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Beginner's SQL: UNION

Many SQL tutorials will show you how to combine tables using joins before they discuss unions. This is a shame, because unions are easier. Children learning arithmetic are always taught first to add, and only then to multiply. Unions and joins are just like that. Unions combine tables by "adding" them, while joins combine tables by "multiplying" them.

In this article, the humble UNION operator is presented in all its simple glory. Its purpose, to combine tables, is illustrated with several useful examples.

Rudy Limeback

7641

CSS Tabs for Beginners

Tabs are a staple of website navigation. They provide a great visual metaphor for users, and they nicely round off otherwise boxy layouts. This beginning level tutorial is about creating tabs in XHTML and CSS, keeping your mark-up solid, but the visuals more interesting. The method will work in most modern browsers, and we'll cover a few exceptions and workarounds for those it doesn't work with later on.

You'll need basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. Fortunately, if you're using Dreamweaver MX2004, it'll help you by autocompleting the CSS and providing basic XHTML pages to work with. Watch out for problems with plain old Dreamweaver MX, as it's CSS rendering isn't perfect, so Design View may not look as it does in a browser.

The tutorial will take you through the changes we make to the CSS showing how the different alterations affect the end result. The full source code is included at the end of the article, as is a quick example of how to customise the technique.

Matt Machell

28983

Getting Started with the Firebird Database

One of the first things you need to decide when starting planning and development on a new project is which database you intend using for the project. Do you go big budget with Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle, or towards the open source end of things with MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite all of which have different drawbacks?

In this series of articles Allan introduces us to another alternative – a completely free open source feature rich database, called Firebird. In future articles he's going to show us how to code support for Firebird into our PHP pages but this article starts with the crucial first steps – installation, how to change the admin password and creating a first database and table.

Allan Kent

3768

PHP Back to Basics #11: Working with Files

In this tutorial, Gareth's going to take a detailed look at working with files in PHP. This can make a useful alternative to always using a database to persist your site data. For example if you're coding up a simple page counter, using a file on the server can make an extremely effective low overhead solution.

This article covers:

How to read and write files on the server (including setting permissions)
Reading the contents of directories
Checking whether files exist
How to delete files from the server.

Gareth Downes-Powell

2209

Learn Through Better Deconstruction II: Testing and Training Your "Designer's Eye"

In this last article of the series, Linda continues to show how you can learn from other websites by observing them carefully and noting down how they match up to the design elements and principles she's been writing about.

In this article Linda will be building on her first deconstruction lesson and giving you a real insight into browsing the web with your "designer's eyes" open.

Linda Goin

2776

CSS: User-customisable Site #3

In the previous two tutorials of this series we've built up a web site that uses a CSS layout, carefully structuring the layout, colors and font sizing into stylesheets that can work independently of each other. In the first part of the tutorial we created our base XHTML document and a set of default stylesheets that made up the default look and feel of the web site.

Last time we created new stylesheets in order to be able to apply different stylesheets dependent on user preference. To test these stylesheets we had to change which stylesheet was attached in the code, so in this tutorial we will look at how we can develop a system to let the user change and set their stylesheet choices for the site directly from the browser.

I will be using a very simple ASP script in order to demonstrate how to create a script to change the stylesheets, however this would be equally easy to develop in any other language.

Rachel Andrew

2208

BiffWriter for Dummies (PHP to Excel III)

In my previous article I introduced a PHP class called BiffWriter that very neatly lets you write your data to a native Excel document without having to first go through a CSV file, or try to manipulate Excel directly through some kind of COM trickery. We alluded to the fact that BiffWriter could do some fairly neat things, but only touched the surface by using it to write simple tabular data into an Excel document.

We think this is the kind of tool that might really help you out of a corner in some circumstances, so in today's article, we're going to take a look at how to use some cool features of BiffWriter to build some fairly complex documents.

Before you get all excited and dive into the article, be warned that if you intend to use this class in a commercial application (in other words a script for a client) then you're going to have to fork out a licensing fee. Take a look at the BiffWriter web site for details on what it's going to set you back. For non-commercial and personal use you're free to use it.

Allan Kent

8774

Beginner's SQL: Many-to-many relationships

Many-to-many relationships are all around us. Just think of actors and movies – many actors in one movie, individual actors make many movies. Thus the ability to represent and query such relationships is a crucial part of database operation.

In this article Rudy guides us clearly through the theory of many-to-many relationships before outlining several very common SQL queries you'll need when working with them.

Rudy Limeback

24463

PHP Back to Basics #10: String Handling in PHP

Ever had problems taking user input, submitting it to a database then not getting back the result you expect?

If you have, then this tutorial might make your life a whole lot easier. In this next installment of PHP Basics, Gareth takes us through some of the PHP string handling commands that can help you manage, and format, user input and database output.

You'll learn how to work with variable capitalization, input of unexpected characters that can affect your carefully constructed SQL and how to extract portions of text from a record.

Gareth Downes-Powell

3262

Learn Through Better Deconstruction I

In this weeks article Linda is going to carry out a detailed deconstruction of a very carefully thought out commercial website, to show how the different aspects of web design are brought together to build an excellent web experience.

In highlighting the craftsmanship involved in this site, Linda will consolidate your learning. Furthermore this article will help you to appreciate the work and detail behind a lovely site, that not only works on it's own terms but fully reflects the image of the person behind it.

Linda Goin

4218

MySQL: Exporting Data to Excel II: Going straight to Excel

Last week Allan introduced us to the notion of pulling information out from our database and making it available as in a CSV type format ready for using in Excel. This week Allan extends this idea by firstly showing us how to save our CSV data and then how to really wow our reporting colleagues by using BiffWriter to throw data straight into an Excel document….

…. and even if the business analysts don't really appreciate it, you can have an inner glow of satisfaction knowing how much more usable your website is!

Allan Kent

5968

CSS: User-customisable Site #2

This is the second part of my three part series about using CSS to create a site that is customisable by the user, being able to change not only the text size used on the site but also the color schemes and layout. I am assuming throughout these tutorials that you are comfortable with the basics of CSS and how to use external CSS stylesheet in your documents.

In the first part of the tutorial we created our XHTML document and a set of default stylesheets that made up the default look and feel of the web site. In this tutorial we will create additional stylesheets that will be eventually be part of the user self selection.

Rachel Andrew

2747

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