PHP Code Example: How to create a PHP Webservice with nusoap and consume it with nusoap and PHP5's SoapClient()

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on November 18, 2008

How to create a PHP Webservice with nusoap and consume it with nusoap and PHP5's SoapClient()

Nusoap is convenient because you don't have to make any changes on the server, just download and copy the library files to a sub-directory. Nusoap also creates a WSDL file automatically for you. These examples show how to return an array of values so that you could, e.g. return 20 fields of information about a user, for instance. Not that on the nusoap examples I turn the cache off since when you have it on while you are developing and add a method to your soap server, your client doesn't recognize the changes. First download nusoap, then copy the files to a sub-directory on your web called "nusoap".

-----webServiceUsers.php------------------------------------------
<?php
require_once 'nusoap/nusoap.php';
ini_set("soap.wsdl_cache_enabled", 0);

$soap = new soap_server();
$soap->configureWSDL('UserService', 'http://www.company.com');
$soap->wsdl->schmemaTargetNamespace = 'http://soapinterop.org/xsd/';

/**
* Registers getUserName
*/
$soap->register(
	'getUserName',
	array(
		'id' => 'xsd:int'
	),
	array(
		'name' => 'xsd:string'
	),
	'http://soapinterop.org'
);

/**
* Registers getUserLogin
*/
$soap->register(
	'getUserLogin',
	array(
		'id' => 'xsd:int'
	),
	array(
		'login' => 'xsd:string'
	),
	'http://soapinterop.org'
);

/**
* Registers getUser
*/
$soap->register(
	'getUser',
	array(
		'id' => 'xsd:int'
	),
	array(
		'id' => 'xsd:int',
		'name' => 'xsd:string',
		'login' => 'xsd:string'
	),
	'http://soapinterop.org'
);

//set
$soap->service(isset($HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA) ? $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA : '');

/**
* Function that returns the user's name.
*
* @param int $id
* @return string
*/
function getUserName($id = null) {
		
	if($id != null && trim($id) != '') {
		
		$r = '';
		
		//database lookup
		switch ($id) {
			case 1:
				$r = 'Test User 1';
				break;
			case 2:
				$r = 'Test User 2';
				break;
			default:
				$message = 'unknown user id: ' . htmlspecialchars($id);
				return new soap_fault('Client', '', $message);
				break;
		}
		
	return $r;
	
	} else {
		$message = 'invalid parameter';
		return new soap_fault('Client', '', $message);
	}
	
}

-----testWebservice_nusoap.php------------------------------------------
<?php

//include nusoap files
require_once 'nusoap/nusoap.php';

//turns off cache, if this is uncommented then it does not recognize new methods you add to your web service
ini_set("soap.wsdl_cache_enabled", 0);

//initiate soap
$soap = new nusoap_client('http://www.company.com/webServiceUsers.php?wsdl', true);
$proxy = $soap->getProxy();

//get data from webservice
$id = 2;
try {
	$userName = $proxy->getUserName($id);
	$userLogin = $proxy->getUserLogin($id);
	$user = $proxy->getUser($id);
}
catch (Exception $ex) {
	echo 'Web service error: ';
	echo '<ul>';
	echo '<li>Message: [<b>' . $ex->getMessage() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>Code: [<b>' . $ex->getCode() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>File: [<b>' . $ex->getFile() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>Line: [<b>' . $ex->getLine() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>Trace: [<b>' . $ex->getTraceAsString() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '</ul>';
	die;
}

//display
echo '<div>User with id=' . $id . ' has name: ' . $userName . '.</div>';
echo '<div>User with id=' . $id . ' has login: ' . $userLogin . '.</div>';
echo '<div>In the user array for id=' . $user['id'] . ', name=' . $user['name'] . ' and login=' . $user['login'] . '.</div>';
echo '<div>$user["id"] is of type: <b>' . gettype($user['id']) . '</b></div>';
echo '<div>$user["name"] is of type: <b>' . gettype($user['name']) . '</b></div>';
echo '<div>$user["login"] is of type: <b>' . gettype($user['login']) . '</b></div>';

-----testWebservice_php5soap.php------------------------------------------
<?php

//initiate soap
$soap = new SoapClient('http://www.company.com/webServiceUsers.php?wsdl', array());

//get data from webservice
$id = 2;
try {
	$userName = $soap->getUserName($id);
	$userLogin = $soap->getUserLogin($id);
	$user = $soap->getUser($id);
}
catch (Exception $ex) {
	echo 'Web service error: ';
	echo '<ul>';
	echo '<li>Message: [<b>' . $ex->getMessage() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>Code: [<b>' . $ex->getCode() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>File: [<b>' . $ex->getFile() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>Line: [<b>' . $ex->getLine() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '<li>Trace: [<b>' . $ex->getTraceAsString() . '</b>]</li>';
	echo '</ul>';
	die;
}

/**
* Function that returns the user's login.
*
* @param int $id
* @return string
*/
function getUserLogin($id = null) {
		
	if($id != null && trim($id) != '') {
		
		$r = '';
		
		//database lookup
		switch ($id) {
			case 1:
				$r = 'testUser1';
				break;
			case 2:
				$r = 'testUser2';
				break;
			default:
				$message = 'unknown user id: ' . htmlspecialchars($id);
				return new soap_fault('Client', '', $message);
				break;
		}
		
	return $r;
	
	} else {
		$message = 'invalid parameter';
		return new soap_fault('Client', '', $message);
	}
	
}

/**
* Function that returns the user's information.
*
* @param int $id
* @return array
*/
function getUser($id = null) {
		
	if($id != null && trim($id) != '') {
		
		$ra = array();
		
		//database lookup
		switch ($id) {
			case 1:
				$ra = array(id => 1, 'name' => 'Test User 1', 'login' => 'testUser1');
				break;
			case 2:
				$ra = array(id => 2, 'name' => 'Test User 2', 'login' => 'testUser2');
				break;
			default:
				$message = 'unknown user id: ' . htmlspecialchars($id);
				return new soap_fault('Client', '', $message);
				break;
		}
		
	return $ra;
	
	} else {
		$message = 'invalid parameter';
		return new soap_fault('Client', '', $message);
	}
	
}

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Similar Code Examples:

PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on November 18, 2008

File that shows how all PHP 5.2 input_filters work.

This file runs through the input filters codes and shows how e.g. filter_var($value, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING) and filter_input($value, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING) will alter strings. You can see an example this here..

SHOW CODE

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport"
	content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;" />
<title></title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/main.css" media="all" />
</head>
<body>
<?php

echo showTable($filterTests);

function showTable($filterTests) {

$r = '';

//test
	$filterTests[] = 'This is <b>bold</b> text.';
	$filterTests[] = 'rob,@company.com';
	$filterTests[] = 'rob@company.c';
	$filterTests[] = '°1^2!3"4§5$6%7/8(9)0=ßA`B{C[]}\´+*~\',<.>/?|\@€';
	$filterTests[] = 'Now "this" is a test.';
	$filterTests[] = "Now 'this' is a test.";
	$filterTests[] = "Normal <script>middle</script>text.";
	$filterTests[] = 'You want to add "&" and ">" to your text.';
	$filterTests[] = '23';
	$filterTests[] = '+23';
	$filterTests[] = '23=,,,';
	$filterTests[] = '12.12';
	$filterTests[] = '12.834738';
	$filterTests[] = '12,82';
	$filterTests[] = 'http://www.company.com';
	$filterTests[] = 'http://@#$%#@$%www.company.com';

//rules
	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW, 'FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW', 'does nothing');
	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING <span style="color:#999">(same as FILTER_SANITIZE_STRIPPED)</span>', 'removes data that is potentially harmful for your application, it is used to strip tags and remove and encode unwanted characters');
	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS', 'escapes "<>& and characters with ASCII value below 32');
	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED', 'strips or URL-encodes unwanted characters, works a lot like the urlencode() function.');
	
	//ones you probably won't use
//	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_MAGIC_QUOTES, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_MAGIC_QUOTES', 'sets backslashes in front of single quote, double quote, backslash, and NULL, same as addslashes()');
//	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_FLOAT, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_FLOAT', 'allows digits and + -');
//	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT', 'allows digits and . + -');	
//	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL', 'removes all illegal e-mail characters from a string, allows all letters, digits and $-_.+!*\'{}|^~[]`#%/?@&=');
//	$filterRules[] = array(FILTER_SANITIZE_URL, 'FILTER_SANITIZE_URL','removes all illegal URL characters from a string');

//show

if(count($filterRules) > 0) {
		foreach($filterRules as $filterRuleSet) {

//variables
			$filterRule = $filterRuleSet[0];
			$filterRuleName = $filterRuleSet[1];
			$filterRuleDescription = $filterRuleSet[2];
			
			//title
			$r .= '<h3 style="margin: 20px 0 0 0">' . $filterRuleName . '</h3>';
			$r .= '<p style="margin: 5px 0 10px 0">' . $filterRuleDescription . '</p>';

if(count($filterTests) > 0) {
				$r .= '<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="margin: 0 0 20px 0">';
				foreach($filterTests as $filterTest) {

//variables
					$filterResult = filter_var($filterTest, $filterRule);

//show line
					$r .= '<tr>';
					$r .= '<td valign="top" nowrap="true" style="background-color: #ddd">' . $filterRuleName . '</td>';
					$r .= '<td valign="top" style="background-color: #ccc">' . htmlspecialchars($filterTest) . '</td>';
					$r .= '<td valign="top" style="background-color: #fff">--></td>';

//show the result, if not same then both raw and web
					$raw = htmlspecialchars($filterResult);
					$web = $filterResult;

if($raw != $web) {
						$r .= '<td valign="top" style="background-color: #eee">';
						$r .= '<span class="code"> ' . $raw . '</span><br/>';
						$r .= '<span style="color:brown">'. $web . '</span>';
						$r .= '</td>';
						$r .= '</tr>';
					} else {
						$r .= '<td valign="top" style="background-color: #eee">';
						$r .= '<span class="code">' . $raw . '</span>';
						$r .= '</td>';
						$r .= '</tr>';

}

}
				$r .= '</table>';

}

}
	}

return $r;

}

?>
</body>
</html>

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on November 13, 2008

Use define() for tedious-to-type constants

Stumbled across this use of define() today, nice for HTML tag and newline shortcuts etc.

SHOW CODE

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on September 18, 2008

A quick MySQL data layer class that makes read/writes one-liners

If you need to write a quick PHP script that accesses a MySQL database, just copy in or include this class and you can do all your reads and writes with one-line satements.

SHOW CODE

<?php

/**
* Class which represents a MySQL database.
*
* This class simplifies data read/write data access into one-liners and enables recordsets to be abstracted and then compared, etc.
* This class is meant to be copied and adapted for each particular use.
* Since singletons are used internally, you can just call the static methods getRecords(), getRecord(), getValue(), and executeCommand() as often as needed.
*
* USAGE:
*
*		(First fill in your database connection information in the method getConnectionInformation.)
*
* 		$records = MysqlDatabase::getRecords("SELECT * FROM employees");
* 		$record = MysqlDatabase::getRecords("SELECT * FROM employees WHERE id=11");
*		$firstName = MysqlDatabase::getValue("SELECT firstName FROM employees WHERE id=1");
*		if(MysqlDatabase::recordExists("SELECT * FROM employees AS u JOIN employeeExtras AS e ON u.id=e.userId WHERE e.key = 'accessId' AND e.value='1234'"));
* 		MysqlDatabase::doCommand("INSERT INTO employees (age) VALUES (27)");
*
* FOR DEBUGGING, just add 'debug' as the second parameter, this shows you the full SQL statement and the record result in table form, e.g.:
*
* 		$records = MysqlDatabase::getRecords("SELECT * FROM employees", 'debug');
*
*/
class MysqlDatabase {

/**
	 * This is the connection information that makes this class work.
	 * Just fill in this information with your connection information and use the one-liner methods.
	 *
	 * @return array
	 */
	public static function getConnectionInformation() {

$ra = array();

$ra['server'] = ''; //e.g. 'localhost'
		$ra['login'] = ''; //e.g. 'root'
		$ra['password'] = ''; //e.g. 'pass123'
		$ra['database'] = ''; //e.g. 'test'

return $ra;

}

/**
	 * The MySQL connection object.
	 *
	 * @var object
	 */
	private $connection;

/**
	 * The server name, e.g. "localhost".
	 *
	 * @var string
	 */
	private $server;

/**
	 * The login name, e.g. "root".
	 *
	 * @var string
	 */
	private $login;

/**
	 * The password, e.g. 'pass123'
	 *
	 * @var string
	 */
	private $password;

/**
	 * The name of the database, e.g. "test".
	 *
	 * @var string
	 */
	private $database;

/**
	 * Whether or not debug mode is on, if on, it prints the SQL statement and results.
	 *
	 * @var string
	 */
	private $debug;

/**
	 * Whether or not debug mode is on, if on, it prints the SQL statement and results.
	 *
	 * @param boolean $value
	 */
	public function setDebug($value) {
		$this->debug = $value;
	}

/**
	 * Single instance variable for singleton.rrrrr
	 *
	 * @var object
	 */
	private static $instance;

/**
	 * Constructor, private for singleton.rrrrr
	 *
	 * @param string $server
	 * @param string $login
	 * @param string $password
	 * @param string $database
	 */
	private function __construct($server='', $login='', $password='', $database='') {

//setting this to true will show all SQL statements and results in grids
		$this->debug = false;

//assign the parameters
		$this->server = $server;
		$this->login = $login;
		$this->password = $password;
		$this->database = $database;

//if they are all empty, then use the standard ones
		if($server=='' && $login=='' && $password=='' && $database=='') {
			$connectionInformation = self::getConnectionInformation();
			$this->server = $connectionInformation['server'];
			$this->login = $connectionInformation['login'];
			$this->password = $connectionInformation['password'];
			$this->database = $connectionInformation['database'];
		}

//if any are empty, then inform (password can be blank)
		if($this->server=='' || $this->login =='' || $this->database == '') {	
			echo self::getMissingInformationMessage();
			die;
		}

//initialize
		$this->initialize();

}

/**
	 * Returns database instance for Singleton pattern.rrrrr
	 *
	 * @param string $server
	 * @param string $login
	 * @param string $password
	 * @param string $database
	 * @return object
	 */
	public static function getInstance($server='', $login='', $password='', $database='') {

//if database object does not exist yet, then instantiate it
		if (!self::$instance) {

//if parameters all full then use them
			if($server=='' || $login=='' || $database=='') {
				$connectionInformation = self::getConnectionInformation();
				$server = $connectionInformation['server'];
				$login = $connectionInformation['login'];
				$password = $connectionInformation['password'];
				$database = $connectionInformation['database'];
			}

//get connection object, if any empty then report
			if($server=='' || $login=='' || $database=='') {
				echo self::getMissingInformationMessage();
				die;
			} else {
				self::$instance = new MysqlDatabase($server, $login, $password, $database);
			}

}
		return self::$instance;
	}

/**
	 * Define connection etc.
	 *
	 */
	private function initialize() {

//establish connection
		$this->connection = new mysqli($this->server, $this->login, $this->password, $this->database);
		$this->connection->query("set character_set_client=utf8");
		$this->connection->query("set character_set_connection=utf8");
		$this->connection->query("set character_set_results=utf8");

}

/**
	 * Prevents external instantiation of copies of the Singleton class, thus eliminating the possibility of duplicate objects.
	 */
	public function __clone() {
		trigger_error('Clone is not allowed.', E_USER_ERROR);
	}

/**
	 * Prevents external instantiation of copies of the Singleton class, thus eliminating the possibility of duplicate objects.
	 */
	public function __wakeup() {
		trigger_error('Deserializing is not allowed.', E_USER_ERROR);
	}

/**
	 * Returns a records object (an non-associative array of associative arrays) based on an SQL statement  back to the static method, not used externally.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return array
	 */
	public function getInternalRecords($sql) {

$records = array();

//build records
		$result = $this->connection->query($sql);
		if($result) {
			while ($record = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
				$records[] = $record;
			}
		}

//show if in debug mode
		if($this->debug) {
			if ($result) {
				echo self::showRecords($records, $sql, $this->connection->error);
			}
		}

return $records;

}

/**
	 * Returns a record object (associated array) based on an SQL statement to the static method, not used externally.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return array
	 */
	public function getInternalRecord($sql) {

//variables
		$records = $this->getRecords($sql);

//return it if there is one
		if(count($records) > 0) {
			return $records[0]; //assume one, just return first one if more
		} else {
			return null;
		}

}

/**
	 * Returns a single value that comes back from an SQL string  back to the static method, not used externally.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return string
	 */
	public function getInternalValue($sql) {

$r = '';

//variables
		$record = $this->getRecord($sql);

//if there is at least one field then read it out, it can't be access by index so we need to loop through it taking the first one
		if(count($record) > 0) {
			foreach($record as $field) {
				$r .= $field; //assume one, just return first one if more
				break;
			}
		} else {
			$r .= null;
		}

return $r;
	}

/**
	 * Executes an SQL command such as INSERT INTO or UPDATE and returns the lastId back to the static method, not used externally.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return string
	 */
	public function executeInternalCommand($sql) {
		if (!$this->connection->query($sql)) {
			if($this->debug) {
				if (!$result) {
					echo self::showRecords($records, $sql, $this->connection->error);
					die;
				}
			} else {
				//this is not in debug mode, i.e. live so if there is an error display nothing, perhaps notifiy here via e-mail, etc.
			}
		}
		return $this->connection->insert_id;
	}

/**
	 * Closes the connection to the database.rrrrr
	 *
	 * Since we are using a Singleton, there will only be one database object and connection open, and it will get closed when the script ends, so closing the
	 * database object here is not necessary but should be done where possible to expedite the releasing of resources.
	 *
	 */
	public function close() {
		$this->connection->close();
	}

/**
	 * Returns a connection object for the database;
	 *
	 * @return object
	 */
	public static function getConnectionObject() {

}

/**
	 * Returns the message to display when there is not enough connection information.
	 *
	 * @return string
	 */
	public static function getMissingInformationMessage() {
		return 'missing information for database connection, see MysqlDatabase::getConnectionInformation()';
	}

/**
	 * Displays a record array (non-associative array of non-associative arrays) in a nice table format with SQL (in header).
	 *
	 * @param array $records
	 * @param string $extras
	 * @return string
	 */
	public static function showRecords($records, $header='', $replacementMessage='') {

$r = '';

//variables
		$numberOfRecords = count($records);

//if there is more than one
		if($numberOfRecords == 0) {

//show message
			$r .= '<table style="width: 600px;border: 1px solid #fff; margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px">';
			$r .= '<tr>';
			$r .= '<td style="background-color: #ddd; padding: 5px; color: blue; font-weight:bold">';
			$r .= $header;
			$r .= '</td>';
			$r .= '</tr>';
			$r .= '<tr>';
			$r .= '<td style="width:150px;vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px; margin: 0px; background-color:#ccc; font-weight: bold">';
			if($replacementMessage == '') {
				$r .= 'no results';
			} else {
				$r .= '<div style="color:red">' . $replacementMessage . '</div>';
			}
			$r .= '</td>';
			$r .= '</tr>';
			$r .= '</table>';

} else {

//header

//start table
			$r .= '<table style="border: 1px solid #fff; margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px">';

if($header != '') {

//variables
				$numberOfColumns = count($records[0]);

//show it
				$r .= '<tr>';
				$r .= '<td style="background-color: #ddd; padding: 5px; color: blue; font-weight:bold" colspan="' . $numberOfColumns . '">';
				$r .= $header;
				$r .= '</td>';
				$r .= '</tr>';

}

//automatic headers
			$r .= '<tr>';
			foreach($records[0] as $key=>$value) {
				$r .= '<td style="width:150px;vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px; margin: 0px; background-color:#ccc; font-weight: bold">' . $key . '</td>';
			}
			$r .= '</tr>';

foreach($records as $record) {

//show record
				$r .= '<tr>';
				foreach($record as $field) {
					$r .= '<td style="vertical-align: top; border: 0px solid #aaa; padding: 2px; margin: 0px; background-color:#ddd">' . $field . '</td>';
				}
				$r .= '</tr>';
			}

//end table
			$r .= '</table>';

}

return $r;

}

/**
	 * Shows a single record with SQL
	 *
	 * @param array $record
	 * @return string HTML
	 */
	public static function showRecord($record, $header = '', $replacementMessage = '') {
		
		//put the record to show in a records array
		if(!is_null($record)) {
			$records [] = $record;
		} else {
			$records = array();
		}
		
		//call same as records
		return self::showRecords ( $records, $header, $replacementMessage );
	
	}

/**
	 * Shows a single value with SQL.
	 *
	 * @param array $record
	 * @return string HTML
	 */
	public static function showValue($value, $header='', $replacementMessage='') {

//variables
		$record['(value)'] = $value;
		$records[] = $record;

//call same as records
		return self::showRecords($records, $header, $replacementMessage);

}

/**
	 * One-liner that returns a records object (an non-associative array of associative arrays) based on an SQL statement.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return array
	 */
	public static function getRecords($sql, $option = '') {
		$mysqlDatabase = self::getInstance();
		$records = $mysqlDatabase->getInternalRecords($sql);
		if($option == 'debug') {
			echo self::showRecords($records, $sql);
		}
		return $records;
	}

/**
	 * One-liner that returns a record object (associated array) based on an SQL statement.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return array
	 */
	public static function getRecord($sql, $option = '') {
		$mysqlDatabase = self::getInstance();
		$record = $mysqlDatabase->getInternalRecord($sql);
		if($option == 'debug') {
			echo self::showRecord($record, $sql);
		}
		return $record;
	}

/**
	 * One-liner that returns a single value that comes back from an SQL string.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return string
	 */
	public static function getValue($sql, $option = '') {
		$mysqlDatabase = self::getInstance();
		$value = $mysqlDatabase->getInternalValue($sql);
		if($option == 'debug') {
			echo self::showValue($value, $sql);
		}
		return $value;
	}

/**
	 * One-liner that executes an SQL command such as INSERT INTO or UPDATE.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return string
	 */
	public static function executeCommand($sql, $option = '') {
		$mysqlDatabase = self::getInstance();
		$lastId = $mysqlDatabase->executeInternalCommand($sql);
		if($option == 'debug') {
			echo self::showRecords('', $sql);
		}
		return $lastId;
	}

/**
	 * One-liner that returns a single value that comes back from an SQL string.
	 *
	 * @param string $sql
	 * @return string
	 */
	public static function recordExists($sql, $option = '') {
		$record = self::getRecord($sql, $option);
		if(is_null($record)) {
			return false;
		} else {
			return true;
		}
	}
	
}

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on July 17, 2008

How to check if an IP-address is within the range of two IP-addresses

This function checks if an IP address is between two others, not that ip2long has a problem by itself so you need the sprintf("%u") function as well. Also it returns false if any of the IP addresses are invalid as to avoid tampering.

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patryksharks: shouldn't it be preg matches? greetings

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on June 30, 2008

How to use an .ini file with constants for e.g. translations

If you have various translations of your website, a quick way to implement this is to have an .ini file with all the translations in it and read it out. This code shows you how to also use constants within the ini file.

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on April 30, 2008

Use mod_rewrite to make easy-to-remember, Google-friendly URLs

Getting mod_rewrite to do what you want is like programming in Perl on a two-beer buzz. It almost makes me want to order the book The Definitive Guide to Apache mod_rewrite. Anyway, and therefore, I am proud to present, a mod_rewrite script that works: this script allows users and search engine bots to access my Install PHP workshop at this nice URL: http://tanguay.info/web/install_php_on_windows instead of the messier one with the idCode etc. Just copy this into your .htaccess file in the directory in which you want it to take effect and change accordingly. The /web/ is the name of directory off my base at my Internet provider. You can write as many Rewrite rules you want to make even your gnarliest URLs short, pretty, easy-to-read, and easy-to-index.

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Stone Deft: Is there a tutorial somewhere where you can actually integrate this to Ajax. I know it can be done. Please share tnx

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on April 28, 2008

Function to get Date/Time with milliseconds in sortable order

This function saves date/time stamps with milliseconds in an MySQL sortable format, e.g. 2008-12-31 22:18:40.484382.

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on April 24, 2008

Function to combine two arrays.

First of all, the PHP function array_combine() is a false friend if you think it that it combines two small arrays to make a large array. What it actually does is take a key array and a value array and hitches them together into one key/value array. In order to combine arrays in that sense you need array_merge. However, with array_merge, if either of arrays are null you will receive a PHP warning. Hence this function: smartArrayMerge().

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PHP CODE EXAMPLE - added on April 21, 2008

Function that randomizes order of an associative array

This is useful if you have an array of e.g. records which you need to "jumble up" but of course maintain their keys so they can be individually identified after the jumbling.

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My Free Tutorials:

How to Install the Android SDK on Windows XP and Create an Application that Runs in the Cell Phone Emulator

How to Create a Website with Datapod

Install Fedora 6 in VMWare on Windows XP and connect it to your network

Install Perl 5 on Windows XP and Get a Perl Hello World Running

Install OpenSuse 10.2 in VMWare on Windows XP and connect it to your network

Install Ubuntu 7.04 in VMWare on Windows XP and connect it to your network

Install Java on Windows XP and Learn the Basics of Java 6 using the NetBeans IDE

Setup a PHP Development Environment on Windows XP With Apache, PHP 5, MySQL 5, SQLite, Eclipse, Subversion, PHPMyAdmin, and Datapod

Install a PHP Development Environment with Eclipse PDT, Apache 2.2, PHP 5, MySQL 5, and phpMyAdmin Using XAMPP Lite

How to Install Ruby on Rails with Instant Rails and Create a Website Using JEdit and the Ruby Plugin