Comments/Critism please

Wow... not too bad.

Any chance we could see a working sample? And also your db structures?

looks good to me.

CODE:

First thing I noticed was that it's not compatable with PHP <4.1.0. You have used $_SESSIONS, which was added in 4.1.0.

From what I can see, it looks like you stuck with a naming scheme for your fields: ID_post, ID_thread, ID_forum -- a big help in large scale projects.

You've made use of require_once(). Better to use that when possible rather than just sticking require() everywhere. This prevents unnecessary code.

You avoided the short open tags. Helps with compatability.

You seem to vary in your code format. I always encourage people to code to the PEAR coding standards.

Another thing I like to avoid is having an echo() or print() statment span multiple lines..

I see you've used the heredoc syntax in your source.php file. Very nice. I think that is often over-looked and under-used. But I don't understand the purpose of fwriting all the files.

For the section of install.php that writes the files, you should use:
fopen (filename", "w+");
This will create the file if it does not already exist.

DATABASE:

Index the following fields:
_cats.ID_order
_forums.ID_cat, _forums.ID_order
_replies.ID_thread, _replies.ID_forum, _replies.ID_poster, _replies.postdate
_threads.ID_forum, _threads.firstpost, _threads.ID_lastpost
_user.username, _user.password

Indexing makes sorting and joining on indexed fields faster.

I'm assuming you'll be searching for _user.username and _user.password when the user logs on. If not, then they don't need to be indexed.

You're forum moderators should be linked with a foreign key: __user.ID_user

Good job!
For extra credit, try adding smilie capabilities to your posts.

Just two quickies as I just got home from school and I need food/drink and stuff before I get to work on anything.

Could you look through and give me examples on how I could make the code more OO? I think my main problem with OO is I'm not sure when to use it. My dad, who's into C++/# for his work, tried explaining it to me before, but I can't think of any good uses for it, so I'm probably just using the wrong frame of mind, so if you could point out a couple things I could use it for, that would probably help put me on track.

And the other thing, that PEAR coding standards thing, is that manual avaliable for download, if so could you download it and email it to me at [email protected]? Because my internet is being dumb and says PHP.net isn't avaliable, same with anitrade.net, infoceptor.com even though I know the sites are up because of various other people saying so. Just one of the jolly things about my computer.

Thanks.

It has links for downloading the manual in several formats and languages, but they all seem to be broken links.

I've not found many places to use OO myself. I tend to stay away from it because if it's not done properly, you can waste memory. This is because every instance of an object reserves enough memory for the entire object, even if you only plan to use a small part of the object.

Okay, well.

About the fwriting, the script actually makes all the files for you, similiar to YABBSE. So it opens or creates the files, then writes to then the source, which is contained in the source.php file.

As for the database, making them indexed, do you mean like with phpMyAdmin, make the actual feilds indexed?

Made completely new forums for my site.

And there's a little 'View Source' thing at the bottom so you can see the code that way.

FinalCreations Forums

There's smilies too.

yeah, i'll like to c a wroking sample too

o there it is didn't c the link ... duh!!! ...

Quote: Originally posted by FinalMjolnir666
As for the database, making them indexed, do you mean like with phpMyAdmin, make the actual feilds indexed?

Yes.

Okay, so doing that will just make it query faster?

Is there a techinical explanation that I would care about/understand at all?

http://www.your-name-here.co.uk/mysql/indexing.html

I was interested myself, so a quick boo around Google netted me (get it? netted!) the link above which explains it nicely, I think.

Be careful with your indexes. Simply indexing all your databases can have an adverse effect in many setups.

Can you explain that a bit for me, Wil? I'm learning about databases slowly -- what are the issues, and how can I avoid problems?

I think you have created a nice foundation to build on. It appears that you are really trying to learn this on your own which I am all for. Keep up the good work and good luck.