Need a little help coding my site

ecksit · May 9th, 2008, 18:51

I'm not that knowledgeable on PHP, java, ASP, etc.. so I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction on what I need to learn to write this.

Ok first of all, I'm making a site where a user can register an account and have a personal user control panel.

1. what web langauge do I need to use to make something like this? php I'm guessing, right?

2. I need to write some kind of script that will, on request of a registered user, go to a specific site and retrieve specific data and return it.

3. I need to write something that will compare the data retrieved by all the different users. (basically what I'm doing is comparing all the different data of the users and give them a rank based on how they compare to the other users.)

I'm not looking for anyone to write it for me or anything, I'm just curious what I need to learn in order to do it. Or if you have any helpful links, or tutorials that would be awesome.

CloudedVision · May 9th, 2008, 20:55

I'm assuming you already know (X)HTML and CSS. You'll need to learn PHP, SQL, and learn how to integrate SQL into PHP. Just run through the tutorials, a simple login script can be done with basic PHP and SQL knowledge. Once your confident in your PHP skills, you might also want to check out Object Oriented (OOP) PHP.

ecksit · May 9th, 2008, 23:05

Thanks! I know html and css, but I'm having someone else design the site.

So for the other two things besides the login script all I will need is php and sql??

CloudedVision · May 9th, 2008, 23:59

Yep. For number two look into PHP's cURL, but other than that its all basic PHP/MySQL.

ecksit · May 10th, 2008, 00:49

awesome guy, thanks

bonnit · May 10th, 2008, 20:31

just a tip, if your not too hot on writing php go to http://www.hotscripts.com and look at the free scripts available for download, chances are youll find what you need and will only have to make a few changes to the configuration files, most come with read me files and step by step set up txt files

CloudedVision · May 10th, 2008, 21:21

I've found most scripts on hotscripts require so much changing to fit your needs that your better of writing it yourself. Just my opinion.

bonnit · May 11th, 2008, 14:13

maybe so but if you are beginner to php it gives you an insight into how the code is actually working, enabling you to learn how to make the changes you need rather than starting from scratch which can be quite daunting for a beginner?

but yes you are completely right, if you are looking for something very specific you may need to make so many alterations it hardly becomes worth it