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Please feel free to add more points and send to the list.
20050322jb - Note the new location of PHP Editors list.
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1. If you have any queries/problems about PHP try
http://www.php.net/manual/en first. You can download a copy and use it
offline also.

Please also try http://www.php.net/manual/faq.php for answers to
frequently answered questions
about PHP (added by Christophe Chisogne).

2. Try http://www.google.com next. Searching for "php YOUR QUERY" may
fetch you relevant information within the first 10 results.

3. There is a searchable archive of the mailing list discussion at
http://phparch.com/mailinglists. Many of the common topics are discussed
repeatedly, and you may get answer to your query from the
earlier discussions.

For example: One of the repeatedly discussed question in the list is
"Best PHP editor". Everyone has his/her favourite editor. You can get
all the opinions by going through the list archives. If you want a
chosen list try this link :
http://www.thelinuxconsultancy.co.uk/phpeditors.php
(contributed by Christophe Chisogne).

4. Not sure if PHP is working or you want find out what extensions are
available to you?

Just put the following code into a file with a .php extension and access
it through your
webserver:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

If PHP is installed you will see a page with a lot of information on it.
If PHP is not installed (or not working correctly) your browser will try
to download the file. (contributed by Teren and reworded by Chris W
Parker)

5. If you are stuck with a script and do not understand what is wrong,
instead of posting the whole script, try doing some research yourself.
One useful trick is to print the variable/sql query using print or echo
command and check whether you get what you expected.

After diagnosing the problem, send the details of your efforts
(following steps 1, 2 & 3) and ask for help.

6. PHP is a server side scripting language. Whatever processing PHP does
takes place BEFORE the output reaches the client. Therefore, it is not
possible to access users' computer related information (OS, screen size
etc) using PHP. Nor can you modify any the user side settings. You need
to go for JavaScript and ask the question in a JavaScript list.

On the other hand, you can access the information that is SENT by the
user's browser when a client requests a page from your server. You can
find details about browser, OS etc as reported by this request.
(contributed by Wouter van Vliet and reworded by Chris W Parker.)

7. Provide a clear descriptive subject line. Avoid general subjects like
"Help!!", "A Question" etc. Especially avoid blank subjects.

8. When you want to start a new topic, open a new mail composer and
enter the mailing list address php-general@lists.php.net instead of
replying to an existing thread and replacing the subject and body with
your message.

9. It's always a good idea to post back to the list once you've solved
your problem. People usually add [SOLVED] to the subject line of their
email when posting solutions. By posting your solution you're helping
the next person with the same question. [contribued by Chris W Parker]

10. Ask smart questions http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
[contributed by Jay Blanchard)

11. Do not send your email to the list with attachments. If you don't
have a place to upload your code, try the many pastebin websites (such
as www.pastebin.com). (contributed by Burhan Khalid)

Following these guidelines will ensure that you get effective responses
from the list members. Otherwise, your questions might not be answered.

===============================================
Hope you have a good time programming with PHP.
===============================================

I was all ready to jump on Point #6 to disagree until I read the
next paragraph, updating that with the correct information. PHP can
find out the OS of the system on which the browser is running.

--
Daniel P. Brown
[office] (570-) 587-7080 Ext. 272
[mobile] (570-) 766-8107

If at first you don't succeed, stick to what you know best so that you
can make enough money to pay someone else to do it for you.

And before I get bitched at for that, no.... I didn't write it.
It was just quoted in this message and attributed to my name.

I'll gladly take the credit though. ;-P

--
Daniel P. Brown
[office] (570-) 587-7080 Ext. 272
[mobile] (570-) 766-8107

If at first you don't succeed, stick to what you know best so that you
can make enough money to pay someone else to do it for you.

Strictly speaking, PHP can only find out what the browser tells it - that
includes the OS. I could quite easily hack the browser info string sent by (at
least one of) my browsers to pretend I was using some horrible Windows rubbish...

I use the User-Agent Switcher add-on for Firefox for this. It's so
easy I don't even really consider it a "hack" -- it's a "feature". :-)
With it, I can not only change the UserAgent string sent in web page
requests, but I can also change the values of the userAgent, appName,
appVersion, platform, vendor and vendorSub properties of the built-in
navigator object in JavaScript.

Andrew

That's true... if you use ie; konquerer, and adjust settings as "send no
identification", then php script has nothing to determine browser type, OS
etc. etc. The other way to hide identification + ip address is to use proxy
servers, which is very common nowadays.

Regards,


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Cem Kayalı

--
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