learning php

how to test scripts offline

[wasproject]

Dear reader.

My access to the internet is limited to office hours and when I read "By all means you can practice on your laptop!..." (eggy ricardo's reply on topic started by Albo (http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum88/7410.htm))
I jumped to the conclusion: "Excellent, that means that I can start learning php and still test my scripts even when offline."

Thus, I installed easyphp and everything went according to plan until I tried to work offline. It seems to me that the easyphp Apache server only works when connected to the internet.

Undeterred and notwithstanding my ignorance, I spent some time scanning the phpinfo as well as the php.ini and httpd.conf files hoping to discover a setting that might allow offline php script execution, but was sadly unable to discover anything obviously useful that I was not afraid to risk.

My next step would be to retry the advice to go for the independend installation (caspito's reply on topic started by Albo (http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum88/7410.htm)). I tried that first, but aborted the installation procedure due to my ignorance regarding many of the intructions' terms.

However, before I resort to this desperate action, I appeal to your wisdom and compassion to kindly direct me to a solution or just an explanation for either of which I will be eternally grateful.

Operating system: windows2000
PHP Version 4.3.10
Apache Version Apache/1.3.33 (Win32) PHP/4.3.10

Sincerely

[Sarah Atkinson]

I use IIS on windows xp pro. (it is also avalible on 2000) It doesn't work perfectly but does an ok job. very tricky to install. I got it to work just fine at home and on my laptop but it will not run right on my workhorse. I also use lucasoft's enginsite php editor which has it's on built in webserver

[jatar_k]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld wasproject,

There is no reason that apache should care about your net connection, I can unplug my net and it doesn't matter.

First, what exactly happens when you don't have a net connection?
Are there errors?
or just nothing?
what steps to you take to access your pages and what happens?

also maybe try these posts
Troubleshooting Steps for PHP/Apache on windows [webmasterworld.com]
Installing a new web server: Apache2, PHP5, MySQL4 and PHPmyAdmin [webmasterworld.com]

[wasproject]

Dear Sarah Atkinson and jatar_k.

Thanks for your replies and please accept my apologies for abandoning you over the weekend.

I discovered that everything works fine when using either netscape, opera or firefox.
There are still some glitches with pages opening in French or not at all, but I have been able to either translate, or locate and reposition the relevant documents.
I suspect that an IE setting or one of the easyphp settings relevant to IE would solve the easyphp-on-offline-laptop-using-IE problem.
The leads provided by jatar_k will be useful when I start the independent installations, but for now, my main purpose is to learn php and mysql and I am happy to make do with the working browsers.

So far, everything is again going according to plan... I have created a new table in a new database using phpmyadmin and using
<? $db = mysql_select_db ('forumdb'); if ($db) {echo 'Selected: ',$db;}?>
in an htm document produces
"Selected: 1"
so I assume that I have successfully connected to the forumdb database...

Thanks again for your time and efforts and may wisdom and compassion continue to light your path.

Sincerely