CodeIgniter for Rapid PHP Application Development Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Introduction to CodeIgniter
• What can CodeIgniter Do for You?
• Save Time
• Make Your Site More Robust
• Keep Your Links Up-To-Date Automatically
• Save Database Crashes: 'prep' Your Data Entry Forms
• Make Your Code Bolder
• Send Email Attachments without Hassles
• Save Bandwidth by Zipping Files That Users Need to Download
• Yes, But…What is CodeIgniter? What are Frameworks?
• And Who is That Man?
• The 'Open Source' Business Model
• What CI Doesn't Do
• License
• Summary

• Chapter 2: Two Minutes' Work: Setting up a CodeIgniter Site
• Prerequisites
• Installing CodeIgniter
• Exploring the File Structure
• The Configuration File
• Does it Work?
• Summary

• Chapter 3: Navigating Your Site
• MVC—Just Another Acronym?
• The Structure of a CI Site: Controllers and Views
• The Welcome Controller
• Working with Views
• The Default Controller
• CodeIgniter Syntax Rules
• Controller
• View
• Types of Files or Classes on a CI Site
• What are All Those Folders For?
• Designing a Better View
• Designing a Better Controller
• Getting Parameters to a Function
• Passing Data to a View
• How CI Classes Pass Information and Control to Each Other
• Calling Views
• Calling Functions Directly
• Interacting with Controllers
• It's Just Like an Egg-Cup
• An Example of a CI Helper: the URL Helper
• A Simple Library Example: Creating a Menu
• Summary

• Chapter 4: Using CI to Simplify Databases
• Configuration Settings
• Designing the Database for Our Site
• Active Record
• Advantages of Using the Active Record Class
• Saving Time
• Automatic Functionality
• Read Queries
• Displaying Query Results
• Create and Update Queries
• Delete Queries
• Mixing Active Record and 'Classic' Styles
• Summary
• Chapter Appendix: MYSQL Query to Set Up 'websites' Database

• Chapter 5: Simplifying HTML Pages and Forms
• Writing a View
• Long and Short PHP Syntax
• Nesting Views
• Practical Issues of Site Architecture
• CI's Form Helper: Entering Data
• Form Helper Advantage One: Clarity
• Form Helper Advantage Two: Automation
• My 'Display' Model
• CI's Validation Class: Checking Data Easily
• Set Up Validation
• Set Up the Controller
• Set Up the Forms
• Summary

• Chapter 6: Simplifying Sessions and Security
• Starting to Design a Practical Site with CI
• Moving Around the Site
• Security/Sessions: Using Another CI Library Class
• Turning Sessions into Security
• Security
• Summary

• Chapter 7: CodeIgniter and Objects
• Object-Oriented Programming
• Working of the CI 'Super-Object'
• Copying by Reference
• Adding Your own Code to the CI 'Super-Object'
• Problems with the CI 'Super-Object'
• Summary

• Chapter 8: Using CI to Test Code
• Why Test, and What For?
• CI's Error Handling Class
• CI's Unit Test Class
• When to Use Unit Tests
• Example of a Unit Test
• CI's Benchmarking Class
• CI's Profiler Class
• Testing with Mock Databases
• Control and Timing
• Summary

• Chapter 9: Using CI to Communicate
• Using the FTP Class to Test Remote Files
• Machines Talking to Machines Again—XML-RPC
• Getting the XML-RPC Server and Client in Touch with Each Other
• Formatting XML-RPC Exchanges
• Debugging
• Issues with XML-RPC?

• Talking to Humans for a Change: the Email Class
• Summary

• Chapter 10: How CI Helps to Provide Dynamic Information
• The Date Helper: Converting and Localizing Dates
• Working with Text: the Text Helper and Inflector Helper
• Going International: the Language Class
• Making HTML Tables the Easy Way: the Table Class
• Caching Pages
• Summary

• Chapter 11: Using CI to Handle Files and Images
• The File Helper
• The Download Helper
• The File Upload Class
• CI's Image Class
• Easy File Compression with the CI Zip Class
• Summary

• Chapter 12: Production Versions, Updates, and Big Decisions
• Connections: Check the Config Files
• URLs
• Databases
• Other config Files
• Look Out for PHP 4/5 and Operating System Differences
• Diagnostic Tools
• Coping with Changes in New CI Versions
• How to Load Models, and What to Call Them
• How to Initialize Your Own 'library' Classes
• So Should I Update If a New CI Version Comes Out?
• How to Add On to CI's Basic Classes
• Summary

• Chapter 13: Instant CRUD—or Putting it All Together
• The CRUD Model: Design Philosophy
• The Standard Controller Format
• The Database Tables
• The Heart of the Model: the Array
• Function by Function: the CRUD Model
• Showall
• Reading the Data
• Delete and Trydelete
• Insert
• Insert2
• The Test Suite
• Summary

• Chapter 14: The Verdict on CI
• Some Code: the 'do_test' Model
• A Balance Sheet
• Where CI Helped: Structure
• Where CI Helped: Simplicity
• Where CI Helped: Extra Functionality
• Problems with CI
• Completeness
• Ease of Use
• Summary

• Chapter 15: Resources and Extensions
• CI's User Forums
• Video Tutorials
• Available Plug-ins and Libraries
• AJAX/Javascript
• Authentication
• External Sites
• Comparisons: Which Charting Library to Use?
• CRUD: the Final Frontier
• Resources for Other Programmes, e.g. Xampplite, MySQL, PHP
• Summary

• Index