A useful program: WAMP

A good question to ask is "why do you need this program?"

As I explained to you in the previous chapter, only the server can read PHP and you the client you cannot.
There's a problem then! How can you check that your work is correct with a computer which cannot read PHP?
You must find a way to teach your computer PHP and be able to design your website.
WampServer is the solution. It's so simplistic to install a PHP program and think that's all you need to do! You need several programs.
WampServer (let's abbreviate it WAMP) is actually a "package" which contains all essential programs needed to process PHP. You don't need to do anything, they install automatically!

The WAMP website is : www.wampserver.com

For your information, here are the programs installed by WAMP :

• Apache : this program enables the server to distribute web pages..it only reads HTML!
• PHP : PHP is like a "plugin" of Apache. It needs Apache to be able to function and Apache needs it to work on PHP pages. Apache +PHP = PHP server
• MySQL : it's a very useful program we are going to develop later. Just bear in mind that it enables to use databases. We will talk about database and the rest at the right moment !
• phpMyAdmin : it is useful to manage your database.

You don't need to understand the functioning of all these programmes for the moment but you need to download it because it is essential for the rest of our work. It is a very discreet program.
Let us now install WAMP.

Action speaks louder than words so let's attack!

WAMP has a big size and you need to download it no matter your connection speed



Follow installation instructions.

Towards the end of the process you need to specify the folder you are going to use. I advise you to use the default folder and press OK.


There is a series of question to answer during the installation process. Just use the default value each time and press next.
If you are using Firefox, WAMP will ask you if you want to use it as your default browser. Answer yes!

At the end of the installation, the Apache server (one of the program included in WAMP) will start. If your firewall wants to block it, authorised the program to run



At the end, you are asked if you want to start WAMP. Do not unmark the box so that WAMP can start at the end of the installation.





I told you the program is discreet so when you start it, you can notice an icon on the right of the task bar (near the clock)



If the installation is correct you should have exactly the same thing as me and if you put the cursor, on it you can read "All services running".
Congratulations! You have installed WAMP succesfully

This is the last step: you need to configure WAMP. It is very easy and fast to do.


Now left-click on the icon located on the task bar. You should have the WAMP main menu as follow:



The first element of the menu, "Localhost", takes you to the WAMP welcome page. You can see all the projects you are going to work on (projects section)



I have not yet created a project. To create a project it is very simple: you just need to create a new directory in the "wwww" folder.



The second interesting aspect of the menu is "phpMyAdmin" which opens....PhpMyAdmin We will talk about it later on.

And finally if you click on the "www directory" in the menu, WAMP will open the Windows browser in your www folder. This folder is the one where your PHP files could be read correctly. As indicated above, it is advised to create a sub-folder (name it "tests" for instance) and put your PHP files inside. In my example it is in C:\wamp\www\tests.

When you finish creating the sub-folder reload the WAMP welcome page and you should have your folder displayed:



You just need to click on the folder to execute the web pages inside. You have not created PHP files but don't worry you will do it soon


And to close WAMP right click and close.