"davidshook" <it********@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c7**************************@posting.google.c om...
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.
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.
