"davidshook" <itsmedavid@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c75cf80b.0309070900.5c30c707@posting.google.c om...[color=blue]
> I am a begginer with not too much time on my hand. I do some html
> pages with Dreamweaver and with some minor Flash actionscript and I
> have a minor ability (with the help of lots of tutorials) to do some
> PHP.
>
> I love Dreamweaver MX since it realy simplifies the visual part of the
> process of making a page and also help with code typos since it
> generates alot of the basic code automatically (for example, I don't
> have to know how to write a relative link or an absolute link;
> Dreamweaver figures taht out for me. Another example, I don't have to
> type a link at all, the interface helps me find the target and
> generates the link for me).
>
> When I try to build a page with PHP, I have a very hard time getting
> the visual part of the page correctly (and make many typo mistakes in
> the code. Also, since I am not (and don't have the time to be) an
> experienced or a pro, I have hard time remembering attributes in html
> and php (which usually, dreamweaver provides automatically).
>
>
> I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS OR KNOWS OF A
> PROGRAM SIMILAR TO DREAMWEAVER, BUT MADE FOR PHP RATHER THAN FOR
> HTML!!!!!!!
>
>
> One thing I tried to do to solve this problem was to create part of
> the page with dreamweaver and than cut and past the html code into the
> php page... this way I dont have to deal with issues such typing the
> links correctly, typing the color codes correctly, etc, etc...
>
> the problem is that the quatation marks are different for php and
> html. So I spend all of my time fixing quatation mark typos.[/color]
How long have you been using Dreamweaver? I think Dreamweaver MX is an
excellent tool for PHP development - but if you have the money, then take a
look at the Zend Studio (by the people who do the Zend Engine for PHP) at
http://www.zend.com
I've been using Dreamweaver MX for about six months now and have no problems
with it - Fair enough it doesn't have the PHP syntax but it does have Cold
Fusion syntax (which carry some similarities with environment variables).
Do you realise there is a "Code View" and "Design View" - The former shows
you a page where you can insert your PHP code (inside tags) while the latter
is the appearance of the page (as seen through static HTML).
In my templates, I have the following at the very top
<? include_once("$_SERVER[DOCUMENT_ROOT]/../include/standard.fip");
$parentScript=explode(".", "$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]");
$parentScriptName=array_shift($parentScript);
include("$INCLUDE$parentScriptName.php");
?>
standard.php has a set of functions that I use in most of my scripts (things
like cleansing form input and various debug functions that I can easily
remove later).
I write my PHP in to a file with the same name as my html file in a
subfolder called "../include" All my functions are contained there... That
way, my main html file designed by Dreamweaver just needs to call the
function...
For example, I have a file called "../include/countries.php" It has a list
of countries and I use GeoIP to help me determine where a client PC is
calling from (their country). In countries.php, there's a function called
selectFunction(); which creates a select box of every country in the world,
but automatically highlights the country found using GeoIP.
When I design my HTML, all I need to do to display the select pulldown box
is hardcode "selectFunction();"
I think you just need to organise yourself better and if possible, have any
changes to your workspace automatically ftp'd to your PHP/webserver when you
save it on dreamweaver - that way you can test your results instantly.
