Student Notes Tracker

A small LAMP stack practice project built with PHP, MySQL, and Apache.

This app allows a user to:

• add a student note
• save the note to a MySQL database
• view saved notes on the main page

The project was built as a pre-placement practice app to strengthen backend fundamentals and understand the full flow from form input to database storage and browser output.

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Project Purpose

The goal of this project is to practice the core LAMP flow:

• Apache serves the PHP files
• PHP handles form input and server-side logic
• MySQL stores the student notes
• the app fetches saved notes and displays them in the browser

This project is intentionally small so the full system can be understood end to end.

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Features

• Add a student note using a form
• Save note data to MySQL
• View all saved notes on the index page
• Store note timestamps automatically
• Reuse database connection logic through a config file

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Tech Stack

• PHP
• MySQL
• Apache
• HTML
• Linux

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Project Structure

student-notes-tracker/
├── README.md
├── notes/
│   ├── project-notes.md
│   └── setup-notes.md
├── screenshots/
├── sql/
│   └── schema.sql
└── app/
    ├── index.php
    ├── add-note.php
    ├── save-note.php
    └── config.php

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Database

Database Name

student_notes_tracker

Table Name

student_notes

Columns

• id
• student_name
• note_text
• status
• created_at

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Main App Flow

1. Open add-note.php
2. Fill in the form
3. Submit the form to save-note.php
4. save-note.php receives the POST data
5. save-note.php uses config.php to connect to MySQL
6. The note is inserted into the student_notes table
7. The user is redirected to index.php
8. index.php fetches all saved notes
9. The notes are displayed in the browser

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Setup Overview

1. Create the database schema

Run the SQL in sql/schema.sql using MySQL Workbench or the MySQL CLI.

2. Configure the database connection

Update app/config.php with your MySQL connection details.

3. Serve the project through Apache

Make sure Apache is running and the project is being served through http://localhost/...

4. Open the app in the browser

Example local path:

http://localhost/student-notes-tracker/app/index.php

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Pages

app/index.php

Main list page that displays all saved notes.

app/add-note.php

Form page for adding a new note.

app/save-note.php

Processes the form submission and saves the note to MySQL.

app/config.php

Contains the MySQL connection logic.

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Current Scope

This version includes:

• one database
• one table
• one form page
• one save flow
• one list page

This version does not include:

• authentication
• edit/delete functionality
• advanced styling
• multiple tables
• framework use

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Learning Focus

This project was used to practice:

• PHP basics
• HTML forms
• POST request handling
• MySQL schema design
• PHP to MySQL connection
• insert queries
• select queries
• displaying database data
• understanding full request flow in a small LAMP app

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Evidence

Screenshots captured for this project:

• 01-mysql-workbench-local-connection.png - local MySQL Workbench connection
• 02-schema-sql-script.png - schema SQL prepared for execution
• 03-student-notes-table-view.png - student_notes table visible in MySQL Workbench
• 04-add-note-form-page.png - add note form rendered in the browser
• 05-note-visible-on-index-page.png - saved note displayed on the index page
• 06-student-notes-table-view.png - inserted note visible in the database table

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Next Improvements

Possible future upgrades:

• make status a dropdown
• add filtering by student name or status
• add edit/delete features
• improve styling
• move DB credentials into .env
• use a dedicated DB user instead of root

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Status

Current status: core version complete

Completed:

• database schema created
• MySQL connection configured
• PHP served through Apache
• add note form built
• save note flow working
• notes displayed on the index page

The project can now:

• add a note through the form
• save the note to MySQL
• display the saved note on the list page

That confirms the main student notes tracker flow is working end to end.

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What I Practiced

This project was used to practice:

• PHP form handling
• Apache-served local development
• MySQL schema creation
• PHP to MySQL connection
• end-to-end request -> app -> database -> browser flow