Using PHP with Joomla

[BlackRiver]

Anyone here's got any experience with this?Creating web-pages using Joomla templates is quite simple,but how would one implement PHP?

What's the procedure?What would I need to do to edit some of it's components?
Does Joomla even support PHP?
Can I use MySQL with it?

Yes,I've been to joomla.org,but I'd like someone with working experience to give some input.

Thank you!

[ngreenwood6]

Can you explain what you are trying to do? I have experience with Joomla and Drupal as well. You said how would one implement PHP, joomla is written in php and uses a MySQL database.

[BlackRiver]

Let me explain like this:
My experience in web design and creating dynamic web pages comes down to using Dreamweaver,PHP and MySQL.
When creating dynamic web pages in Dreamwever it's always the same routine.You have the code editor and you write your scripts.
How would this work with Joomla?
Is there any special way of communicating with MySQL DB,or is it all the same?
Can I edit the content of the pages in Dreamweaver?

For example,if I make a web page that needs to have a contact form,do I make that form in Joomla and how do I use the PHP script that I need?

I hope you understand what I'm getting at

[ngreenwood6]

Joomla is a content management system. The reason that it is there is so that you do not have to write your own code or mess with a mysql database. It automatically will do this for you. If you want a contact form you will have to tell it in joomla where and how you want the contact form. If there is no contact form you can go to their site and get a module for it. So therefore you should not need to code anything. You can however write your own custom code for a page but that is only if it is necessary which in most cases isnt. If you want to edit a page you can simply add a new page through joomla, you do not need a code editor or designer because joomla takes care of that.

I suggest that you download WAMP (Windows, Apache, Mysql, Php). It is a bundle that allows you to run your own webserver on your local machine. You can use it to test out websites. Once you have it installed, you can go to http://localhost and see the default page. You can then download joomla and put the script in the c:\wamp\www (default folder) directory and then go to http://localhost and install the script (assuming you setup a database at http://localhost/phpmyadmin). Then you can see what its like without paying for a webserver or spending all your time trying to upload files. Let me know if you need any help with getting it installed or setup.

Edit: Oh yeah I personally prefer drupal over joomla. You might want to check it out.

[BlackRiver]

Thank you very much for your reply.Actually I have WAMP installed,works fine with Joomla.But,you told me what I needed to know.The thing is,I do not want to be limited by the "automatism" of Joomla,so I wanted to know if it's possible to make custom modules.
I'll make sure to check the net for Drupal also,could be some useful software!