PHP & MySQL

In one of my recent projects I had to compare disparate time formats within an archiving script. As always, Google proved immensely helpful, leading me toPHP Function Libraries: Date and Time on FAQTs, which provides solutions to many (un)common date/time manipulation questions.

The PHP Knowledgebase should prove to be a great resource down the line.

I recently ran into a problem wherein the content management system I use for this site (WordPress) trashed the admin password. As that meant that I couldn’t log into my own site, I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. WordPress uses MD5 Hashes to secure user passwords in the database, so editing the password in the database directly isn’t an option as the string appears to be gibberish to humans. As the admin user has unique abilities, I really need the ability to login. A bit of a quandary, yes? Yes.

Luckily someone posted a link to the MD5 hash calculator on the WordPress Support forum. This tool let me encode a new password for the admin user, which I could then insert directly into the database, over-writing the problematic password.

In browsing through youngpup.net, I ran across this post, that illustrates the true worth of the PHP Manual (specifically the section covering Perl compatible Regular Expression Functions). I return to the manual time and again, always finding an answer to my questions. Often as not, I find a more efficient way to accomplish my task than I had in mind to begin with!

Just a quick link to the documentation describing how to access GET, POST and cookie variables from PHP: PHP: Variables from outside PHP – Manual:

// Available since PHP 4.1.0

   echo $_POST['username'];
   echo $_REQUEST['username'];

   import_request_variables('p', 'p_');
   echo $p_username;

// Available since PHP 3. As of PHP 5.0.0, these long
// predefined variables can be disabled with the
// register_long_arrays directive.

   echo $HTTP_POST_VARS['username'];

// Available if the PHP directive register_globals = on. As
// of PHP 4.2.0 the default value of register_globals = off.
// Using/relying on this method is not preferred.

   echo $username;

Well, in building thebrightwells.com I decided to build an address book from scratch utilizing PHP and MySQL.

All in all I’m pretty proud of the progress I’ve made on it, other than a few stupid mistakes (luckily Matt W. pointed out an extra comma which drove me nuts for a good 45 minutes), I learned a lot in a short time.

The biggest issue was the fact that neither the MySQL, nor the PHP book sitting upon my shelves presented some of the key concepts in a manner that would make sense to me. After combing through a ton of online tutorials and gathering the occasional glimmer of knowledge I made my way down to Borders to pick up Beginning PHP 4.

The book was well worth the money as I was able to complete the entry editing and deleting functionality after reading two of the chapters.

Somehow I have managed to get myself into a position where I have to learn (or expand my knowledge of) several technologies in a short amount of time. It feels great. As Gunny Ermey would say “Ooorah!”