readme123456

For some reason the text in my test page is now displaying correctly when put in both htdocs and htdocs/test/ directories. How can I make the server display index.php when directing to LOCALHOST? Right now it jumps to LOCALHOST/xampp/ control panel.

I've installed xampp lite, had problems with it, like Apache and MySQL services going off/on all the time. Then I installed regular xampp, MySQL is working with my queries in mysql.exe console. Now I have new questions: Why does xampp_start.exe tell me that 'Apache+MySQL starting now' - what part of MySQL starts at this point, if I am able to work with databases at any time, even before I start these services? How can I get the index.html or index.php page to display when I go to LOCALHOST? Right now it jumps to LOCALHOST/xampp/ with the navigation page. Why do I get This is a test using the first tag type. "; ?> as a page for this code <?phpecho "<P>This is a test using the first tag type.</P>";?>?It doesn't even seem like PHP is not configured, since it is actually displaying some text. Thanks

kelvinmaki, I already uninstalled WAMP5 and plan to install xampp. Curiously enough, after uninstalling WAMP5 I could surf shanghaiexpat.com again. It really seems to me there is a connection between the fact that I had a server installed and that problem, especially because they always put a message on the main page, if there is some maintenance work going on. vujsa, I will just answer your post here and then stop asking about PHP. I did not have any HTML in the source page, it was actually just those two lines, and I copied them from a manual! Anyway, I'll try xampp and see what happens. I also wanted to install all components manually, but then thought I could practice other things, like coding and designing pages first, then go to configuring servers by myself. Thanks everyone for answers.

Thanks both of you for the links. Does this imply you do not advise using WAMP5 - a similar package with MySQL, PHP5, PHPMyAdmin and Apache? In this case can you still give me an idea of what is wrong with my ignored commands in the MySQL console (screenshot above)? As for the php test page problems, I did actually write exactly what kelvinmaki wrote: <?phpecho "<P>This is a test using the first tag type.</P>";?>and still get This is a test using the first tag type. "; ?> on the actual page. And removing <P>, </P> tags returns an empty page. The website I cannot load is http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ and it stopped loading right after I installed the package with MySQL, Apache and PHP. Try for yourself, I'm sure you can load the whole page with no problems. And like I wrote before, their main page source now has this bit in it <!-- Error: 2013:Lost connection to MySQL server during query --> Thank you for bearing with me.

I now have much more basic questions and they appear rapidly. Where should I post with beginner's PHP coding questions like this: Creating and loading a .php file: <?phpecho "<P>This is a test using the first tag type.</P>"?>for some reason displaysThis is a test using the first tag type. ")?> with the part that is supposedly simply ending echo and php script. What have I done wrong? Another strange thing happened, one of the sites I frequent stop displaying any content, just their header and an error message, while page source has <!-- Error: 2013:Lost connection to MySQL server during query --> line in it. They too use php, so I'm not sure if my local settings can interfere with the browser? Though Xisto is working, so I'm not sure what's the problem. Thanks.

Ok,I didn't wait for your answer and installed WAMP5.Right now I can't get MySQL to respond to commands: I go to MySQL console, choose 'test' database and try to make it display any information, but it does nothing.Here's a screenshot with no results for 'show' and 'explain' commands:

Thanks. Does this package contain what you listed and what I need to start? http://www.wampserver.com/en/ Should I rather install everything on its own and practice configuring MySQL and PHP to work together, or just use the package to avoid possible problems? Also, isn't Apache for Linux or was until very recently? Thanks!

Thanks.My concern is that I need an SQL Server to practice PHP scripts reading and writing data to it. I know that installing SQL Server on my laptop will make it hard to work with, it's not fast enough. I applied to Xisto, but seems like I won't get an account posting in the forum without any knowledge to share.

Hello,I've been wanting to learn to create websites for a long time. I'm not sure how hard it will be and how long it will take to learn enough to make my own database-driven website. I studied SQL, basic programming, worked with databases and am familiar with HTML tags, but this all was for work, university and I never paid a lot of attention to details.In the past few days I read beginner's tutorials on PHP/SQL, CSS and even HTML.Now I want to create a simple database with some tables to practice with PHP scripts for a website, write and read database information.The idea for a site I have is for users to share their reviews of certain products, with capability of adding pictures and video to their writing.I thought I can create a table with products' names, pictures, links to reviews, etc, as the column values and then read and write from and to this table via web interface.The biggest fear I have right now, haven't yet completed anything, is the amount of crucial symbols in PHP and CSS. It seems hard to remember to write <?php ?> instead of something else, or put '...' for text strings and "..." for values in functions like echo.I'd appreciate any good advices for a novice or comments on my post. Not sure if this is too informative, so questions also appreciated, of course!