[RESOLVED] Overview

[GettinBetter]

Hi peeps,
Had a quick search, and like yourselves, I too only have a finite amount of time for this foray, soo....
What I'd like some kind person to explain is....

I have a bunch of php and html files on a remote web space, which works fine. But I have been reading, that I can do all the processing and debugging on my desktop machine, before I ftp it upto my remote space. Uploading to test minor changes (although quite fast really) is becoming a pain. Is this correct or have I misunderstood it?

As I understand it now, is that I DL a piece of software that emulates a remote server. Is it as simple as that?
:wave:

[lintz]

You'll need a web server: Apache (http://www.apache.org/)

You'll need to install php (http://www.php.net/downloads.php)

and if you save stuff to a database install MySQL (http://mysql.com/downloads/#downloads)

[penagate]

You don't emulate a web server, you run a web server. Whether or not you allow people to access it remotely is up to you.

If you don't need too much configuration bother then try xampp (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html) which is an all-in-one installer for the three products above.

[GettinBetter]

Sorry guys but you've just repeated the exact info that I have read elsewhere, and don't get me wrong I appreciate you responses.

Obviously I just didn't understand, or I didn't give you enough info, for which I apologise, but I was hoping that all this testing could be done on a single desktop PC, and then upload.

Are you saying that the 'webserver' , 'PHP' and the 'DB' have to be on my machine also?

:thumb:

[penagate]

Yes. The term "web server" just means a software product that can accept and serve HTTP requests, from any computer.

You basically want to install the same software that is present on your hosting server, so that you can replicate the environment on your local development PC.

A typical hosting server will run Linux, Apache, PHP, and MySQL, with other software packages that are compatible with those.

Linux is not required as you can run Apache, PHP, and MySQL all on Windows, if you prefer. You can install them separately (see Lintz's post) or as a package bundled by a third party (see my first post). Once you have done this you can place files in your htdocs directory within the Apache installation and run them by navigating to localhost from your web browser. The result should be exactly the same as on a remote server, even the method you use to access them.

End result is that you have actually turned your PC into a web server, if you want you can test this out by accessing it from other PCs in a network, or over the internet. This requires that you have port 80 open in any software firewall you might have running, and access via the internet requires that you forward that port to the PC in your router configuration. That is all optional though, most of the time you will just be using it locally.

Hope that explains better?

[GettinBetter]

Excellent, thank you for that. I had a feeling that is what people were trying to say, but its nice to see it explained properly.

I've sort of jumped into php, html, DBs, etc headfirst, but I'm getting there... :)