Module 02 Lab Worksheet
Module 02 Lab Worksheet
Introduction to LAMP
LAMP stands for Linux – Apache – MySQL – PHP. This lab will give you a short tour of these features in your workspace.
Log in to your CodeAnywhere workspace if you have not already done so.
Linux
This is the underlying operating system running on your development server. We won’t be doing much at this level but to access it you can use the SSH (Secure Shell) Terminal window at the bottom of your workspace. (If it’s not there, right-click on your Container name and select SSH Terminal.)
If you have some experience with Linux, you can try out some commands here. Otherwise, this is beyond the scope of this class.
Apache
This is the Web server. (Technically, Apache is the organization name and the server is called httpd.)
You can add pages to your Web site by simply adding files and folders to your Container.
Create a sample Web page
Right-click on your Container and select Create File.
In the Create File dialog, enter the name test_page.html.
After a moment, your new file will appear under your Container. Click on the file name to open it in your editor. Now we need to add some HTML code.
Your editor comes with a tool called Emmet. Emmet helps you write HTML by doing a lot of the work for you.
In test_page.html, enter ! (the exclamation point) and press <Tab>.
A basic HTML skeleton will automatically be entered into your file.
Change the <title> text to read My Test Page.
In the <body> section, type h2 and press <Tab>.
In between the h2 tags, enter the text This is my Emmet-generated Web Page.
There is much more you can do with Emmet but that should do it for now.
Save your changes.
Test Your Web page
In your MyBoxInfo.txt file, locate the line reading
To access an application running on your Container use the following link (ports 1024-9999
Under this is the URL of your Container Web page.
Copy and paste this into a new browser window and press <Enter>.
You should see a listing of links to the files in your Container. (You may wish to bookmark this.)
Click on test_page.html.
Your test Web page should be displayed in your browser.
Confirm that it renders correctly and attach a screenshot of the page to this worksheet.
MySQL
Web-based MySQL Administration
The easiest way to manage MySQL is through a Web-based tool called PHPMyAdmin. This software is preinstalled in your Container and access is straightforward.
Point your Web browser to your Container URL and add /phpmyadmin at the end (don’t forget the leading forward slash), then press <Enter>. (You may wish to bookmark this for convenience because we’ll be using this quite a bit.)
Log in using the ID root with no password.
To verify that you have logged in correctly, take a screenshot of the main PHPMyAdmin page and attach it to this worksheet.
Log out by clicking on the icon of an open door in the upper right corner, under the label PHPMyAdmin. We’ll be using this tool in a later lab.
PHP
Web servers can generate dynamic content using CGI (Common Gateway Interface). This allows the server to execute a program that produces HTML and re-direct the HTML output to the Web client.
You can use almost any programming language to write CGI code as long as the Web server knows how to read and execute programs written in that language. PHP is a popular scripting language used for Web development and is preinstalled on your server.
PHP Web Syntax
PHP code can be mixed in with HTML in a similar manner to Javascript. The tag used to enclose your code is
<?php [your PHP code here] ?>
That’s it.
Create a PHP Test Page
Create a file called php_test.php with the following content:
<html>
<head>
<title>PHP Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php echo ‘<h2>Hello World</h2>’; ?>
</body>
</html>
Save it in the same way you did your test Web page.
Test PHP Page
● Point your Web browser to your Container URL and click on the link to your test PHP page.
● Verify that the page renders correctly. If not, return to the previous step and check for syntax errors in the file.
● Include a screenshot of your test page with this worksheet.