Live preview of PHP?

Francoise

I'm trying to put together a small subscription-type website. It will have one main database-type program. Nothing very elaborate. For the content pages, I'm using HTML and CSS, of course. For the program, I expect to use PHP and MySQL. I'm teaching myself the latter -- as you might expect, I have my good days and my bad days. 🙂

I've been looking at editors and have researched them to the point of overload. Still, I expect that one could help me quite a lot. One of the features I would most like is a live preview of PHP pages. But . . . is that a realistic expectation?

I'm just not in a position right now to purchase anything like Dreamweaver. I've been looking seriously at Webuilder 2010.

Two questions, I guess:
1: Does anyone know of any reason why Webuilder 2010 would be a bad idea? (I'll use the trial version first, of course.)

2: Would I need to install a web server on my computer in order to have a preview of PHP pages? I really don't want to do that, I don't think. How much of a hassle would it be, though? to what extent would I really need it??

Any help would be much appreciated, and would probably help me stop going around in all these circles!

NogDog

You can install Apache/MySQL/PHP on your PC and test locally. Wampserver and XAMPP are two popular installation packages for doing so (WAMP for Windows, XAMPP for most platforms).

There are many different editors/IDEs out there that are useful for PHP coding, including many good free ones. If you search here on "editors" and "IDE" you should find many reviews/suggestions. (I currently use Komodo Edit free version.)

Francoise

NogDog;10934433 wrote:
You can install Apache/MySQL/PHP on your PC and test locally. Wampserver and XAMPP are two popular installation packages for doing so (WAMP for Windows, XAMPP for most platforms).

Nogdog,

Thank you so much for your reply. I'm so new to all of this that I'm very reluctant to take any steps that I don't need to. How important do you think it is for me to have Apache, etc. on my computer? I have an oldish laptop, with only 750 MB of RAM and running only at 1.1 MGz.

Is there no other way for me to be able to have a live preview of PHP???

NogDog;10934433 wrote:
There are many different editors/IDEs out there that are useful for PHP coding, including many good free ones. If you search here on "editors" and "IDE" you should find many reviews/suggestions. (I currently use Komodo Edit free version.)

Again, with the editor, etc., I'm hoping to find something that would really help me and ease the learning curve. A lot of packages that would be entirely appropriate for a programmer, whether amateur or professional, would really be too bare-bones for me. I'm staying away from WYSIWYG, but I really would like to find something that would ease my path.

laserlight

Francoise wrote:
How important do you think it is for me to have Apache, etc. on my computer? I have an oldish laptop, with only 750 MB of RAM and running only at 1.1 MGz.

Is there no other way for me to be able to have a live preview of PHP???

It is very important to be able to develop and test with ease. If you find Apache too heavyweight for your computer, then you can try lighttpd, but it might be a hassle to setup if you are on Windows.

Francoise wrote:
Again, with the editor, etc., I'm hoping to find something that would really help me and ease the learning curve. A lot of packages that would be entirely appropriate for a programmer, whether amateur or professional, would really be too bare-bones for me. I'm staying away from WYSIWYG, but I really would like to find something that would ease my path.

What features do you have in mind? What exactly do you consider "too bare-bones"?

Francoise

Thanks for your reply, laserlight!

laserlight;10934441 wrote:
It is very important to be able to develop and test with ease.

Okay, that is helpful to know. And for that I need to have a web server installed? there is no other way? How much of a hassle is installing, say, WAMP? how complicated to run it? (Imagine you are replying to someone who knows nothing at all about it.)

laserlight;10934441 wrote:
If you find Apache too heavyweight for your computer, then you can try lighttpd, but it might be a hassle to setup if you are on Windows.

But the thing is . . . I don't know if Apache is too heavyweight for my computer or not. Is it? I've looked around but can't seem to find any info on that. No one seems to mention system requirements for it. Which suggests that maybe they aren't very high?

laserlight;10934441 wrote:
What features do you have in mind? What exactly do you consider "too bare-bones"?

I would like something that would help me out as I go along. At a minimum, I would like: live preview; FTP (upload and client); syntax checking / highlighting. For HTML, CSS, and PHP, if not more.

shqip

Francoise;10934457 wrote:
Thanks for your reply, laserlight!

Okay, that is helpful to know. And for that I need to have a web server installed? there is no other way? How much of a hassle is installing, say, WAMP? how complicated to run it? (Imagine you are replying to someone who knows nothing at all about it.)

I use wampserver and I didn't have any trouble installing it, it's easy to use and it's quite small (16 mb download). You put the files you want to view in the "www directory", then go to "http://localhost/", look under "Projects" and click on the file you want to view.

Download Link: http://www.wampserver.com/en/download.php

Francoise

shqip;10934459 wrote:
I use wampserver and I didn't have any trouble installing it, it's easy to use and it's quite small (16 mb download). You put the files you want to view in the "www directory", then go to "http://localhost/", look under "Projects" and click on the file you want to view.

Thank you, shqip. It actually looks rather cool. 🙂

Here's my real question. I am an older sort of person who is just scared of this stuff. I've never done this, and I don't know anyone who's done it. My real question is: Is there anything to be afraid of???

laserlight

Francoise wrote:
Okay, that is helpful to know. And for that I need to have a web server installed? there is no other way?

Well, it is possible to run PHP without a web server, but since you want to develop with PHP for use on a website, it makes sense to have a web server installed. In fact, ideally you would install the same web server software and version of PHP as you use on your production website (and on the same operating system, with the same database software, etc).

Francoise wrote:
How much of a hassle is installing, say, WAMP? how complicated to run it? (Imagine you are replying to someone who knows nothing at all about it.)

We actually have a forum dedicated to PHP installation issues. There are a few threads stickied that contain instructions for beginners and more experienced programmers alike.

Francoise wrote:
Here's my real question. I am an older sort of person who is just scared of this stuff. I've never done this, and I don't know anyone who's done it. My real question is: Is there anything to be afraid of???

In fact, I do not think that there is anything to be afraid even of a manual installation.

NogDog

I have run WAMP in the past on a notebook of similar specifications. It ran fine, though maybe not with blazing speed. 😉 It's probably lighter in "weight" than many "normal" applications you run - the editor you choose may well be more processing-/memory-intensive.

Francoise

laserlight and Nogdog,

Thank you for your very helpful replies. Installing a server has always sounded like a "big deal" to me, and something that only a very knowledgeable person would do. But perhaps it's not as complex as I have imagined. Your replies are reassuring.

I used to be intimidated by my computer, and so I decided to build my own in order to overcome that. The build was a success, and I've felt much more confident about the computer ever since. Maybe installing a server will turn out to be a similar story!