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Lecture 7 - PHP and MySQL

Sessions are used to track user activity and personalize interactions. They store data on the server, connected to the client via a session ID. Setting session variables is done by calling session_start() and assigning values to the $_SESSION superglobal array. Session data can be accessed on other pages if session_start() is called. Sessions end when the browser closes, but can also be terminated with session_destroy().

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Gaafar Mohammed Gaafar
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94 views17 pages

Lecture 7 - PHP and MySQL

Sessions are used to track user activity and personalize interactions. They store data on the server, connected to the client via a session ID. Setting session variables is done by calling session_start() and assigning values to the $_SESSION superglobal array. Session data can be accessed on other pages if session_start() is called. Sessions end when the browser closes, but can also be terminated with session_destroy().

Uploaded by

Gaafar Mohammed Gaafar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
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Sessions

Sessions are similar to Cookies in many respects


Used to track user activity and personalise interactions
However:
Cookies are becoming unreliable
They store information on client without permission
Modern browser privacy/security settings can block
cookies
PHP Session variables store data on the server
Connected to clients browser via the server and a Session ID
Almost flawless in operation and invisible to the user

2
Sessions
Setting Session variables is simple
Imagine we have received $name via a HTML form
We can store this information for use in other pages
It is essential that if we are using sessions, the first
thing we do is call:
session_start()
<?php
session_start();
extract($_POST);
$_SESSION[‘name’] = $name;
?>
3
Sessions
Now, on another page we can see if a session exists
If one does then we can welcome the visitor
<?php
session_start();
if($_SESSION[‘name’]){
print “Hi”.$_SESSION[‘name’].“. A session is
registered”;
}else{
print “There is no session registered…”;
}
?>
• The condition for the ‘if’ statement is true if the session
variable name exists.
• If it isn’t then we can take another course of action.
4
Sessions
Sessions end when a user closes a browser.
We can also terminate sessions to facilitate a logout
by a user.
Note that even though we are destroying this session,
we still have to call session_start() first.

<?php
session_start();
session_destroy();
?>

5
Redirecting a Browser
We can use the header() function to redirect a browser to a

different page.
For example, to redirect a browser to a page called login.php

we would use

header('Location: login.php');
This function is useful for returning a user to a login page if e.g.

they have entered an incorrect password, or an appropriate


session or cookie is not set

6
Architecture
Request Page Read File
Web Browser Web Server Page with
PHP
Send code
HTML page
Pass PHP page
and server variables
Generate
HTML (GET
page attributes, Server settings, etc.)

PHP
Interpreter
Interact with MySQL
Database
MySQL
Limittations of MySQL

Does not support transactions. Cancelling groups of actions

should be implemented by the developer.


Does not support referential integrity. Needs to be done

programmatically
Does not support nested selections. There are ways to overcome

this but they are not very efficient.


But in general it’s a reliable database. 
MySQL management
The tool that you would mostly use is MySQLAdmin. A

Web frond end for database management.


You would use it for setting up databases, creating database

users.
During development, you would use it for testing queries

before importing them into your code.


You would use it for debugging the results of your

application (did the insert command work alright?)


MySQL Interaction
The interaction with MySQL server

consists of the following steps:


Connect to MySQL server.
 This requires a username and a password.

Select the active database.

Perform SQL queries and retrieve results.


PHP Support for MySQL
Connection

$link = mysql_connect(“localhost”, “dbuser”, “dbpass”);


If ($link == false)
die(“Could not connect: “. mysql_error());
 Database selection

$link = mysql_select_db(“myDatabase”, $link);


If ($link == false)
die(“Could not select database: “.
mysql_error());
PHP Support for MySQL
 Perform a query

$query = “INSERT INTO contacts (name, email) VALUES


(‘Chris’, ‘efstrati@comp.lancs.ac.uk’)”;
$res = mysql_query($query, $link);
If ($res == false)
echo “Could not perform insert: “. mysql_error();
else {
$userID = mysql_insert_id($link);
echo “New user id: $userID”;
}
MySQL retrieving results
$query = “SELECT * FROM contacts”;
$res = mysql_query($query, $link);

while ($record = mysql_fetch_assoc($res))


{
echo “Name: “.$record[‘name’].”, email: “.
$record[‘email’].”<br/>”;
}
mysql_free_results($res);
MySQL retrieving results
 There are a number of ways for retrieving the results of
a query. The most commonly used are:
 mysql_fetch_assoc(): returns an associative array
where the keys are the record field names.
 mysql_fetch_object(): returns a record as an object.
There are object attributes for each record field.
MySQL & PHP: Things to remember
Usually you would get the data that you put in your

database from the user. Make sure that the data will
not break your SQL queries.
mysql_real_escape_string(): a useful function for

escaping characters before using a string in an


SQL query.
Suggested reading
Online Php Manual
http://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php
Online MySQL Manual
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/
AJAX Rich Internet Applications and Web Development
for Programmers: Chapter 18 and 19.

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