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Beginner's SQL: CASE expressions

There's more to SQL than SELECT columns FROM tables, just as there's more to life than Go, Dog. Go!

SQL can, to someone learning it, seem incredibly difficult beyond the simplest statements. There's nothing wrong with simple SQL, though. Part of the art of SQL is getting complex results with simple statements. And as parents who have read this book many times can confirm, even Go, Dog. Go! is filled with subtlety, intrigue, beauty, power, wonder, infuriation, surprise, and joy, all while being written in simple language. Just like SQL.

This article describes CASE expressions and what you can do with them. The syntax is covered briefly, mainly because there's little to explain, since it's rather straightforward. At least, so it appears on the surface. Then come the examples, which reveal how comprehensive, powerful, yet simple your SQL can be with CASE expressions.

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Rudy Limeback
14446

PHP and XML #3: WDDX

In the first part of this tutorial series, we looked at XML the technology – saw what it was, and how a valid XML document in formed. In the second part we looked at how to process XML using SAX, to read XML and use the information, or to translate it into different formats such as HTML.

 We're now going to start looking at various uses of XML and the various different technologies available on the web that utilize XML. In this tutorial we're going to look at Web Distributed Data eXchange (WDDX).

Getting a handle on this technology can be enormously useful - for example by using the WDDX format for data you can send an array constructed on one page using a Perl CGI Script off for processing on a page using PHP.

In this tutorial we'll find out a bit more about the basics of WDDX before we start working with it practically.

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Gareth Downes-Powell
1784

A Photo Album site in PHP, MySQL, XHTML and CSS: Pt.I

The summer holidays are here for many of us and when we return we will have a whole bunch of photographs to show off to friends and family, and what better way than to create a site to display them on. This series of tutorials will show you how to create a site that allows the dynamic display of photo galleries using PHP and MySQL, along with a CSS layout for the design of the gallery site. 

In this first tutorial of a series we will construct the layout of the site ready to display our images dynamically.

Note: Check also the DMXzone own CSS Image Gallery extension for amazing pure CSS galleries and slideshows with a fluent navigation and image transitions!

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Rachel Andrew
29669

Beginner's SQL: Duplicates

As a member of various database discussion forums over the last few years, I've seen thousands of SQL problems, many of which seem to show up again and again. Based on how frequently it is asked, the question of deleting duplicates is among the most common.

In this article, we'll look at the nature of the duplicates problem, how it arises, and then examine several approaches to resolving the issues.

During the course of the tutorial we'll also see how to write queries that address such other common situations, such as how to select the supplier with the lowest price for a product (from several offering the same item).

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Rudy Limeback
4462

PHP and XML #2: Processing XML Documents

In the first part of this tutorial series on PHP and XML, we looked at what XML is, and how to create a valid XML file. In this tutorial, we're going to look at processing XML documents. First, we are going to look at the different methods of processing XML, using either SAX (Simple API for XML) or DOM (Document Object Model).

We are then going to look in more detail at the SAX method of processing, creating an XML file to work with, and then creating the PHP code required to translate the XML into HTML so that it can be displayed in any browser.

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Gareth Downes-Powell
2490

Drop Down Menus With Standards

Drop Down Menus have been part of the DHTML dictionary for a long time. They're a popular way to cram lots of navigation elements into a small amount of space. They work in a similar way to the menus that everybody is used to using in other programs, so offer a familiar environment.

The trouble is that many of the DHTML menus you'll find out there are from the bad old days of the browser wars, they use huge amounts of code to check for compatibilities, and fail to take into account accessibility or web standards. 

In this article we'll look at some of the ways you can build a Drop Down menu using CSS and W3C DOM (document object model)-based JavaScript. We'll also look at some options for improving the menu's accessibility.

A basic knowledge of JavaScript and CSS is recommended for this tutorial.

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Matt Machell
34187

Installing PHP 5 under Windows

PHP 5 was officially released on the 13th July 2004, so now is a great time to start working with the new version. In this article Allan will show you how to install PHP 5 on Windows using both the Apache and the IIS web servers.

Since, at the time of writing, there isn't an installer version of PHP 5 available, Allan is going to show you how to install PHP manually from the downloadable Zip archive.

This approach is not only straightforward, but is actually also preferable, as it allows you to customise your PHP installation for your system. Allan will show you the options and take you through the changes – such as enabling MySQL support (not automatic in PHP 5).

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Allan Kent
9555

Interacting with the Firebird Database: Using PHP to Insert, Update and Delete Records

In the third of the series of articles on the Firebird database, we're going to start by creating a user for the database before investigating how to insert, update and delete records by using PHP.

 

Here Allan will be building directly on, and making use of descriptions contained in the previous article Connecting to the Firebird Database.

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Allan Kent
7797

PHP and XML: Part 1

Today sees the start of a new series, with Gareth embarking on a set of articles that are going to show how to use PHP and XML together.

In this first article Gareth is going to run through the theory of XML, looking at creating an XML document and the structure of an XML document. By the end of the tutorial he puts the theory into practice by creating an example XML document.

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Gareth Downes-Powell
2289

Accessibility Validation

In this article Rachel is going to guide us through the issues surrounding validating for accessibility. Compared to validating pages for standards compliance, validating for accessibility can seem a bit vague and really rather confusing for even the best-meaning developer.

 

Here Rachel will be taking a look at what messages you might get if you submit your pages to the Cynthia Says validator and specifically ask it to report on your pages Section 508 compliance! Of course if you're outside the U.S., or don't need your site to comply with such regulations, the report will still help you to follow best practice web site coding guidelines.

 

If you're interested in this article, you might also like to check out some of Rachel's earlier articles on accessibility such as:

 

Introduction to Accessibility in Dreamweaver MX

 

Forms and Accessibility

 

Accessible Tables for data

 

Creating an Accessible Layout

 

Alternate Stylesheets for Accessibility

 

Fahrner Image Replacement and Accessible Images

 

 

 

 

 

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Rachel Andrew
6139

Connecting to the Firebird Database

In this second article on the Firebird database, Allan shows us how to use triggers in the database to set-up fields that auto-increment (as we saw in the first article Firebird doesn't let you do this straight off - you have to use internal counters called generators).

 

Moving on from there, Allan introduces us to an open source project (ibWebAdmin) that consist of a set of PHP scripts that allow you to easily administer your Firebird database through a web browser.

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Allan Kent
5660

Installing MySQL on a Windows PC

In this article we are going to look at installing MySQL on a Windows PC. MySQL is a widely used database system, for both Windows and Linux, and offers much more power than a desktop database such as Microsoft Access!

 

Since it can cope with a large number of concurrent users it's used on a huge number of Internet sites.

 

As MySql is so popular, and well supported both by Dreamweaver and hosting companies, it's ideal to grab for your home PC and experiment with. In this article we'll be seeing how to install and start MySQL, set up some basic administration and then back-up a database. We'll finish up by having a quick look at some of the tools available for administering MySQL.

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Gareth Downes-Powell
6670
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