Errata

In the code example, Brett adds the form html to upload a file, but forgets to add the "<br />" at the end of the second new line, which causes the page to display all wonky, making it not look like the example on 211. Minor error.

Note from the Author or Editor:
I'm not seeing this error in my printed copy of the book. However, it is correct that all opening double-quotation marks should be matched up with closing double-quotation marks.

You do need to make one fix, though: that backslash following up before a single apostrophe ("There\'s" in the first sentence) is no good.

There is an error in this statement if you are testing this on your own machine. If you enter the following from page 232 using localhost in place of www.yellowtagmedia.com, you will not get a backslash when you test:

http://www.yellowtagmedia.com/phpMM2/ch08/scripts/show_error.php?error_message=There%27s%20been%20a%20problem%20connecting%20to%20the%20database

I don't know whether this a PHP problem or if the author forgot to include the backslash in the above statement. Nevertheless, it was a cause of frustration and multiple rereads. This needs to be corrected.

Note from the Author or Editor:
You're right. The value for the error_message request parameter should be

There%5C%27s%20been%20a%20problem%20connecting%20to%20the%20database

(The %5C adds the \ that is missing.)

Constants (VALID_USERNAME & VALID_PASSWORD) not being defined with correct syntax. These should be in quotes.

Page shows
define(VALID_USERNAME, "admin");
define(VALID_PASSWORD, "super_secret");

Should be
define("VALID_USERNAME", "admin");
define("VALID_PASSWORD", "super_secret");

Note from the Author or Editor:
Absolutely correct. Thanks for finding this...

The images referenced in the downloaded phpMM.css aren't pulling up when I open "sayHelloWeb.HTML". I get the green background, so apparently it is finding the CSS file, but it can't find the images referenced in the CSS file.

Here's one of the problem lines in the CSS file:

background: #75bb45 url('/phpMM/images/tmm_php-mysql_background.png') repeat-y;

The downloaded directory structure does not include the directory "phpMM".

I had my "images" folder in the same directory as my "sayHelloWeb.HTML" file. I fixed the problem by moving my "images" folder into the "css" folder. Now the relative URL works.

Summary: The printed instructions say to have the "images" directory at the same level as the same HTML file as well as the "css" directory. It won't work unless the "images" directory is inside the "css" directory.

Note from the Author or Editor:
Hi. The directory structure on the Missing CD provides lots of "in progress" snapshots, essentially giving you the code at every step of the book's major headings. However, this has created some confusion in terms of final file locations.

I'm working on an additional set of downloads that give you the final version of the code--as it would run--that should clear this up. Look for that in the next few days. Thanks for reporting this, and I'm working on it. My apologies for the confusion.

Thanks
Brett

The text says "add the handle to the beginning of $twitter_url."
It should say "add the handle to the end of $twitter_url."
The following page, page 76, correctly states this in paragraph 5 when it says: "If there is no @, this code simply adds the handle to the end of $twitter_url"

Note from the Author or Editor:
Good catch, thanks. So on 75, change "add the handle to the beginning of $twitter_url." to "add the handle to the end of $twitter_url."

Thanks for the help!

In the code segment, 6th line has error as printed in the book:
$facebook_url = str_replace("facebook.org", "facebook.com", trim($_
REQUEST['facebook_url']));

because of this line break, string $_REQUEST is considered as to words "$" and "_REQUEST".
Solution: shift the line break as:
$facebook_url = str_replace("facebook.org", "facebook.com",
trim($_REQUEST['facebook_url']));

Note from the Author or Editor:
The best solution here is to simply not introduce a line break at all on local systems. I mention that in several spots, but it can be a problem.

In the book, let's change the code to read (as suggested):

$facebook_url = str_replace("facebook.org", "facebook.com",
trim($_REQUEST['facebook_url']));

That provides the least room for misunderstanding.

Thanks!

in the code segment

if ($result) {
echo "<p>Your query was processed successfully.</p>"
echo "<p>{$query_text}</p>";
}

the echo statements if not terminated.

Add ";" the this. The segment should read:

if ($result) {
echo "<p>Your query was processed successfully.</p>";
echo "<p>{$query_text}</p>";
}

Note from the Author or Editor:
Nice catch. Yes, there should be a semicolon there, as you suggest.

Thanks.

--------------------------------------------------
<html>
<head>
<link href="../../css/phpMM.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
<div id="header"><h1>PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual</h1></div>
<div id="example">Example 1-1</div>
<div id="content">
<h1>Hello, <?php echo $_REQUEST['name']; ?></h1>
<p>Great to meet you. Welcome to the beginning of your PHP programming odyssey.</p>
</form> <!-- THE WRONG PART -->
</div>
<div id="footer"></div>
</body>
</html>
--------------------------------------------------
form tag has been used without using its opening counterpart. Although it does not have any effect on code, but is semantically wrong.

Note from the Author or Editor:
I believe this is actually the first edition, but the best solution is simply to remove the </form> tag altogether.