This book shows how to build open source web applications with the latest version of MySQL and PHP

Learn how to build a sample application using PHP and MySQL in the Spotlight section.Download three full-length case studies (including code trees) to find out how others have used the open source database and scripting language to build web applications.

Visit the companion web site to get source code samples and live web applications.

Create MySQL database-driven Web sites and applications with PHP quickly and easily. This step-by-step guide explains how to take full advantage of PHP’s built-in support for MySQL and link the results of database queries to Web pages. You’ll get full details on PHP programming and MySQL database development, and then you’ll learn to use these two cutting-edge technologies together. Easy-to-follow sample applications include a PHP online shopping cart, a MySQL order tracking system, and a PHP/MySQL news publishing system.

• Set up a PHP/MySQL development environment on Windows or UNIX
• Write PHP scripts and use variables, statements, and operators
• Create reusable code with arrays and custom functions
• Use files, sessions, cookies, and external programs
• Create a MySQL database and use SQL commands
• Edit database records and perform queries
• Control access and privileges with the MySQL security system
• Query a MySQL database with PHP
• Validate user input to maintain database integrity
• Format query output for optimal results

About the author: Vikram Vaswani is the founder and CEO of Melonfire, a company specializing in Web development and content creation for a variety of clients. He is the author of MySQL: The Complete Reference.

This new release in the popular How to Do Everything series explains how to build open source web applications with MySQL and PHP 5. Using these two tools, you’ll be able to create highly functional, interactive web sites easily. Follow along with a step-by-step sample application and, as a bonus, download three full-length case studies complete with code trees.

Great Book
Great book. It really got me started when I first had started my trek on learning PHP. It goes more in depth than other books I had read before. The only thing I would recommend is a better chapter on error coding and security. Over all I recommend this book.

Throw it out
Material is poorly presented. Author assumes programming knowledge on your part. You are often left floundering, wondering what the author meant. Found a much better book at my local library but it was, as you can imagine, seriously out of date. I have made it 1/3 of the way through this book and am considering tossing it in the trash.

Badly written book with nothing to offer !!!
In the Introduction, the author claims that this book "is targeted at novice web developers". And true enough, the first two chapters guide the novice how to install and configure MySQL, PHP and Apache. Obviously these chapters have been written or thoroughly edited by an English speaking person. Then, from third chapter, the geek takes over ! He writes assuming that the reader has prior knowledge of PHP and MySQL, using terminology that he does not explain. In almost all chapters, instead of elaborating the subject under discussion, he suggests that the reader should look up the recommended website.

I thoroughly recommend any book on PHP/MySQL written by any author other than Vikram Vaswani. I did not learn anything new from this book, which is "the worst" computer book I have ever read. How can any reputable House publish a book that consistently urges the reader to seek knowledge from elsewhere ?

Promises so much, a hugh let down
I skimmed through this book once, and I read the reviews here. I thought this book could not have been that bad. It is a well structured book (from reading the Titles and SubTitles). Then I started reading it in details - lucky I borrowed this book from the library.

This book started off so well. It promises "best practices", yet delivers very bad coding habits and taking shortcuts. The book outlines and titles were well designed, but the details were nothing more than, "Hay, here is the syntax, this is the usage plus some simple examples..., and you can use this to design database." Nothing that I couldn’t find from the online PHP manual, and probably with better examples. Functions and keywords used were never explained properly. Its like, "Kid, now that I taught you addition, multiplication, subtraction and division.... You should be able to go out and solve the 2nd law of Thermodynamics because all mathematics built upon plus and minus."

Not only that you can’t do "Everything" reading this book, having read it I think I know less PHP.

This book reflect badly on the publisher as well, I’d think twice buying similar book from them.

Raw programming at it’s best !
If you want to work directly with HTML, PHP, and SQL without extra tools like PEAR, Smarty, Dreamweaver, etc., you may like this book. For small projects that do not need to be pretty and especially for learning how the code all works together, I like the approach of having the SQL, HTML, and PHP all on one page for a change. I am using the examples to convert an old ASP/Access project to PHP/MySQL and find the examples helpful.

A little bit disappointing
The good :
----------
- Well structured content
- The SQL part is not bad

The Bad :
---------
- hardly any explanation on why to use this or that function
- very bad programming style (= spaggetti code)
- gives you the example then you’ll have to figure out how it works in a lot of cases

Conclusion :
------------
Not very enthousiast about this book, the SQL primer is nicely written (but a little limited), the php part is D-grade level..
If looking for a good book about php and mySql turn to the book edited by Worx (see my other review)

A little bit disappointing
The good :

----------

- Well structured content

- The SQL part is not bad



The Bad :

---------

- hardly any explanation on why to use this or that function

- very bad programming style (= spaggetti code)

- gives you the example then you’ll have to figure out how it works in a lot of cases



Conclusion :

------------

Not very enthousiast about this book, the SQL primer is nicely written (but a little limited), the php part is D-grade level..

If looking for a good book about php and mySql turn to the book edited by Worx (see my other review)

Laziest PHP book ever.
I won’t pretend to debate this authors knowledge of the php language. For all I know he could be a genious with it. However the material is presented very poorly and lazily. The author frequently gives half-baked explainations of functions or concepts in the php language and then tells me if I want to learn more to goto the php documentation manual. NEWS FLASH! If I wanted to learn from the poorly written documentation I would have been doing that already. People buy these books for the purpose of getting in depth explainations that go beyond documentation. People don’t like to be told to goto a website for more information. Is this a book about php? Or a book about which of the official php documentation files I should read? The author was just too lazy to explain things.
While I agree that using online documentation is necessary, he tells you to go online and read the documentation almost every other page. Very poor explainations, and it’s a pain in the butt to keep switching between the book and the browser to get a full understanding of the concepts. Don’t waste your money.