PHP Hacks: Tips & Tools for Creating Dynamic Web Sites (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: test your application, abstract factories, simulated users, Application Design, Alternative Uls, Web Design (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Programmers love its flexibility and speed; designers love its accessibility and convenience. When it comes to creating web sites, the PHP scripting language is truly a red-hot property. In fact, PHP is currently used on more than 19 million web sites, surpassing Microsoft's ASP .NET technology in popularity. Not surprisingly, this surge in usage has resulted in a number of PHP books hitting the market. Only one, though, takes the language beyond traditional Web programming and into mapping, graphing, multimedia, and beyond: "PHP Hacks,"

In "PHP Hacks," author Jack Herrington wrings out his 20 years of code generation experience to deliver hands-on tools ranging from basic PHP and PEAR installation and scripting to advanced multimedia and database optimizing tricks.

On the practical side of things, "PHP Hacks" helps you develop more robust PHP applications by explaining how to improve your database design, automate application testing, and employ design patterns in your PHP scripts and classes. In the category of "cool," Herrington explains how to upgrade your Web interface through the creation of tabs, stickies, popups, and calendars. He even examines how to leverage maps and graphics in PHP. There's also a bounty of image and application hacks, including those that show you how to:

Integrate web sites with Google maps and satellite imaging

Dynamically display iPhoto libraries online

Add IRC, SMS, and Instant Messaging capabilities to your Web applications

Drop the latest Wikipedia dictionary onto your Sony PSP

Render graphics and user interfaces with SVG, DHTML, and Ajax

Whether you're a newcomer or an expert, you'll find great value in "PHPHacks," the only PHP guide that offers something useful and fun for everyone.

About the Author

Jack Herrington is an engineer, author and presenter who lives and works in the Bay Area. His mission is to expose his fellow engineers to new technologies. That covers a broad spectrum, from demonstrating programs that write other programs in the book Code Generation in Action. Providing techniques for building customer centered web sites in PHP Hacks. All the way writing a how-to on audio blogging called Podcasting Hacks. All of which make great holiday gifts and are available online here, and at your local bookstore. Jack also writes articles for O'Reilly, DevX and IBM Developerworks.

Jack lives with his wife, daughter and two adopted dogs. When he is not writing software, books or articles you can find him on his bike, running or in the pool training for triathlons. You can keep up with Jack's work and his writing at Jack Herrington.

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Product Details Paperback: 443 pages Publisher: O'Reilly Media; illustrated edition edition (December 1, 2005) Language: English ISBN-10: 0596101392 ISBN-13: 978-0596101398 Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #460,870 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) This item is part of The O'Reilly Hacks Series.

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
test your application, abstract factories, simulated users, message queue, import information, color selector, interactive spreadsheet, hacking the hack, regular expression tester, test your code, binary clock, bulletproof database access, php hacks, php echo, spreadsheets dynamically, php foreach, navigate your browser, public function construct, jabber account, scrolling effect, preg match, public function add, php require, php phpinfo, hack shows

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Application Design, Alternative Uls, Web Design, Fun Stuff, Google Maps, Mozilla Firefox, Done Figure, Split One Image, Build Dynamic, Apply Security, Generate Flash Movies, Create Custom Maps, Code Generation, Microsoft Word, Flood Statement, Put Wikipedia, Search Google, Jack Herrington, Multiple Images, Internet Explorer, Buy Now Button, Generate Database Select Code, Design Better, Interactive Calendar, Media Upload

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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	75% buy the item featured on this page: PHP Hacks: Tips & Tools for Creating Dynamic Web Sites 4.4 out of 5 stars (17) $19.77
	11% buy Wicked Cool PHP: Real-World Scripts That Solve Difficult Problems 4.6 out of 5 stars (16) $19.77
	6% buy Essential PHP Security 3.9 out of 5 stars (18) $19.77
	5% buy PHP Cookbook 4.5 out of 5 stars (40) $29.69

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews 5 star:  (12) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review 4.4 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding PHP Tips & Tricks Book, March 10, 2006 By  Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)       'PHP Hacks' by Jack Herrington truly is a book of hacks, tips, and tricks that I have found to be very useful. Covering 100 different ways to use PHP to perform a myriad of different tasks, this book covers many of the neat things that can be done to turn your web site from 'bland to grand' with little effort required!! Some highlights of what this book will enable you to do with your PHP-based web site: Create a skinnable interface Add tabs to your web interface Put an interactive spreadsheet on your page Create drop down lists Create dynamic menus for your site Make a DHTML slideshow Create an interactive calendar Create thumbnail images Read XML easily with regular expressions Create RTF and Excel documents dynamically Turn any object into an array Create a login system for your web site Aside from these top hacks/tips that I especially enjoyed, there is also time spent on better object oriented development with PHP, advice for testing your site out, and a whole myriad of other outstanding things you can do! If you use PHP at your job and you want to tack on some more skills, you would be at a loss if you didn't pick up a copy of PHP Hacks. ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars best PHP reference I have used, bar none, February 20, 2006 By  Abe Usher "information security nut" (Virginia) - See all my reviews I've read at least a dozen books on web development with PHP. This book is the best, by far! The good: * Excellent coverage of elegant PHP for dealing with databases and XML * Outstanding explanation of automated code generation (a must for professional PHP developers) * Description (and code implementation) of how to use design patterns with PHP. Former J2EE guys will love this. * High quality prose and clear descriptions. I did not find any grammatical or spelling errors. * Light sense of humor (without the unnecessary banter that one finds in most "... for Dummies" books) The bad: * Nothing. As a software developer of 10 years, I give this book my highest recommendation. 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars VERY VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR CREATING DYNAMIC WEB PAGES, February 5, 2006 By  John R. Vacca "Tech Write Independent Reviewer" (Pomeroy, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Do you use Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP)--an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language to create dynamic Web pages? If you do, this book is for you. Author Jack Herrington, has written an outstanding book that covers the entire PHP spectrum--offering hacks that are focusing on everything from HTML and Ajax to code generation and database-driven message queuing. Herrington, begins by walking you through the basics of installing PHP and MySQL; as well as, using the Pear library. Then, he covers how to use HTML tricks in conjunction with PHP to jazz up your interface. The author continues by using the powerful combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript known as Dynamic HTML in conjunction with PHP to show just what you can do in a web browser. In addition, he shows a wide variety of methods that you can use to display data in a graphical form. The author also shows you how to make flexible database objects and even to build your database layer automatically using code generation. Then, the author takes the coverage of PHP up notch and discusses techniques that you can use to develop applications quickly and reliably. Next, he shows you how to use several design patterns to make better PHP applications. Next, the author covers testing techniques that will find bugs for you and continuously monitor the operation of your site. Then, he shows the use of different user interfaces to work with your PHP code. Finally, the author shows you how to use the fun stuff on the Web to monitor multiplayer games, use Google Maps in your applications, and much more. This excellent book offers more than just canned solutions. It offers ideas and techniques that you can use in your own applications.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars Good book. All in all, this is a pretty good book. It covers many advanced things that most people would be able to think of, but it is a very good way to spark the lightbulb in... Read more Published 2 months ago by S. McDonald 5.0 out of 5 stars Filled with good ideas The code in this book definitely lives up to the "hacks" title, but that's okay because it's filled with lots of good ideas and useful snippets. Published 3 months ago by Ryan Kulla 5.0 out of 5 stars PHP Potential Unleashed There are a lot of ways to learn a language, and PHP is a popular one because it's dynamic. If you truly want to unleash the potential of this dynamic language than you need to... Read more Published 5 months ago by Jerokiah Darr 2.0 out of 5 stars doesn't keep what it promises when I saw the title I was sure it is exactly what I needed, some special tips and tricks, something that you can't find easily on the internet. Read more Published 10 months ago by G. Georgiadis 5.0 out of 5 stars PHP Hacks I haven't finished this book yet, but I think it will go really well with helping me to get a better grasp of PHP. Read more Published 11 months ago by kab012345 5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have! Along with "PHP in a Nutshell" by Paul Hudson, "Ajax Hacks" by Bruce W. Perry, and "Visual Quickpro Guide PHP 6 and MySQL 5" by Larry Ullman, PHP Hacks is a phenomenal resource... Read more Published 12 months ago by Bushido Hacks 5.0 out of 5 stars Nice broad book Broad book, covers a little html, a little CSS, a little javascript - RSS, XML, MySQL etc. A lot of functional and usefull PHP hacks. Published on October 9, 2007 by Gary A. Mort 5.0 out of 5 stars Solid, Quality Reference For Many Possible Uses It's very packed full of php solutions that, instead of having you thinking: "I might need this particularly obscure thing later, but then again probably not", like a lot of other... Read more Published on May 13, 2007 by Steve Bailey 3.0 out of 5 stars Not a tutorial, a reference, or PEAR The hacks (PHP scripts) may be good ones, but who is this book for? If you need to learn PHP, get a tutorial book. There are several. This is NOT one. Read more Published on February 15, 2007 by Roy Eassa 5.0 out of 5 stars quick "How to's ..." When trying to figure out how to implement something, do you ever wish that the examples you find would just 'cut to the chase'? ... Read more Published on October 19, 2006 by M. Coughlin Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 443 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; illustrated edition edition (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596101392
• ISBN-13: 978-0596101398
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #460,870 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The O'Reilly Hacks Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding PHP Tips & Tricks Book, March 10, 2006

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

'PHP Hacks' by Jack Herrington truly is a book of hacks, tips, and tricks that I have found to be very useful. Covering 100 different ways to use PHP to perform a myriad of different tasks, this book covers many of the neat things that can be done to turn your web site from 'bland to grand' with little effort required!!

Some highlights of what this book will enable you to do with your PHP-based web site:

Create a skinnable interface
Add tabs to your web interface
Put an interactive spreadsheet on your page
Create drop down lists
Create dynamic menus for your site
Make a DHTML slideshow
Create an interactive calendar
Create thumbnail images
Read XML easily with regular expressions
Create RTF and Excel documents dynamically
Turn any object into an array
Create a login system for your web site

Aside from these top hacks/tips that I especially enjoyed, there is also time spent on better object oriented development with PHP, advice for testing your site out, and a whole myriad of other outstanding things you can do!

If you use PHP at your job and you want to tack on some more skills, you would be at a loss if you didn't pick up a copy of PHP Hacks.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best PHP reference I have used, bar none, February 20, 2006

By	Abe Usher "information security nut" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

I've read at least a dozen books on web development with PHP. This book is the best, by far!

The good:
* Excellent coverage of elegant PHP for dealing with databases and XML
* Outstanding explanation of automated code generation (a must for professional PHP developers)
* Description (and code implementation) of how to use design patterns with PHP. Former J2EE guys will love this.
* High quality prose and clear descriptions. I did not find any grammatical or spelling errors.
* Light sense of humor (without the unnecessary banter that one finds in most "... for Dummies" books)

The bad:
* Nothing.

As a software developer of 10 years, I give this book my highest recommendation.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR CREATING DYNAMIC WEB PAGES, February 5, 2006

By	John R. Vacca "Tech Write Independent Reviewer" (Pomeroy, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Do you use Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP)--an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language to create dynamic Web pages? If you do, this book is for you. Author Jack Herrington, has written an outstanding book that covers the entire PHP spectrum--offering hacks that are focusing on everything from HTML and Ajax to code generation and database-driven message queuing.

Herrington, begins by walking you through the basics of installing PHP and MySQL; as well as, using the Pear library. Then, he covers how to use HTML tricks in conjunction with PHP to jazz up your interface. The author continues by using the powerful combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript known as Dynamic HTML in conjunction with PHP to show just what you can do in a web browser. In addition, he shows a wide variety of methods that you can use to display data in a graphical form. The author also shows you how to make flexible database objects and even to build your database layer automatically using code generation. Then, the author takes the coverage of PHP up notch and discusses techniques that you can use to develop applications quickly and reliably. Next, he shows you how to use several design patterns to make better PHP applications. Next, the author covers testing techniques that will find bugs for you and continuously monitor the operation of your site. Then, he shows the use of different user interfaces to work with your PHP code. Finally, the author shows you how to use the fun stuff on the Web to monitor multiplayer games, use Google Maps in your applications, and much more.

This excellent book offers more than just canned solutions. It offers ideas and techniques that you can use in your own applications.