I have spent a long time working with WordPress for PHP and Apache Webservers. A lot of the sites that I develop use the WordPress Framework. Although WordPress is developed primarily as a Blog software. However it can be extended to be used as a Content management software, and as such using WordPress as a framework I have extended the software to be tailored to the needs of the client.

What is a framework

Web pages don’t just appear by magic, they take a lot of programming and effort to work correctly. Web pages are written mainly in HTML ( Hypertext Markup Language). This tutorial does not cover HTML in depth.

A framework is a set of basic functions that generate HTML content that can be built on to provide more rich Internet content. Take for example, a Gazebo it has a wooden frame construct where wooden panels can be attached to the wooden frame. The newly attached panels can be painted, or windows can be added to the panels. The fancy finished product is built up using the builders imagination, guided by the wooden frame of the gazebo. The same can be said for computer programming. A framework is the basic construct of a system, a simple set of instructions that produce simple output. Dependant on the programmers imagination the system can be expanded and designed around the framework.

I’ve often found that the plugins designed for use in the WordPress Framework were impressive and needed little development. However, I decided that that was the lazy way to do things and it was becoming to easy to set-up and manage websites.

When I started out developing WordPress Plugins, I was a bit disappoint how disjointed the wordpress documentation was, being used to php.net, I was sadly disappointed. I have never found any programming language as well documented or easier to research than php.net.

So This guide is intended to be laid out in an easy to understand WordPress function definitions. Which should make it easier for new comers to the Framework development “NOOBS” feel less fearful about developing for WordPress Framework.

The reason I have chosen to give example usage and learning aids on MySQL is because it works hand-in-hand with PHP. These two programs will provide an immensely interactive website that will have you online quickly.

SQL [Sequel] is  a form of code in an instructional format that can store/update/retrieve data quickly. You should keep in mind that there is a difference between data and information. Databases can store settings data for your website, usernames and passwords, as well as webpages. RDBMS or Relational Database Management Systems such as MySQL have extremely in-depth functionality, most of which you will not need to run and maintain a website.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN ENGLISH

Databases are excellent places to store lots of “information” but information is only information if its informative, otherwise its just data.

Databases store different kinds of repetitive data in different tables and then link that data together by using relationships to become information. CONFUSED?

Imagine this: -

John Smith is your customer, he buys CDs from you every week, in order to do some customer statistics you have to record John Smiths; Age, Address, the date of purchase, and each CD he is buying, John Smith comes into your shop 4 times a month, and you find you’re storing a lot of repetitive data i.e. John Smith, his age, his address.

Eureka you design a Database System that will remember John Smith, his Age and his Address, you call this Table Customers

But now you’re having to record every CD in your shop separately in another table with John Smith’s Name next to it.  so you create a table called CDs and you store all of your CD Information in that table

But how do you link John Smith to the CD in the table, and what if someone else who is not John Smith Comes in and buys the same CD You’ve just lost the sale information from John Smith, because you’ve had to link that information to another user?

Take a look at the table Below:-

Example of RDBMS

The above image shows the very basics of how the database for the above example would be laid out in CUSTOMERS table their are fields to hold all the customers information, in the CDS table holds all the information in relation to the CD that the customer can buy

The third table comprises of PURCHASE_INFO this links the customer’s unique ID Number to the CDs Unique ID Number and stores a short Link of information so that when reports need to be run, information can be pulled Quickly from the database. You will see that the black lines coming from the PURCHASE_INFO table link up to both the CUSTOMER and CDS table, and one other additional field that does not called Date Of Purchase. That is because the date of purchase will always differ, but the customer information and the CD information will always stay the same.

This method is known as NORMALISING data. By reducing the number of times that data is repeated in a system makes the Information more valid. We only have to input John Smith’s details into the Database Once, and make sure that our CD Inventory is up-t0-date. Meaning that each time a sale is made all we have to do is update the PURCHASE_INFO table with John Smith’s Unique ID and the ID Number of the CD or CDs he has purchased, and the date that they were purchased.

This is a very basic introduction to RDBMS Databases, Read this chapter to find out more about RDBMS, and Sequal programming languages. There are even hints and tips in the PHP Section about MySQL interaction with PHP.

The quickest and Easiest way for Windows is Visual Basic 6

Some people say Visual Basic 6 is dead, and a lot of websites, that used to have really good examples are now gone, but I, although can create programs in VB 6, still create Micro Programs in VB 6 because, its Robust, still spans the Windows Group of Operating systems, that includes Windows 7!

I have created a couple of tutorials on what I’ve learned using Visual Basic 6, for those who still want to program in Windows Environments. So long, of course, if you have an understanding of the 32-byte operating system, as for 64-Bytem I’ve never needed such a powerful computer and anyone who says that have, that isn’t Bill Gates is lying!

In these chapters, I will give examples of working with Text files, and Microsoft Database Jet Engine to store and retrieve data, and the quick quirks that programming EXEs in Windows can give. This isn’t Visual Basic for Applications (you know those Macros in Microsoft Excel that everyone loves) this is proper integration with threads, and the kernal.

So my egar buddies, dust off your old discs that are shoved up in that book case where you have that copy of Visual Basic 6 – Enterprise Edition (and no you won’t need the MSDN Help Library) get installing and join me in the following chapeters for an in-depth programatic explanation, with documentation and lifecycle analysis of the project I named “Fault-E”.

The Example files for this project can be downloaded here

Fault-E is an example project build in Visual Basic 6 Enterprise Edition.

This project was developed to assist someone with a college project. Fault-E is a hypothetical fault recording program that was to be used in a large organisation for staff members to report Computer Faults to the IT Department.

The end result of the program was a text based system that read and re-wrote text files using an .exe GUI.

• Download the zipped version of  Fault-E (Src) project files titled: Fault-E.
• Download the zipped EXE of Fault-E

Program Life-cycle

A design strategy where developers add or expand the functionality of a program to make it more flexible and adaptable to the needs of the user in a way that will not damage the existing make-up of the program.

Every program has a life-cycle, from the word-processor on your computer to your the clock in your task-bar. Updating the program must be done in a way that will not damage dependencies of the program.

Everyone remembers Y2K the bug that was set to destroy the planet when the clocks changed over to 00:00:00 on 01 January 00. Because some programs would revert back to 1900 instead of going forward to 2000 using the 00 part of the year, experts feared that this would cause damage to date dependant systems, whereas on the other end of the scale people panicked not fully understanding what Y2K actually meant and this caused global panic without an actual need.

With a bit of forward planning, also known as Program Life-cycles this will be prevented in the future, adaptations to programs will correct commonly reported errors.

PHP itself is an INTERPRETER, this means it can take specifically constructed attributes, also known as Scripts and carry out functions from its main core.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Imagine you as a person are responsible for making sure the mail in your company is sent to the right department. You can move the mail into the correct pigeon hole because you know that the mail for Finance goes into the finance pigeon hole. You interpret the name on the pigeon hole and put the mail in the right slot. Job Done

What happens when mail comes into your company for John Smith. You would have to look up a directory, or seek instructions from elsewhere as to where this mail belongs, you are unable to interpret this instruction with the knowledge you already have, so someone has to write instructions down expanding your understanding to receive the same result.

PHP is very much the same, it has a core understanding that has been programmed into it, but it can do more, it can be expanded to take new instructions by interpreting user programmed scripts.

All CLEAR so far?

Like every interpreter improvements are programmed into it, and new releases of the program are made available to download to the webserver. These updates can sometimes remove un-used or infrequently used parts of the program or expand use of other more popular ones, fix security holes in the program.

When you see X.X.X

X represents a number.

The first X is the programs MAJOR version. When Major versions are released there have been extensive changes to the program. PHP is currently released at Version 5.

The second X is known as a Minor Release when a program has been significantly updated but not enough to warrant a complete upgrade of the system php is currently in minor release 5.3

The final X is the maintenance release. Maintenance releases are small alterations to parts of the program mainly to fix bugs in the overall core of the system and repair security holes in the program that can allow hackers to circumvent system security.

So the very latest release of PHP at the time of writing this article is 5.3.2.

BE AWARE

When programs are updated new functions become available for the program, but if you are hosting your website with a shared host, or don’t know how to install the latest version of PHP the program may not use the latest version of PHP.

Our own website (http://www.russ-web.co.uk) is hosted on PHP 4.1.2.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN ENGLISH

There are lots of websites out there that give example scripts to download and install on your website, that you think might work straight away with your version of PHP, but if it is developed to work with a version of PHP that has a higher number than your version of PHP it is very unlikely to work correctly or if at all.

For example: – If we were to install a script on our website that was developed for the current release of PHP 5.2.3 it wouldn’t work correctly on our website, because we are using version 4.2.1.

Still Understanding?

So now we’re starting to get an understanding of the differences in architectures of PHP Interpreter.

Learning Outcomes:-

• What PHP Actually is
• Differences in the programs Architecture
• How an Interpreter Works

You should now have a basic understanding of PHP, but we haven’t even scratch the surface of PHP. Keep reading this series of articles to find out more about PHP and learn how to use it in one place! Here at Russ Web Designs.

After months of upgrading and development work the site is now live and ready to launch

The TRMB Website

Russ Web Designs – Lauches New Website

Due to the demand on our services. Russ Web Designs has been unable to maintain our website.

As a temporary measure. We have used the expertise of wordpress.org to provide a temporary site.

We like to keep our customers up-to-date with the latest, greatest updates, and we felt that this would be the quickest way to bring the information to you.

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