PHP Introduction

So, what is PHP? First off, the name PHP stands for “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.”

You’ll often intermix PHP with HTML; the HTML isn’t processed until it gets to the browser, but the PHP is executed on the server, and its output (typically HTML or some other text) replaces the PHP code.

This tells us two things:

1] PHP is a server-side language. None of your PHP ever hits the browser — it’s processed on the server. The other thing that might not be entirely obvious if you’ve just worked with HTML and CSS previously is that PHP is a programming language.

2] It’s not like HTML and CSS at all: when you’re writing PHP, you’re writing real code that will perform some task, usually based on some input or variable conditions. Of course, this could be just outputting some text or HTML, but often it’s more.

You’ll be able to change values on your site based on user input or other values (e.g. change the greeting based on the time of day.)

You’ll be able to use the information that a user enters into a form, maybe by giving them appropriate content based on that info (think search results) or by storing that information within a database.
You’ll be able to let your users upload files to your server.
You’ll be able to build pages “on the fly” by combining templates with content from a database, all right as the viewer requests that specific page.

Installing PHP on Windows

We’ll begin by heading over to the WAMP Homepage (http://wampserver.com/en) .

Download the WAMP server according to your operating system.

Follow the instructions to install WAMP server on your computer.

Start WAMP Server item in your programs menu. Once you choose that, you’ll see an icon in your task bar: If you click on that icon, you’ll get a menu that looks like this:

If you click on that icon, you’ll get a menu that looks like this:

Click the Localhost option, at the top of that menu. This will open your browser to the WAMP start page.

Alternatively you can start your browser and entert the URL http://localhost/ in your browser.

Any folders that you make in that directory will show up as projects on the WAMP start page. Or, you can just send your browser to http://localhost/YOUR_FOLDER_NAME to see your work.

Error: Missing msvcr100.dll

Download msvcr100.zip OR Google msvcr100.dll and download the appropriate file.
Extract the zip file and then copy the msvcr100.dll file in system32 folder in C:\ your windows folder.
Now exit WAMP (by right click wamp icon in taskbar) and run WAMP server again.

Step 1] LEFT click WAMP icon. Select Apache -> Service -> Install Service

Step 2] You will get the following window. Press Enter

Step 3] LEFT click WAMP icon. Select Apache -> Service -> Start/Resume Service

Step 4] You will get following window. Click Allow Access.

Step 5] Done.