What is Reddit's opinion of
XAMPP?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
62 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Hey dude, if you want to run your code on your desktop/laptop you can install XAMPP. It's available for pretty much all the major operating systems and includes apache, mysql and php.
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Hope that helps.
You just need to set up a server on your computer.
I've always used xampp when developing locally.
It's easy to install and shouldn't take more than 5 mins of your time to set up.
AFAIK on the 'free' version you'd get no access to the underlying PHP for your specific Wordpress install, though you're free to download the source and play with it locally all you want (which is what I'd recommend).
If you're looking to document the learning process, here's what I'd suggest, assuming the following things:
You're on Windows
You don't have a current web host
1) Download XAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html)
2) Secure the XAMPP installation as recommended in the install
3) Setup the downloadable Wordpress installation (if you decide Wordpress is the way to go--not my preference though it's immensely popular so there's a large community to draw from) onto your XAMPP server
4) Blog and edit the source files all you want without having to pay for hosting costs
5) If you decide you want to host the blog when you're "done", or far enough along that you "get it", then export your database, zip up the Wordpress directory and move it over to your new host.
"The default configuration is not good from a securtiy point of view and it's not secure enough for a production environment - please don't use XAMPP in such environment. " - http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
its very insecure. No one runs xampp as production on a server.
XAMPP is what you are looking for. It is a single software package with everything you'll need for a web server. Being an open source advocate, I'd recommend dropping Windows for Linux, but use what you are comfortable with.
Once you get a little SQL under your belt, a good website to play around with it is SQL Fiddle. Of course you could set up your own localhost server and everything, which is very easy with XAMPP if you want to use MySQL.
Do you have PHP running on your system? The browser will not run the PHP on its own.
What happens (and your book may not have explained this well) is that the server handing you the page runs the php and inserts the output from that into your page. That data is then passed from the server to the client (your browser) and displayed as HTML.
If you're on Linux, this means you need to have httpd running, your file needs to be in /var/www/html (by default), and you need to access your file through http://localhost/yourfile.php. If you're on Windows, your best bet is to install XAMPP (only use this for testing, it's not secure), put your file in <xampp_install_directory>/htdocs, open the XAMPP control panel, start apache, then access your file through http://localhost/yourfile.php.
Your best bet is to run it on your local computer. There is software that emulates what a web server does, so you can develop as if it were on the internet somewhere, when in reality it's on your local computer. I recommend some free software like Xampp: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
It takes a little to get set up, but there are a lot of tutorials online, or your can post up here and one of us can help you get started.
We use PHP/MySQL: Setup a Apache-server with XAMPP, this is done in five minutes. Learn yourself the SQL language and PHP and use the PDO driver and prepared statements. See www.w3schools.com for references.
I've got an old laptop running Mint 9 and []Xampp](http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html), works a treat. Xampp gives you Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl in one stack. Really easy to install and it will save you a lot of hassle.
Install PHP on your local computer you'll save yourself lots of time and headaches:
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
"XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start."
Any website you are working on, run an identical copy on your own machine. Make changes there and if they work, upload them to the server.
If you'd like to update links across all your pages, use some simple PHP to do it.
Just put your links in a basic html file called nav.html (just the links will do) and replace the menu html in your pages with this snippet: > <?php include "nav.html"; ?>
Edit: I forgot to mention that you will need to change the extension of the files to .php and use a apache/php server host to run it. I recommend XAMPP.
You could try XAMPP on the server. It's easy to setup.
You'll need a php page that returns your results as JSON (suggestion).
On the client side, you could call that php to return the JSONObject.
Example:
private JSONObject getJSONObj(String url) { JSONObject json = null;
//Log.d(TAG, url);
HttpParams params = new BasicHttpParams(); params.setParameter(CoreConnectionPNames.CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, 15000); HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient(params); HttpGet request = new HttpGet(url);
try { HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(request);
HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity(); if (entity != null) { InputStream cs = entity.getContent(); String data = convertStreamToString(cs);
json = new JSONObject(data);
cs.close(); } } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
return json; }
You should call this from an AsyncTask and you could update your UI in the onPostExecute.
This is one of many ways to do what you want. Hope it helps a bit.
I highly recommend XAMMP. It's available for all the major OSs, is completely free, and is easy to use.
Quick instructions for using it:
Install XAMMP
Run XAMMP
Click the run buttons.
Put your files into the "htdocs" folder in the XAMMP directory.
Type "http://localhost/{your folder/filename)"
And that's it. Hope this helps.
I'll just throw this out there: If you have an always-on computer or only code on one computer, you could try making that your web server, that's how I started off. If you're running Windows, you can throw on XAMPP and you'll be able to run any PHP you write. If you have an unused or always-on computer, I'd recommend throwing on Ubuntu Server and using that.
Try XAMPP to get Apache running with minimal fuss. Put the applet files where they need to go and try it out in your browser (usually by going to http://localhost ).
I'd recommend XAMPP. It creates a virtual server on your PC where you can run php & sql. You can start making your project here and then port it to a webhost once it's done.
Get a new host through Dreamhost where you can actually have a wordpress.org blog/site. WordPress.com is not for developers, and is just as similar to Blogger.
If you want to add widgets, do offline editing, and other development bits, then you need a WordPress.org hosted blog.
Self hosting of a WordPress.org blog can be done using XAMPP, and just download the WordPress.org files.
I'm not sure what your programming experience is but if you don't have a lot of prior experience, I'd start with something a bit simpler than Java (I am not a fan of .NET and I think there are some licensing fees that can add up). Try PHP first since it's a lot easier to get up and running with something like XAMP or other OS specific bundles.
I learned SQL in a computer science class. Taking a class at college or junior college might be helpful. Also, If you want to setup a MySQL server, try xammp. http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Don't know how much you know about programming in general, so hard to give tips...
But if you're just starting with server-side programming....XAMPP is great.
Seconding Wordpress. If you can, use the files from wordpress.org to set up Wordpress on your own server. You can set up your own simple server at home using XAMPP or use a service such as Bluehost or 1and1 to "rent" a remote server you can use. The idea may seem a little overwhelming now but deploying Wordpress on your own server will be an excellent learning experience and give you the opportunity to mes around with things and expand later as you eventually grow more competent at managing a website. All of the features you've mentioned above can be set up on a Wordpress site without too much difficulty. You'll just have to install some themes and plugins.
Is PHP compiled with links to the proper MySQL libs? The only way for Joomla to know about your database engine (MySQL) is to ask PHP which checks its libraries.
Your best bet is to avoid compiling from source, if you don't have the experience, and try pre-compiled packages. Check out XAMPP for Linux, or your local distribution-centric binary repository.
I had big problems getting WAMP working on my win7 machine. I found XAMPP and have never looked back. So simple to setup and use.
As for frameworks - you should check out CodeIgniter and Bonfire. Ive built 3 projects in CI after trying out Cake and prefer it much more. I recently discovered Bonfire and plan to use it in my next project as it appears to significantly cut down on development time, especially if you need an admin backend for your project.
Not sure if these will help you with your current issues, but they sure helped me.
yap. PHPMyAdmin is easy and nice GUI for MySQL script. if you're a Windows user- may be downloading XAMPP is simpler one. cause it's a package of mysql, phpmyadmin, and apache web server.
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
in linux, you can try download and install phpmyadmin/postgreSQL from its repository.
>You'll need some web hosting that will allow all these things and I wouldn't rely on campus hosting either
Actually, if you just need something to practice and not published to the public, I highly recommend you configure your own computer as a development server. This will teach you the basics of server configuration and you should ALWAYS use a development server instead of just deploying everything.
Also if you're just doing PHP based stuff, you can start with XAMPP
Of those two, I would recommend PHP, as it's pretty easy to get started with, very short write/test cycles but still very powerful. The problem with PHP is that it is so easy to learn, that you might pick up some bad coding practices. If you're running windows, just download xampp and notepad++ and you're good to go.
Java is crazy powerful, but very complex and there is so many ways to do web development in it that you might be discouraged. The startup time to even get a Java project up and running can be discouraging, even for me who do this for a living.
Other alternatives for web development are Python, Ruby on Rails, .Net etc. Quite frankly, there are so many different web platforms out there that its silly, but any of those mentioned are serious suggestions.
EDIT Added links
Tools like Access are probably the easiest to use. MySQL with one of the many graphical front ends might be a good solution, but a bit more complicated.
Xampp makes it easy to install MySQL along with Apache and PHP for web based reporting and inputting. It also installes PHPMySQL which is a web based graphical front end for administering the database.
Hope this helps.
Yep, use PHP includes. Here's an overview of how to do it, just so you have the general idea. Google for nitty-gritty.
Write out all the code for your index page, using DIVs for positioning, then slice out the sections that will be the same across multiple pages (nav, sidebar) and place those in separate PHP files.
Replace the sections you chopped out of your index page with PHP includes. <?php include("nav.php"); ?> will load the separate nav.php for your nav menu into the "space" you've reserved for it on the page making the call.
EDIT: Keep in mind all your pages using even a little bit of PHP will need PHP file extensions instead of HTML, and if you're just starting out the best thing is probably to edit them on the server. If you want PHP to work correctly on your own computer you will need to install a local server like this one - http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Download XAMPP. It's an easy to use apache distribution that includes MYSQL (among things).
When installed just run the control panel, start Mysql and open the shell to create and connect to a database. You can then always download PHPMyAdmin for a GUI to work on your database.
Another way to use the Mysql from shell is to run it from the command prompt (on Windows) by simply typing "mysql", along with the host to connect to and the admin login and password that you've set.
I used XAMPP. You install it, and then you run the program, mysql,apache,php whatever you want. You then once you click start/run, enter 127.0.0.1 or 127.0.0.0 and you will have your MySQL database to work on. Then this link helps with XAMPP and MYSQL
You could always host it yourself on an old computer or your current pc.
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html is a good place to start learning. (cross platform webserver)
I have never paid for or used free webhosting on its own so cant really give you a good recommendation for hosting. I have always hosted my sites from my own servers that I either own or rent.
If you have a domain name, I could probably give you some free hosting if you wish. (or use a subdomain of one of mine to get you started..)
I think it depends on what you're doing. I've always been happy with the CLI interface for doing basic queries. It works nicely with shell scripts for getting information in/out of the DB easily.
There is also PHPmyadmin (screens and demo here) that is basically a web GUI for the DB. Makes it super easy to create DBs, create/edit tables, run queries, etc.
There is also XAMPP (link) which is a bundle of Apache, MySQL, PHP & PEAR, SQLite, Perl, ProFTPD, etc etc etc all in one exectuable. It's good for rapid webdev but may be overkill for what OP was asking for. I like XAMPP because everything is already glued together for you.
I find this to be the easiest and most up to date way to install apache, mysql and php.
Regarding terminal a good thing I found recently, also new to linux, is you can create short commands for most things.
for example, xampp has a file I can execute to control the server
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start
I can create a shortcut (symbolic link) to that like so
sudo ln /opt/lampp/lampp /usr/bin/lamp
and I can now run it like
sudo lamp start
which is much quicker
Fixed your link: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Huh, I'd never looked into XAMPP before, it looks great. Currently I'm using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer to do the same thing and that works fine, too.
Javascript is a front-end scripting language that runs on the browser side. It takes care of all the user interface interactions and processing before data gets sent to the server.
PHP is a back-end scripting language that runs on the server side. You do operations like accessing the database, other services, etc. usually on the server side.
Almost all sites need a backend language (like PHP), and then all of the front-end goodies like HTML,CSS,Javascript.
My earliest days of web development involved using a PHP framework called CodeIgniter http://ellislab.com/codeigniter You could start there. It is a bare-bones framework that does some of the hard stuff for you but gets you up and running. It has a well documented manual that makes it pretty easy to do the basics.
To get started on a local development environment, you can install http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html which will allow you to run development websites on your local computer.
If you want to run yourself a giant crash course of learning web developement with PHP
- Install XAMPP
- Download CodeIgniter and get your basic site running in XAMPP
- Just focus on making a basic site (like an "About Me" website)
- Use a CSS3 framework like Bootstrap to make it look pretty
- Begin learning jQuery and doing AJAX calls with PHP etc...
- Just try using different components of each framework for fun
At least for me, my best method of learning is "tactile" (by doing myself).
Another recommendation for namecheap.com -- thanks /u/lesigh for weighting in!
On another note, though, it seems like you are getting hosted (website) with your domain registrar. From my experience, I'd say the hosting service provided by most registrar are sub-par at best, and down right nasty for the most part. If you have the spare budget, you may wish to invest in an actual hosting company on top of your registrar. On that note, you should also NOT go with hosting companies as your domain registration provider. There had been a lot of horror stories where people get locked into a shitty hosting provider because hosting provider refuse to transfer the domain out to another registrar. Alternatively, if bandwidth at home isn't an issue, you can install something like xampp to run the website at your home, as well.
Hope this was slight bit helpful at the least! :)
I prefer XAMPP, personally -- but both are pretty equally well-regarded:
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
I actually added python to my own XAMPP install just a few days ago -- didn't take too much work, just a couple lines in httpd.conf and it was up and running.
Install xxamp, now you can view .php files in your browser.
Make the following: header.php content.php footer.php Now, in your content.php set out a page as you normally would, with html head and body tags.
Now after you have opened your body tag do a php include ( example ) of your header.php file. Now if you consider your content.php file a page you have just dynamically included a file that will stay the same no matter what you include in your content.php file.
This method can be used for all of the pages you will write i.e home.php, contact.php etc. All of these will have the header.php include. This is where you will put your menu so that you only ever have to change the items in one place.
If its just for practice, do it in localhost, just download XAMPP, install and run apache and mysql... Make a MySQL database by typing localhost on the browser address bar and then click on phpmyadmin.... then make a folder on the htdocs folder, unpack Joomla files there, proceed to fill out the installer forms, when you get to the database setup part, just enter localhost, user: root, and no password.
You're going to need to learn a little bit about server if you want to do anything dynamically. It's not as simple as adding a text snippet.
I suggest checking out (XAMPP)[http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html]. It includes everything you'll need to get started using PHP and the Apache web server locally.
Futhermore, if you're interesting in learning from the community, I suggest you come with a better attitude.
>LAMP is the way to go.
If you are speaking generically about the arcitecture of Linux -> Apache ->MySQL -> PHP then I agree.
If you're talking about the packaged solution LAMP, then I prefer XAMPP.
Xampp is a software bundle designed for creating a server on your computer. http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html is the link to the site. It allows you to turn it on and off at will. I've used it for a while up until recently when I set up my own barebones server.
There is probably a better MySQL GUI than SQLYog/WebYog, but it is the only one I am familiar with.
Also... you might be more comfortable with a canned XAMP environment (WAMP or LAMP, AMP is Apache/MySQL/PHP and the L/W is Linux/Windows), and I think they added PERL to the package as well.
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html is a link to that.
Of course, that stuff is great for cutting your teeth or development but I think there might be better tools.
I forget the command/utility that let you ping a server and figure out what services are running on which ports, I want to say netm but it has been years.
All of this stuff is very well documented, but even so you should expect to sink 20 hours figuring it all out and pouring over documentation to really cut your teeth on it.
Of course you probably already figured most of this stuff out.
whatever that webmatrix thing is, if it's a MS product, it's probably not running an apache webserver, so you won't have htaccess files. will this eventually be live on a windows iis server? you probably want to look into what this will actually be deployed on, a linux stack is more common for this sort of thing and arguably easier to deal with, especially when it comes to permalinks. using something like xampp locally may be a better route.
I started in middle school or high school with HTML, a little Perl and a little JavaScript. (Avoid Perl, ugh.) Now webdev is my career. The things that helped me:
- I didn't know what books to get, so I got any books. O'Reilly is generally pretty good, this book might be a good starting point.
- Whatever books, make sure you have a place to play with the things they talk about. A linux VM is great, or even just XAMPP will give you an environment to try out the demos.
- When you try a demo--play with it. Break it, see if you can make it do something else, see if you can make it prettier. Explore, these things are very easy to fix if you break them.
- Reinvent the wheel. This one is a little longer:
If you see something cool, try to do it yourself. Not necessarily "replicate all of Facebook" but take something small and see if you can figure out how to do it yourself. Use View Source (or Firebug/Web Developer Tools) to look at the code if you have to. That could be a simple thing like making an animation in JavaScript or putting together a "guestbook" (the internet used to be filled with those things) in PHP. Over time I started trying to make my own version of bigger and bigger things, like blogs, or frameworks. I'd never use this code on a "serious" web site, but I learned a lot from working my way through structuring the programs, solving the problems, etc.
Use your old computer only as a development server, you can also use your main computer- I have XAMPP installed on my main work computer and unless I'm running some kind of retarded huge database query it has little impact on my machine's performance. Install XAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html) don't try to use it to host your live site, your internet plan is probably too slow. XAMPP (or others like LAMPP) come with apache (webserver), PHP (Dynamic Language) and MySQL (Database) and PHPMyAdmin for administering your database. Also having a local dev server to work on cuts out the uploading time during the testing process, which I find makes for a much better development experience.
In terms of hosting I would not recommend GoDaddy for anything, there are better and cheaper hosts / registrars, ask around in /r/webdev for recommendations. I'm slowly migrating all my stuff from GoDaddy to Lithium Hosting, I also recommend Lithium to all my clients if they dont already have a host when they come to me.
The easiest way is to make your own. Download and install XAMPP (use the portable install instructions) and then start it's control panel. Click on the start button for the MySQL server, click on the shell button, and then type "mysql -u root" and you'll be connected to the MySQL server. From there you can create a database and play around with it. If you want to start playing with PHP you can do that very easily using the same software.
If you're just learning to develop and aren't making a website that you plan on having other people visit yet, you can just develop it on your own computer. Look into XAMPP, it's pretty painless to install and get running.
To add, I've never tried WAMP but I will highly recommend XAMPP for anyone developing a website. They've distros for Windows, Mac, Linux, and some other operating system that's not very important. cough
I can't stress enough how important it is to plan your site. Make sure you know exactly what you want it to do. Drupal is an amazing program because its possibilities are near limitless.
Also, make sure you use a local test environment on your computer before you set it up for real. XAMPP is an immensely useful tool for that.
Something else I just thought of - Pancake can be run locally if you don't want to host it remotely too.
On a Mac, light up MAMP: http://www.mamp.info/en/index.html
On a PC XAMPP: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
It sounds like Drupal would fit your needs. A problem I see that you could potentially have with all CMS's out there is that they potentially COULD filter out certain HTML.
Your best bet is to try them all out to see what works for you.
XAMPP runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux. http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
I would back up your entire site and then install xampp on a local hard drive and restore your site there under PHP5, then install drupal and try to import your phpbb data using the drupal module that chaoswings suggested. I always use xampp to test any extreme changes before doing it on a live site and its always worked well for me.