PHP

Anon

HI,

This is going to sound silly to the rest of you but I need quick answers.

I have a guy working with me that decided to bring down our server to install PHP. I am a business person I want to know why and what benefits it has. Is it to maintain all the pages easier? And, why does the server need to come down.

I am currently in the process of negotating a content management system, will this PHP hurt or help or what?

Please help.

Thanks

Anon

The server should not need to be down for more than 15-30 min. The benefit of installing php is to allow the ability of dynamic data in html pages.

PHP could be used to implement your content management system.

You didn't tell us the OS your server uses, so the down time is only a guess but if he's doing it right, it should be a maximum too.

Anon

The OS is Apache.

Thanks so much for answering so quickly.

Is there a way to tell by looking at the source code if in fact PHP is being used? I was told that it was being done, but when I look at the code I don't' see anything but html and javascript. I am sure you can tell I am not very technical but this is really important.

Thanks,

Dawn

Anon

The web server is apache 🙂 The os is either a form of unix or windows, most likely.

PHP is delimited by <? or <?php and ?>

so if you see those in the html, that's php code.

Anon

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

So if he is using this for page management reasons what does it do? Can you make global changes to all the pages within an already built site? Do you have to add PHP to all the pages if so what is the point. Is it like CSS? I am not trying to be annoying here and I really do appreciate your help.

What's your take on PHP, does it have staying power? How scalable is it and does it work with other code like for instance jhtml? My company is switching platforms to ATG dynamo solutions, will this PHP work with that or will everything have to be redone?

I am a usability specialist and applaud you folks who know all these other things.

Thanks🙂

Anon

I have never heard od ATG dynamo solutions...sounds like software for an existing OS. Why doen't the guy doing the install answer most of these questions, especially the ones specific to your business such as the dynamo solutions thing?

PHP is a full programming language similar to perl. Check out the faq at php.net for more info.

Anon

PHP.net is explaining exactly what I need.

Thanks for your time. Oh, the reason I haven't asked this person those questions is because I don't think he knows the proper answers. That site does.

🙂

Anon

Apache is the web server, not the OS. The OS is usually either Windows NT or Unix/Linux. In this case, it's more likely to be UNIX/Linux as it's still unusual for PHP to be installed on NT although it is possible.

PHP is a language for adding extra funtionality to web-sites like querying databases. By installing it on your webserver it gives you extra options. However, it does not HAVE to be used. Your existing webpages may be unchanged.

Also, what Tom says about the source code is correct but you might easily misunderstand this. If you look at the source of your webpages as a visitor to the site sees them they will contain only HTML and JavaScript even if PHP has been used. This is because PHP creates HTML and JavaScript.

You would most likely know that PHP is being used if the names of any pages were someting.php or .php3 or .phtml rather than .htm or .html.