• Show how to access the website (localhost:8888)

• Demonstrate the dynamic website and explain why it is called a dynamic website (search bar and dynamic nav)

• Show and explain htdocs

• Show and explain the files/folders in GGVS

• Show how to access Mysql

• Explain table, fields, records, how to search/sort on Mysql

• Name conventions database eg field names, table names, data type

• Show and explain how to connect to the database in your code (conn.php, servername, username and password)

• Focus on top.php and bottom.php and the purpose of include in your code (avoid duplication, easy to modify as it is in one place in includes folder)

• Show PHP in the code, similarities and differences between Python and PHP?

• Focus on PHP code $ query, $result,$record set and how to check the number of records that match the criteria.