thanks

dove — Sun, 09 Mar 2003 22:29:15 +0000

Thanks a lot for the info which has been really helpful as I now have a place from which to start my steep learning curve!

Still, i'm looking forward to learning all this.

All the best and cheers.

Busy — Sun, 09 Mar 2003 21:29:31 +0000

It can be done
find out what version of PHP they are running and if they have global variables turned on and off, if they are off you can do this:
$section = 'picked'; if on would be $section = $_GET['picked']; (or post etc)
depending how you set the database up, you could have 3 tables (3 sections), one for each area so you'd need to learn about JOINS, how to join these tables, the search part isn't to hard as you can search a row in the table.
you should get yourself a PHP bundle (Apache, PHP, MySQL) and install it on your local machine, can get them at a few places, one I use is http://firepages.com.au/ also has link to tutorials on that site
I'd use stuff of the net (tutorials) rather than buying a book, I have a book (PHP and MySQL web Development) but with the globals thing it's kinda outdated and all the info can be found on the net anyways.
good luck

samsm — Sun, 09 Mar 2003 15:14:51 +0000

Without hesitation, this is the best book available for a beginner wanting to learn PHP and MySQL:

Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL

It was recently revised to accomodate default settings in PHP 4.2+, so no more register globals dependancy. I have yet to see a better book for the beginner who wants to begin making dynamic web sites, cheap.

You can download the first four chapters for free and see if you like it.

Mysql

dove — Sun, 09 Mar 2003 09:42:47 +0000

Thanks for your post Busy and for pointing me in a direction. This may well be over my head but i'm off to the library tomorrow to get a book on Mysql and PHP and I will give it my best shot, i'll just have to hire someone to do it if I can't do it myself, my priority is the client.

Just to be more specific my client is looking for three drop down lists; job area's, job spec, and location, with a keyword search also available. The user can do a search based on their selected criteria and I guess they will want a facility to drop off expired ads.

So, say I speed read my books would knowledge of MySQL and PHP allow me to do the above or is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Thanks again

Busy — Sun, 09 Mar 2003 08:53:31 +0000

try hotscripts.com, as you might find something you can use off the bat.
The MySQL part isn't to hard to learn but whats used to display the content/results etc (like PHP) takes a little longer to learn.

I don't mean to burst your bubble but this job could be a little over your head if you haven't worked with databases before, especially if you have to try work it with someone elses work. But just doing vacants there could be a lot involved if they wanted things like auto expiring ads, advertiser interface ...