EPHP a tool for learning the basics of PHP development. Nick Whitelegg School of Media Arts and Technology Southampton Solent University

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1 EPHP a tool for learning the basics of PHP development Nick Whitelegg School of Media Arts and Technology Southampton Solent University

2 My background Lecturer at Southampton Solent University since 2003 (full-time since 2008) Teach units on web development (PHP, AJAX, JavaScript, web services) and Android Key unit is second-year unit Developing for the Internet (have run this since early 2003!)

3 What is server-side scripting? EPHP aims to help students learn PHP PHP is a server-side scripting language Dynamic websites consist of three layers (or tiers): Client: the user s browser Database: where the data is stored Server-side scripts: where the site s logic resides; manages communication between browser and database

4 Architecture of a PHP application

5 What is PHP? A leading server-side scripting language Open source Alternatives to PHP include ASP.NET (Microsoft s solution, uses C#) Node.js (server-side JavaScript) Ruby Python Perl

6 Developing for the Internet (DFTI) Second-year unit here at Solent covering essentials of PHP development Topics include Reading form data ( GET and POST ) Communication with databases Maintaining state: techniques for passing information from page to page Web security

7 DFTI - experiences Many students find the unit straightforward, but others struggle A range of common mistakes occur Confusion between client and server, and where input to the script is coming from (form vs database) are common problems

8 DFTI common mistakes Misunderstanding variables used to read in user data ( $_GET/$_POST ) Confusion between form field names and database column names Misunderstanding of the operation of the while loop to display database results Difficulty creating and understanding code to pass data from one PHP script to another

9 DFTI source of student misunderstanding? My belief is that many of these mistakes arise from students being unable to visualise what is going on in terms of client/server communication Many students have visual learning styles Would a visual tool help...?

10 EPHP EPHP (from Easy PHP ) aims to be such a visualisation tool Current features: Browser within a browser, visualising HTTP requests and responses which occur when a URL is entered Integrated editor (using Ace) Integrated FTP upload PHP script step-through showing form variables/values and database results

11 EPHP - Demo I will now demo EPHP, on the internal Edward server. It s also available at

12 Technical details PHP backend with JavaScript front end Uses the following PHP APIs FTP Tokenizer In addition uses JavaScript Canvas, HTML5 drag and drop and Ace editor

13 PHP analyser script At the core of EPHP is its PHP analyser script This takes in a specified PHP script and its input data (GET or POST) and: Returns PHP source code to EPHP's client side Executes the requested PHP script with the given input data Analyses PHP code to extract variables, SQL queries and database results All returned as JSON

14 FTP EPHP currently uses FTP to transfer data With FTP we can rely on existing user authentication of server rather than build a separate authentication system Allows upload of users' PHP scripts to specified user directories HTTP-based login system another possibility, though harder for users to upload to own directories

15 Intended usage Intention is for EPHP to be used on dedicated server for learning use only Furthermore, EPHP restricts access to users to certain users (those with username ephpnnn, though this is configurable)

16 Issues Some client-side issues at the moment HTML5 drag-and-drop API and CSS manipulation API not fully functional on Chrome Firefox recommended Other occasional glitches early stages just yet! :-)

17 Future plans Visualise query strings using EPHP Usability improvements (from user tests) Conduct survey for current students to get feedback on usability Use EPHP for the next instance of the DFTI unit (in spring term 2017)

18 Where? EPHP demo at Github repository FTP functionality turned off for security reasons; please me to arrange access

19 Credits Thanks to Prins Butt, Femi Isiaq and Darren Cunningham, colleagues at Solent, for ideas and input

20 Thanks for listening! Feedback? Any questions? Thanks!