Working with Cookies and Sessions in PHP
Cookies and sessions are essential components of web development. They help you store user data, track user activity, and personalize the user experience. In PHP, cookies and sessions can be easily implemented using built-in functions.
Cookies A cookie is a small text file that is stored on the client-side (user’s computer) by the web server. Cookies are used to store information about users such as their preferences or login credentials. To set a cookie in PHP, use the setcookie() function:
setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, secure, httponly);
For example:
setcookie("username", "JohnDoe", time() + 3600); // expires after 1 hour
Sessions A session is a way to store information about a user across multiple page views. Unlike cookies, sessions are stored on the server-side. To start a session in PHP, use the session_start() function at the beginning of your script:
session_start();
To store data in a session variable:
$_SESSION['username'] = 'JohnDoe';
Understanding PHP Frameworks and Their Advantages
PHP frameworks are pre-built libraries that provide tools and features for building web applications quickly and efficiently. They follow standard coding practices like Model-View-Controller (MVC), which helps developers create maintainable code.
Some popular PHP frameworks include Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, CakePHP and Yii.
Advantages of using PHP frameworks:
- Faster development: With pre-built libraries and tools available out-of-the-box, developers can build web applications much faster than building from scratch.
- Standardized coding practices: Frameworks enforce standardized coding practices like MVC architecture which makes code more organized and maintainable.
- Large community support: Popular frameworks have large communities of developers who contribute to their documentation and offer support through forums or chat groups.
- Security: Most frameworks offer built-in security features like encryption or cross-site scripting prevention which makes it easier to secure your application.
Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with PHP
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that focuses on creating objects that encapsulate data and behavior. In PHP OOP concepts include classes & objects , inheritance , polymorphism , encapsulation & abstraction .
Here’s an example of creating class in php:
class Car {
public $make;
public $model;
function __construct($make,$model) {
$this->make = $make;
$this->model = $model;
}
public function getMake() {
return $this->make;
}
public function getModel() {
return $this->model;
}
}
Creating an object from this class:
$car = new Car("Toyota","Corolla");
echo "Make: ".$car->getMake()."<br>";
echo "Model: ".$car->getModel();
Using External Libraries and Packages in PHP
External libraries or packages are pre-built collections of code that provide additional functionality for your application without requiring you to write it from scratch.
In order to use external libraries/packages we need composer package manager installed on our system.
For example installing GuzzleHttp library via composer : 1- Run command : composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle
Then we can use it simply in our project :
use GuzzleHttp\Client;
$client = new Client();
$response = $client->request('GET', 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1');
echo $response->getBody();
These were some advanced concepts in PHP! By mastering these techniques you will be able to develop more complex applications with ease!
Tutorial:
Building a Simple E-commerce Site Using a PHP Framework
Are you looking to build an e-commerce site but don’t know where to start? Look no further than using a PHP framework! In this tutorial, we’ll walk through how to build a simple e-commerce site using the Laravel PHP framework.
Prerequisites
Before we get started, make sure you have the following installed:
Step 1: Create a new Laravel project
First, let’s create a new Laravel project by running the following command in your terminal:
composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel ecommerce
This will create a new Laravel project named “ecommerce” in your current directory.
Step 2: Set up database and migrations
Next, we’ll set up our database and migrations. Open up the config/database.php file and update the MySQL credentials to match your local environment.
Then, run the following command in your terminal to create a new migration for our products table:
php artisan make:migration create_products_table
Open up the newly created migration file located at database/migrations/create_products_table.php and add the following code to define our products table schema:
public function up()
{
Schema::create('products', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->bigIncrements('id');
$table->string('name');
$table->text('description');
$table->decimal('price', 8, 2);
$table->timestamps();
});
}
public function down()
{
Schema::dropIfExists('products');
}
Now, run the following command to execute our migration and create our products table:
php artisan migrate
Step 3: Create product model and controller
With our database set up, let’s create our product model and controller. Run the following command in your terminal to generate both files:
php artisan make:model Product -mc
This will generate two files: app/Product.php for our product model and app/Http/Controllers/ProductController.php for our product controller.
In ProductController.php, add the following methods to handle displaying all products and individual products:
public function index()
{
$products = Product::all();
return view('products.index', compact('products'));
}
public function show(Product $product)
{
return view('products.show', compact('product'));
}
In Product.php, add $fillable property with an array of fields that can be mass-assigned when creating or updating a product:
protected $fillable = ['name', 'description', 'price'];
Step 4: Create views
Next, let’s create some views for displaying our products. In your terminal, run the following commands to generate two view files for displaying all products (resources/views/products/index.blade.php) and individual products (resources/views/products/show.blade.php):
touch resources/views/products/index.blade.php
touch resources/views/products/show.blade.php
In index.blade.php, add the following code to display all of our products:
@foreach ($products as $product)
<h2>{{ $product->name }}</h2>
<p>{{ $product->description }}</p>
<p>${{ number_format($product->price, 2) }}</p>
@endforeach
In show.blade.php, add the following code to display an individual product:
<h2>{{ $product->name }}</h2>
<p>{{ $product->description }}</p>
<p>${{ number_format($product->price, 2) }}</p>
<a href="{{ route('products.index') }}">Back</a>
Step 5: Add routes
Finally, let’s add some routes so we can navigate between pages. In routes/web.php, add the following code:
Route::get('/', function () {
return redirect()->route('products.index');
});
Route::resource('/products', 'ProductController')->only(['index', 'show']);
The first route simply redirects us to /products. The second route sets up RESTful routes for handling requests related to viewing all products (index) and viewing individual products (show).
And that’s it! You now have a simple e-commerce site built using Laravel. Of course, there are many more features you could add such as authentication or payment processing but this should serve as a good starting point for building out your own custom e-commerce site.
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