Complete beginner question

[lake_tuna]

Hey guys,

 

I found this timeclock PHP program online. I'm interested in trying out this program, but I don't really understand MYSQL and PHP. So, I'm not understanding the first step of the installation guide.

 

"Unpack the distribution into your webserver's document root directory." from http://timeclock.sourceforge.net/install.php.

 

--> what does "webserver" mean? Do I need to have somewhere online where I can host files? How do I get a webserver and what else do I need to run this program successfully? So far, I have installed XAMPP, but I don't have a website of my own. TIA!

[ronverdonk]

You have a webserver, XAMPP. That contains Apache, MySql, PHP and Perl.

The webserver root is the root of your XAMPP installation, usually htdocs.

Once you installed your clock in that root, you access it using the url localhost/progrname.php

 

[lake_tuna]

hey ronverdonk,

 

Thanks for the reply! I figured this out the other day, but it took me a day to find the details on the Internet. Only if you were here earlier.. it would have saved me a lot of trouble!

 

Anyway, now I understand that this webserver could be run on my computer with XAMPP or on a website if I have a domain somewhere. I tried some basic HTML pages with simple PHP codes, and the setup seems to be working.

 

I have another question. I think it would be wise for me to test stuff (this time clock program or some site I might develop) on the webserver on my computer. Would it be easy to transfer everything to an actual website on the WWW later? Would I just copy and paste everything and change URLs in the codes?