PHP Forms

A simple PHP sample application to demonstrate user registration and listing using plain PHP + MySQL.

This project contains a registration form, a users listing page, and a small demo database schema and data. It's intentionally lightweight and built for learning, experimentation, and as a starting point for more robust applications.

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🔧 Features

• User registration form (HTML form)
• Server-side input validation and sanitization
• Password hashing with PHP password_hash()
• Prepared statements using mysqli to prevent SQL injection
• Simple success/error notices driven by PHP session messages and a tiny JS helper
• Simple user listing with basic styling
• SQL schema and sample data included

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🧩 Prerequisites

• Windows (development environment shown here; works the same on macOS/Linux)
• XAMPP (Apache, MySQL) or an equivalent PHP + MySQL setup
• PHP 8.x or higher (project uses password_hash() and other built-ins)
• Optional: phpMyAdmin or MySQL client to import SQL

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🚀 Quick Start — Run locally with XAMPP

1. Copy the repository folder into the htdocs directory of XAMPP. For example:

# If you cloned here already to c:\xampp\htdocs, nothing to do. Otherwise, copy files into htdocs.
# Example (PowerShell):
Copy-Item -Path "C:\path\to\sample_php_forms\*" -Destination "C:\xampp\htdocs\phpforms\" -Recurse

2. Start Apache and MySQL via the XAMPP control panel.

3. Create the database and import the provided schema and sample data.

phpMyAdmin option:

• Open http://localhost/phpmyadmin and import database/phpforms.sql (choose 'Import' → select file).

Command‑line option (PowerShell):

# Create database (if it doesn't exist) and import
mysql -u root -p -e "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS phpforms;"
mysql -u root -p phpforms < "C:\xampp\htdocs\phpforms\database\phpforms.sql"

Note: The project uses a default DB configuration in config.php (root / empty password and database phpforms). If you use different credentials, update config.php.

4. Configure DB credentials (if needed):

• Edit config.php and set hostname, username, password, and database appropriately.

Example config.php:

<?php
return [
  "hostname" => "localhost",
  "username" => "root",
  "password" => "",
  "database" => "phpforms" 
];

5. Visit the app in your browser:

• Registration form: http://localhost/phpforms/ (opens index.php)
• Users listing: http://localhost/phpforms/users.php

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🔎 Project Layout

• index.php - Registration form view
• register.php - Form processing, validation, and DB save logic
• users.php - Simple user listing
• config.php - Database configuration (returning an array)
• database.php - Opens the mysqli connection using config.php settings
• functions.php - Helper functions (validation, redirect, debug)
• main.js - Small script that hides notices after a timeout
• style.css - Minimal styling for notices and tables
• templates/notice.php - Notification block for success/error messages
• database/phpforms.sql - SQL dump containing schema and sample data
• notes.txt - Developer notes / field mappings

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⚠️ Security & Recommendations

This project is a simple educational example and not production-ready. Consider the following improvements before using it in production:

• Add CSRF protection to forms (tokens or same-site cookies).
• Escape all output on the page where user-derived values are displayed (e.g., htmlspecialchars() for table values on users.php) to prevent XSS.
• Use HTTPS in production to protect credentials and session cookies.
• Consider using PDO with explicit error handling or a DB abstraction layer to unify error handling and make prepared statements easier across drivers.
• Add server-side validation and stricter input constraints (length checks, format checks).
• Rate-limit registration endpoints to prevent abuse or spam registrations.
• Use environment variables or a more secure store for DB credentials rather than a repository file for sensitive data.

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🛠️ Common Troubleshooting

• Database connection error: Check config.php to ensure your DB credentials are correct and MySQL is running.
• 404 on index.php: Ensure the project folder exists under htdocs and that Apache has permission to serve it.
• Blank pages: Check your PHP error log (or enable display_errors for local dev).

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✨ Improvements & Feature Ideas

• Add a login page and authentication (sessions + login/logout)
• Add update/delete user functionality (with confirm flows and protection)
• Add search and pagination to the users list
• Add client-side validation and better UX/feedback

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions and suggestions are welcome. Please open an issue if you find a bug or want to propose a feature.

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.