[Chyld]

OK, here's a cunning teaser for you bods who know HTML.

I'm once again doing web design for my extended family, once again I'm coding the site in PHP, and once again, when I try loading the pages I've made to see how they look, it tries downloading the PHP file rather than opening it.

This only ever happens when tis saved on my computer, as PHP files work perfectly fine when they're already on the internet, and its not just a Firefox bug, since my copy of IE (chained up in the corner in a gimp suit) is doing it too. Does Nightlife have any thoughts?

[Radu094]

Hmm...well, it makes some sense. The PHP script needs to be interpreted before being served as HTML.

Let me see if I can remember all this :

1. You need to install IIS (comes on the windows XP or Vista DVD) , then do this

2. Even then it will not work if you simply open the .php file in IE by double-clicking on it (this means IE reads the content directly from the disk).

3. You need to setup the IIS to create a virtual website at the location where you have your .php files, then open the browser to
http:\\localhost\nameofthesite\nameofthefile.php

This makes the request go to the IIS server who in turns will pass the request to the PHP interpreter who will respond with HTML.. which will be displayed on your browser rather than downloaded as a content file.

Does it work ?

[Ninja Duck]

I remember doing this. You have to have something that looks like a webserver on your computer. In a fit of rage fueled by loathing for Microsoft, I used Apache instead of IIS.

[Radu094]

Yes, an Apache for windows will also do the trick, but it's usually more dificult to configure. I guess it depends on what you are used to.

If you do choose to go down the Apache route, look for something called PHP triad (search for a latest release). It will automatically install Apache + PHP + MySQL on your windows computer.

[Chyld]

Hmm, that's annoying, its a bit more complicated than I thought it'd be. Ah well, its just a few Include tags I've got to run, I'll preview them in HTML until I gets them hosted. Thanks giys!

[Ninja Duck]

Thanks for informing me about PHP triad. This computer doesn't have PHP on it and I haven't been looking forward to installing it again.

[Heccubus]

I have never had to do any of that to view PHP files in a web browser.