PHP help and a little bit of advice

[alekz]

I got an offer to make a site for a local main event, paying $1,000 to code and maintain...i mention the money not to brag or whatever, but to see if its enough for the work i will be doing. the advice, 1 grand...worth coding a +20 page site with php and mysql for users to log in/out and pages only viewable to them the members.

i got the coding down with CSS and HTML/XHTML...etc. the problem comes (for me) when they asked for a members area...of course i said i knew how to work with it...when i really dont. but hopefully in a few days will.

anyway they want the members area to send out coupons mostly (along with whatever else they want to send) to the members of that main event. now i asked my self why not a mailing list? well they wanted a members area for future use, how? i have no clue.

anyway the help part. since i have no clue where to start...what should i go on and read. i dont want to waste my time learning the wrong stuff. any suggestion and help would be greatly appreciated it. for now i want to learn how to create the form for them to sign up (well the php, im sorta familiar with the feed back forms and such), how to store their data on a DB, and mainly make pages only viewable to members.

if you think im taking the wrong approach please let me know

-alex

[zq29]

I think you can achieve this with a fairly basic understanding of both PHP and MySQL, and as such, a book that outlines the basics of both would be ideal. If you prefer reading information online, there is a manual for both PHP and MySQL - found at php.net and mysql.com