So, you thought you would make a web application but didn’t know where to start?
This is the place to start. You need a web server installed on your computer before you start any kind of web programming be it PHP, ASP .Net, ColdFusion, JSP.
For developing in PHP, you would have to install an Apache HTTP server, php interpreter, MySQL server. Installing all of them would be a real headache and so would be configuring them to work with each other. To simply this we have WAMPs(Windows Apache, MySQL, PHP).
One such WAMP distribution is XAMPP which is cross platform and has many features inbuilt like filezilla ftp server, a mercury mailing server etc.
To install XAMPP first download the installer file for your OS from the following link:
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
These are steps for installing it on Windows XP. Some features/interface may differ on different OS and different version of XAMPP.
Double click the installer and follow the instructions.
Do not uncheck the option for creating the icon on desktop.
Double click the XAMPP control panel icon on your desktop.
Click start on apache and MySQL.
Apache HTTP server and MySQL server will start so that you can develop php applications.
You can check the “svc” which means install as service. If you check it, the selected service will run automatically when windows is booted.
Goto the installation directory of your XAMPP and head to htdocs folder. This is the folder in which you have to keep all your php files. Now write a PHP “hello world” application and save it in this folder (or you can create subfolders within htdocs folder) with any name you wish.
Now open your internet browser. And type the address http://localhost/(subfolder)/yourfilename.php to execute your php file.
This tutorial was originally written by me for my forum. You can also find this tutorial on http://www.techmindz.com/index.php?topic=16.0