Gain insights into building a modern, production-ready PHP app. Delve into CRUD operations, I/O security, routing, and more. Discover how to effectively use PHP and MySQL for database applications.

Build a CRUD Database App with PHP & MySQL-01.png

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Learning a programming language is one thing and using it to build something great is another. I've been teaching code newbies and aspiring developers for a long time and I see many of them struggling to put into practice their newly acquired skills. I've also noticed that many resources on the Internet are out-of-date, misleading, or don't provide real hands-on practice.

I've built this course to fix the issues above. You'll learn a better way to build a modern and production-ready PHP app connected to a database like a pro. The app, a CRUD one, will also have some more advanced features like I/O security, router, and more. 

At the end of this course, you'll be well equipped to build database apps with PHP.

Hands-on PHP & MySQL: Build a CRUD Application

We won’t be creating something sophisticated here, just a basic routing system for our application.

In a nutshell, we’ll:
- Redirect all the HTTP requests to `index.php` (the router). 
- Create a routing system with `switch`.

# Redirect all the HTTP requests to the router
We have an `index.php` file at the root of our application. We’ll use it as our router.

Let’s create a `.htaccess` file in the root of the project and redirect all the traffic to `index.php`:

```
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php 
```
In our `.htaccess` file, we’ll first activate the runtime rewriting engine of the Apache server, then limit access to physical files with the Apache `RewriteCond` directive, and redirect all the upcoming requests to the `index.php` file.

>**Note:** `.htaccess` is a configuration file for the Apache server. It has no extension but starts with a `.` (dot) for a hidden file.

In the event that our application or site is not at the root of our server (or if we don’t have a virtual host), we’ll need to create our `.htaccess` as follows:

```
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /folder/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /folder/index.php [L]
```

> **Note:** Replace “folder” with the name of the folder that contains our site.

# Create a routing switch

Our routing system will work as follows:

- We’ll get the user requested path with the `$_SERVER` super global variable.
- We’ll require the corresponding page.

Let’s see the code in action:


```
<?php
require_once "utils/common.php";

$request = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];

switch ($request) {

    case '':
    case '/':
        require __DIR__ . '/views/index.php';
        break;

    case '/projects/list':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/project_list.php';
        break;

    case '/tasks/list':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/task_list.php';
        break;

    case '/projects/add':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/project.php';
        break;

    case '/tasks/add':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/task.php';
        break;

    case '/reports':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/reports.php';
        break;

    case (preg_match('/\/projects\/add\?id=\d/', $request) ? true : false):
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/project.php';
        break;

    default:
        http_response_code(404);
        require __DIR__ . '/views/404.php';
        break;
}
```
In case the user requires a path that does not exist, we’ll display a custom “Not Found” page. Notice how we make use of regex for a path like `/projects/add?id=4`.

# Live demo
Let’s run the code, so that we can see how it works:

We won’t be creating something sophisticated here, just a basic routing system for our application.

In a nutshell, we’ll:
- Redirect all the HTTP requests to `index.php` (the router). 
- Create a routing system with `switch`.

# Redirect all the HTTP requests to the router
We have an `index.php` file at the root of our application. We’ll use it as our router.

Let’s create a `.htaccess` file in the root of the project and redirect all the traffic to `index.php`:

```
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php 
```
In our `.htaccess` file, we’ll first activate the runtime rewriting engine of the Apache server, then limit access to physical files with the Apache `RewriteCond` directive, and redirect all the upcoming requests to the `index.php` file.

>**Note:** `.htaccess` is a configuration file for the Apache server. It has no extension but starts with a `.` (dot) for a hidden file.

In the event that our application or site is not at the root of our server (or if we don’t have a virtual host), we’ll need to create our `.htaccess` as follows:

```
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /folder/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /folder/index.php [L]
```

> **Note:** Replace “folder” with the name of the folder that contains our site.

# Create a routing switch

Our routing system will work as follows:

- We’ll get the user requested path with the `＄_SERVER` super global variable.
- We’ll require the corresponding page.

Let’s see the code in action:


```
<?php
require_once "utils/common.php";

$request = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];

switch ($request) {

    case '':
    case '/':
        require __DIR__ . '/views/index.php';
        break;

    case '/projects/list':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/project_list.php';
        break;

    case '/tasks/list':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/task_list.php';
        break;

    case '/projects/add':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/project.php';
        break;

    case '/tasks/add':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/task.php';
        break;

    case '/reports':
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/reports.php';
        break;

    case (preg_match('/\/projects\/add\?id=\d/', $request) ? true : false):
        require __DIR__ . '/controllers/project.php';
        break;

    default:
        http_response_code(404);
        require __DIR__ . '/views/404.php';
        break;
}
```
In case the user requires a path that does not exist, we’ll display a custom “Not Found” page. Notice how we make use of regex for a path like `/projects/add?id=4`.

# Live demo
Let’s run the code, so that we can see how it works:

Redirect HTTP calls to “index.php” with the help of the “.htaccess” file.

Introduction

App Initialization

Create and Read Records

Refactor the Application

PHP Data Validation

Generate Reports

Update and Delete Records

PHP Router

Conclusion

Appendix

Create a Router for our Project