Adobe Dreamweaver CS5: Advanced with PHP

Course Description:

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 introduces a range of powerful PHP features. This course is for those who have some experience of using Dreamweaver (CS3 or CS4) but who want to combine Dreamweaver CS5 and PHP to build dynamic, database driven websites or add dynamic content to an existing static site.

This three day Adobe authorised course is designed to enable you to develop dynamic content using PHP and advanced Dreamweaver skills. We run a separate course for those using ASP instead of PHP - please call for a course outline.

The course covers how to set up and build a simple, dynamic application. You will cover how to configure your system to pass data between pages, use PHP code hinting, utilise site-specific code hints, communicate with databases, collect, process, filter and display dynamic data, authenticate specific users, work with dynamic forms and build update pages. If you wish to work on your own website or project as part of the course, this course can also be taken as individual tuition or as a private company course.

This course includes the following modules:

Getting started

• An overview of PHP
• Creating the contact page
• Creating a new page based on an existing page
• Working in Live View
• Inserting and formatting text
• Inserting images from the insert bar
• Creating tables
• The Property Inspector

Dynamic websites

• Dynamic website basics
• Choosing a server model
• Redefining the site for dynamic development
• Developing with a local server
• Creating a virtual host
• Developing with a remote server
• Building a simple, dynamic application

Passing data between pages

• Understanding the HTTP protocol
• Retrieving data
• Setting and retrieving cookies

Sending email from a web page

• Introducing SMTP email service
• Writing the code to send emails
• Creating the web form

Building a simple database

• A crash course on databases
• Working with a MySQL database
• Avoiding common mistakes in database design
• Connecting the site to a database
• Creating recordsets and displaying database information

Generating PHP with Server Behaviours

• Using Dreamweaver PHP Server Behaviours to prototype data-driven pages without doing much coding

Practical example: building a Tour Price calculator

• Creating the pages
• Building the form
• Collecting, processing and displaying the data
• Adding server-side form validation
• Creating the conditional region
• Creating and applying a custom CSS class
• Dynamically populated drop-down menus
• Creating filtered recordsets
• Revising the calculation script with live data
• Documenting your code with comments

Filtering and displaying data

• Preparing the input page
• Generating URLs dynamically
• Preparing the output page
• Populating page layouts dynamically
• Adding dynamic images

Building the tour descriptions

• Creating recordsets with joins
• Building the descriptions
• Inserting images and alt attributes
• Implementing recordset paging
• Passing data to other applications

Managing content with forms

• Creating the admin section
• Creating the form interface

Building search interfaces

• Creating the Search All link
• Searching by region and country
• Switching SQL statements
• Testing and debugging

Authenticating users

• Building the registration pages
• Building a log-in page
• Restricting access to pages

Building Update pages

• Planning master-detail pages
• Making the detail page updateable
• Using Ajax to refresh content

Overview of designing and editing popular Content Management Systems using Dreamweaver CS5

• Using Site Specific Code Hints
• Editing Drupal, Joomla! and WordPress sites directly in the Dreamweaver Document window

Deploying your database-driven site

• Everything you need to know to get your site online