PHP Development Process
NOTE: Click the images of the sample pages to see them "in action"!
Step 1: We'll meet up together to create or review a representative, static template of your report and data entry screens. In this example, there was just one report page to create, seen in the image at the top right (click the image to see the full page). This template was created in Dreamweaver.
Step 2: Identify each portion of the templates that need to be database enabled. In this example, that was the area that contained each attending student's information and headshot, pictured below (again, click to see the full template page in another window).
This project also required a data entry and edit system to be placed on the university's password protected server to allow students to edit their information. Non-functional mock-ups of these pages can be viewed by clicking the picture, below, or by clicking here. You can edit the information in the form, but it will not, for security purposes, be changed in the database. This means your sample edits will not appear on the sample final product in Step 5, though they obviously would in a live site.
Step 3: Determine what portions of the system need to be publicly accessible, and which can be kept in a protected environment. Protected environments include password-protected websites, private intranet sites, and even your own laptop. That's right, if we need to, we can set up the data entry forms on your own laptop, allowing you to edit your site however and whenever you want as long as you have an internet connection.
In this case, only the student information page needed to be publicly accessible, not the data entry and edit pages, which saved time and money. The single most time-consuming task is typically making public pages bulletproof, which means difficult to hack and able to pull data from your users in the format you expect, from dates (mm-dd-yyyy? Mmm dd, yyyy?) to addresses.
Step 4:
We create the new, database enabled site for your review.Step 5: You provide us with written comments on how to change the first draft to meet your expectations.
Step 6: We incorporate your comments for a final round of edits, and integrate your finished product into your website. In this project, integration meant making sure all navigational menus included the new PHP page, and required ensuring that the new, database enabled portions of the site pointed back to the correct pages in all of the template links. The data entry and edit pages were also tested after their installation.
To view a local version of the finished product with a few test entries in it, click the sample picture to the left.
For other examples of our lead programmer's work, you're welcome to visit this website.