PHP – an abbreviation for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor and earlier meant for Personal Home Page till its 3.0 version loomed in the IT world. It is basically, an open source server side programming and scripting language offering web developers a lot of instruments for web customization and developing.

PHP – A lucid and versatile platform for web application development:

PHP is a versatile form of scripting language, thus, it can be used if you are a beginner or wannabe programmer and also if you are an expert. By spending only a few hours, you can grab a good command on the basis of PHP development which allows you to begin the use of PHP as per your requirement. Furthermore, if you are expertise in PHP Web Application Development domain, then also you can utilize a few more advanced features of PHP which can capitalize on your potential.

Uses of PHP web applications:

• It is a dynamic language that can oblige the purpose of all the organizations such as travel, education, hospitality, aviation, technology, travel, ecommerce and there are a few more. Various development companies are offering a variety of models to its different clienteles and that totally depends on its requirement.
• As far as the contemporary IT market is concerned, a wide range of PHP solutions are available that includes CRM development, business software, business applications, web maintenance, classified ads, communities, dynamic websites, web portals, auction and there are many more. Thus, various business owners can Hire PHP Developers for their business needs.

Steps to build a web application:

If you are eager to work on a web application then just go through the following steps that are easy to understand and follow:

Part 1: Fix up your project and create your first class

• Create an outline of your project
• Set your file and folder
• To handle the database operations: Create a class: Example – DB.class.php

Part 2: Develop the remaining backend

• Develop a user class
• Create a user tools class
• Register / log out / log in

Part 3: Build the front end

• Create a form
• Handling of forms
• Display session data

An overview to set up the project:

Creating a road map:

It is the best way to set up the road map that can help you to figure out that where exactly you are going. Before you start creating and coding your file, it is better to set your target. So, map out the complete project and then take your decisions about the folder structure and identify the need of essential files.

Files and folder structure:

An OOP (Object Oriented Programming) PHP project utilizes objects and classes so as to excute various functions. For such a project, you need to work on three classes including User Class – basic save ( ) function, User Tools – login( ), logout( ) and Database class- updating, inserting, connecting, retrieving rows.

The final directory structure will looks like as shown below:

• www
  • classes
    • DB.class.php
    • User.class.php
    • UserTools.class.php
  • Includes
    • global.inc.php
    • index.php
    • login.php
    • logout.php
    • register.php
    • settings.php
    • welcome.php

Creating database and users table:

You need to have MySQL install on your server. Further, you can process with the following steps:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ‘users’(
‘id’ int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
‘username’ varchar(50) NOT NULL,
‘password’ varchar(50) NOT NULL,
‘email’ varchar(50) NOT NULL,
‘join_date’ datetime NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(‘id’)
UNIQUE KEY ‘username’ (‘username’)
) ENGINE = MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET = latin1;

Similarly, you can work on creating a class and code breakdown process. You can easily proceed with further steps and can create a web application very easily.

Written by Celin Smith: Celin Smith is a technical writer and PHP Develper, currently in close professional vicinity with a leading Web Development Company Provide PHP Web Development Services. Get in touch with her in order to turn your website ideas into realities by Hire PHP Developers for your web development projets.