How I Learned PHP

Learning PHP was on my list of things to learn for a while. Two years ago, I finally started.
I learned PHP by taking two online courses at ed2go.com. They were called: Introduction to PHP and MySQL and Intermediate PHP and MySQL. They were fairly good at getting you started. The first course guides you through the creation of a recipe website with it's own content management system (CMS). The second course guides you through the creation of an online store.
I also purchased a few books:

PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy

PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition)

Programming PHP

Codeacademy.com offers free online courses, including PHP. They are actually pretty good.

Php.net is the official PHP documentation site.

If you have the foundation of knowing another programming language, PHP is pretty easy to learn. For me, the hardest part is remembering to include the $ sign.


More PHP Resources

Can't Create New Folder Windows 7 Fix

A month or so ago, I noticed the strangest thing on my laptop. I couldn't create a new folder from within Windows Explorer. However, I could create a new folder using the mkdir command from within a command prompt window. I have no idea what happened to cause this. I'm guessing it was caused by an installation or a windows update.
Today I finally took the time to see if I could fix it. Luckily, I did. After some Google searching, I decided to give this suggestion a try: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprogeneral/thread/97de8a2a-12f2-4381-a409-a78f4ae551cf


which states:

First, please use System File Checker tool to troubleshoot this issue.

If the issue persists, import the following registry key and see if the issue can be resolved.

First, please refer to this knowledge base (KB) article to back up the registry key. After backing up the registry, please follow the steps below to import the registry:

1. Click Start, type Notepad in the Search bar and pres ENTER.
2. Copy the following commands and then paste them into the open Notepad window.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{11dbb47c-a525-400b-9e80-a54615a090c0}]
@="CLSID_ExecuteFolder"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{11dbb47c-a525-400b-9e80-a54615a090c0}\InProcServer32]
@="ExplorerFrame.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\New]
@="{D969A300-E7FF-11d0-A93B-00A0C90F2719}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder]
@="Folder"
"EditFlags"=hex:d2,03,00,00
"FullDetails"="prop:System.PropGroup.Description;System.ItemNameDisplay;System.ItemType;System.Size"
"ThumbnailCutoff"=dword:00000000
"TileInfo"="prop:System.Title;System.PropGroup.Description;System.ItemType"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,33,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore]
"MultiSelectModel"="Document"
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000022
"ExplorerFlags"=dword:00000021

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,20,00,2f,00,73,00,65,00,70,00,61,00,72,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,2c,00,2f,\
00,65,00,2c,00,2f,00,69,00,64,00,6c,00,69,00,73,00,74,00,2c,00,25,00,49,00,\
2c,00,25,00,4c,00,00,00
"DelegateExecute"="{11dbb47c-a525-400b-9e80-a54615a090c0}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open]
"MultiSelectModel"="Document"
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000010
"ExplorerFlags"=dword:00000012

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,20,00,2f,00,73,00,65,00,70,00,61,00,72,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,2c,00,2f,\
00,69,00,64,00,6c,00,69,00,73,00,74,00,2c,00,25,00,49,00,2c,00,25,00,4c,00,\
00,00
"DelegateExecute"="{11dbb47c-a525-400b-9e80-a54615a090c0}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ColumnHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ColumnHandlers\{F9DB5320-233E-11D1-9F84-707F02C10627}]
@="PDF Column Info"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\BriefcaseMenu]
@="{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Offline Files]
@="{474C98EE-CF3D-41f5-80E3-4AAB0AB04301}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8}]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\DragDropHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\DragDropHandlers\{BD472F60-27FA-11cf-B8B4-444553540000}]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\BriefcasePage]
@="{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\Offline Files]
@="{7EFA68C6-086B-43e1-A2D2-55A113531240}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\ShellNew]
"Directory"=""
"IconPath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,33,00,\
00,00
"ItemName"="@shell32.dll,-30396"
"MenuText"="@shell32.dll,-30317"
"NonLFNFileSpec"="@shell32.dll,-30319"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\ShellNew\Config]
"AllDrives"=""
"IsFolder"=""
"NoExtension"=""


3. After pasting the above commands, please click File on the menu and click Save.
4. Type in NewFolder.reg as the file name, select to save the file on the Desktop. Click Save.
5. Go to the Desktop, and double click NewFolder.reg. A dialog box will pop-up saying "Are you sure you want to add the information in fix.reg to the registry?". Click Yes to confirm.

Note: Administrative privileges are required to perform the above steps. Please click "Continue" when the User Account Control dialog-box appears.


I did everything as stated above:

1. Open up a command prompt window by right clicking Run As Administrator and type in: sfc /scannow - No problems were found for me.

2. I backed up the registry by going to Start and typing in regedit. Click on Computer in the left panel. Go to File, Export, type in a file name and save.

3. Open up Notepad and copy all of the above from Step 2 in the article suggestion. Follow Steps 3, 4, and 5 from the article suggestion. I did get a pop up box similar to Step 5, but it was worded differently. I then got another pop up box with an error message that other processes were in use and the key couldn't be written.
I then tried creating a New Folder in Windows Explorer by right clicking. The New Folder option still wasn't there, so I clicked on the New Folder menu item. Guess what? A new folder was created! I then tried the right click and New Folder is now showing as an option.

No idea what caused the problem of not being able to create a New Folder from within Windows Explorer, but that was the fix that worked for me. BTW, my laptop is running Windows 7.


More Windows 7 Resources