INTECH 2201

LECTURE
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Storing Script Data
$_GET & $_POST

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Storing script data
▪ PHP variables are storage containers that store information
▪ Examples:
▫ $alien_desc = ‘Little blue men’;
▫ $alien_desc = $_POST[‘alien_desc’];

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Processing Forms
▪ There are two ways the browser client can send information to
the web server.
▪ The GET method.
▪ The POST method.

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GET vs POST
Which is more secure 🤔

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$_GET method
▪ Used to collect values in a form with method=“get”.
▪ GET method is visible to everyone
▪ GET should NEVER be used for sending passwords or other
sensitive information!

$_POST method
▪ Used to collect values in a form with method=“post”.
▪ POST method is invisible to everyone
▪ Developers prefer post for sending data
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GET method
index.php process.php

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GET method

When you click

the send
button, notice
the URL
contains the
username and
password

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POST method
index.php process.php

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POST method

When you click

the send
button, notice
the URL does
not contain
the username
and password

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$_POST transports form data to script
▪ $_POST is a special variable that holds form data
▪ $_POST is known as superglobal because it is built into PHP
and is available throughout an entire script
▪ $_POST array is filled with the values the user entered into
the form.
▪ Each element corresponds to a piece of data entered into a
form field.

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2
Setting up a database connection
PHP Forms and MySQL

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Connecting to Database
▪ We use the method mysqli_connect();
▪ Before we can use it, we need to identify the servername,
username, password of the MySQL database and the
database name
▫ $servername = “localhost”;
▫ $username = “root”;
▫ $password = “”;
▫ $database = “learnDB”;

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Connecting to Database
▪ mysqli_connect() accepts 4 parameters; server name,
username, password, and database name
▪ Database name is optional, can be omitted
▫ mysqli_connect($servername,$username,$password) //without
database name
▫ mysqli_connect($servername,$username,$password,$database) //with
database name

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Create a database

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Connection with database name

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Connection without database name

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Testing the connection

We selected an existing database in the We selected a not existing database in the

phpMyAdmin. phpMyAdmin.
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Selecting Database
▪ We used mysqli_select_db() to select the preferred database.
▪ mysqli_select_db() accepts two parameters, first is the
database connection, second is the database name.
▫ mysqli_select_db($connection,$database);

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3
Querying the database
PHP Forms and MySQL

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Executing Query
▪ When executing sql commands, we use mysqli_query()
▪ mysqli_query() accepts two parameters, first is the database
connection, second is the query or the sql command
▫ $query = “select * from personnel”;
▫ $result = mysqli_query($connection,$query);

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Executing Query
▪ When an sql commands will not return a value then we don’t
need a variable that will catch the result of mysqli_query()
▫ $query = “delete from students where id=1”;
▫ mysqli_query($connection,$query);

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Outputting Query
▪ Output all row/data set using loop
▫ while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)){ echo”<div>”.
$row[‘firstname’].”</div>;
echo”<div>”.$row[‘lastname’].”</div>;
echo”<div>”.$row[‘nickname’].”</div>;
echo”<div>”.$row[‘email’].”</div>;
echo”<div>”.$row[‘salary’].”</div>;
}

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Displaying Query
▪ Get the number of rows
▫ $num_result = mysqli_num_rows($result);

▪ Output all row/data set using for loop

▫ for($i=0;$i<$num_results;$i++){
$row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
echo”<div>”.$row[‘firstname’].”</div>;
echo”<div>”.$row[‘lastname’].”</div>;
}

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Populate your database
Using the phpMyAdmin populate atleast 1
information for your personnel table

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Display it using
PHP

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Sample output

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Closing Database
▪ To close a database
use
▫ mysqli_close($conn
ection);

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4
Sessions
PHP Forms and MySQL

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What is a Session?
▪ A session is a global variable stored on the server
▪ A special array used to store information across the page
requests, a user makes during his/her visit to web application
▪ In a session based environment, every user is identified
through a unique number called session identifier or SID

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PHP Session Variables
▪ It allows user to store information on the server for later use
(e.g. username, shopping items, etc.)
▪ Sessions work by creating a unique id (UID) for each visitor
and store variables based in this UID
▪ Session variables tracks data for a user while they travel
through a series of web pages

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Starting a PHP Session

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Storing and Accessing Session Data

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Removing a Session
▪ The unset() function is used to free the specified session
variable.

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Destroying a Session
▪ The session_destroy() function will reset your session and
will destroy all the stored session data.

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Reminder
▪ Every time you want to use session variables or unset the
session variables, you need to start the session first before
accessing the variables.

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References
▪ W3Schools (2022). PHP Tutorial.
https://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp
▪ w3resource (2020, February 26). PHP Tutorials for beginners.
https://www.w3resource.com/php/php-home.php

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End
Any questions?
Email me at amir.ledesma@clsu2.edu.ph

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