PHP pages go in the same directory locations as html pages, ~/public_html on stulogin.dcs.shef.ac.uk

You cannot use PHP from the normal DCS web server (www.dcs.shef.ac.uk) - if you try to then it will download the file rather than execute it.

**Student Web server**

This is the easiest development environment and should normally be used by student projects. Visible only from university campus

You can create a simple test file e.g. "hello.php" in your public_html directory, containing the text "<?php echo 'Hello PHP World'; ?>". View the file at http://stuwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.User/hello.php (replace A.User by your email address, dont include from the '@' symbol!))

To view the PHP settings, include a line "echo phpinfo();" in your hello.php file, e.g. http://stuwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/G.Wilson/hello.php

**Notes**

The PHP installation is configured to be secure, and there are a couple of common problems you might encounter if you are used to developing on a less secure servers.

By default, error messages do not appear. You can turn them on with a line "ini_set("display_errors", 1);"

Global session variables are not automatically passed from the session file, and you need to extract them manually:
^ Before	^ After ^
| session_register("userName"); print $userName=]; $userName = "pat"; | session_start(); session_register("userName"); if (isset ($_SESSION['userName'])) {$userName = $_SESSION['userName'];} print $userName; $userName = "pat"; $_SESSION['userName'] = $userName; |

Similarly, form variables are not automatically passed into the PHP variables, so you must do this manually.
^ Before ^	After ^
| print "you typed: ".$text; print "was check box 2 selected? ".$cb[2];	| if (isset($_POST['cb'])) {$cb = $_POST['cb']; } if (isset($_GET['text'])) {$text = $_GET['text']; } print "you typed: ".$text; print "was check box 2 selected?".$cb[2]; |