1 Introducing PHP with Oracle Database XE

PHP is a popular scripting language that can be embedded in HTML, which makes it particularly useful for Web development. Zend Core for Oracle enables application development using PHP.

Oracle Database Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) is a free relational database that you can use to store, use, and modify data.

This chapter has the following topics:

• Zend Core for Oracle

• Purpose

• Overview of the Sample Application

• Resources

Zend Core for Oracle

Zend Core for Oracle, developed in partnership with Zend Technologies, provides a stable, high performance, easy-to-install, and supported PHP development and production environment that is fully integrated with Oracle Database Express Edition.

Purpose

This guide is a tutorial that shows you how to use Zend Core for Oracle to connect to Oracle Database XE, and demonstrates how to use PHP to access and modify data.

Overview of the Sample Application

This document guides you through the development of a simple Human Resources (HR) application for a fictitious company called AnyCo Corp.

The application manages departmental and employee information stored in the DEPARTMENTS and EMPLOYEES tables in the HR schema provided with Oracle Database XE. See Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information about this schema.

The complete sample application:

• Establishes a connection to the database using the PHP OCI8 extension

• Queries the database for department and employee data

• Displays and navigates through the data

• Shows how to insert, update, and delete employee records

• Handles data exceptions

• Uploads and displays employee photographs

Figure 1-1 shows the relationship between the files developed for this application.

Figure 1-1 Functionality in the Sample PHP Application

Description of "Figure 1-1 Functionality in the Sample PHP Application"

The sample application files are:

anyco.php This file has the main logic for the AnyCo application. It contains control logic to decide which page is displayed. It manages session data for navigation. The functionality in anyco_cn.inc, anyco_db.inc, and anyco_ui.inc is used by it.

anyco_ui.inc This file contains the functions used to present data and forms in an HTML page.

anyco_cn.inc This file contains definitions for database connection information, the database user name, password, and database connection identifier.

anyco_db.inc This file contains the database logic to create database connections, execute queries, and execute data manipulation statements.

anyco_im.php This file contains logic to retrieve an image from a database column and send it to a browser for display as a JPEG image.

style.css This file contains Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) definitions for various HTML tags generated by the application. It manages the look and feel of the application.

Files with the suffix .inc are PHP code files included in other PHP files.

Files with the suffix .php can be loaded in a browser.

You can create and edit the PHP application source files in a text editor or any tool that supports PHP development.

The code for each chapter builds on the files completed in the previous chapter.

Resources

The following Oracle Technology Network Web sites provide additional information you may find useful.

• Oracle Database Express Edition Developer Center at

  http://www.oracle.com/technology/xe

• PHP Developer Center at

  http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/php/index.html

• Zend Core for Oracle Developer Center at

  http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/php/zendcore/index.html

• Oracle Database Express Edition documentation at

  http://www.oracle.com/technology/xe/documentation

• The Oracle Database Documentation Library at

  http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation