[cgc]

I used to program long ago in Assembly, C, Pascal, and some other languages and took a 20 year hiatus. A couple years ago I wrote some VBA to get something done at work and got the programming fever again but the programming environment has changed a lot in the time I took off so I need some advice on getting starting with the right tools.

I think I have a few tasks to perform:

1. Web front-end w/ form(s) to allow a user to enter data and to display statistical analysis and charts of the saved data
2. User login to enter data daily or more often and to look at stats/charts as needed
3. SQL back-end to store and retrieve data

This is a fairly simple thing but I'm curious if the SQL/PHP combination is preferred over SQL/JS or something else. I like Python but have little experience other than some testing in CodeRunner... Are there any CMS-like systems for databases that can fast-track this?

Specifically, I will allow users to login, have some sort of user prefs with goals entered (e.g. run 10K in 50:00), enter date/run time/run distance/notes, then the application will do a few calculations (e.g. calculate intermediate distances as goals, trend analysis, pace calculation, etc.), draw chart, etc.

So what do you suggest as far as language, plan of attack (e.g. get forms working first then do SQL, then do user login/accounts, etc.)? How do I make it secure? Thanks.

BTW, I'm using a Linux-based web host with PHP 5.2.17 and MySQL 5.1.

[hyteckit]

If you are just looking to manage databases with PHP, get phpMyAdmin.

[besson3c]

1) Choose an MVC PHP framework such as Laravel, CodeIgniter, etc. Choose one depending on how bleeding edge you want it to be and how well the documentation clicks with you. CodeIgniter is a pretty conservative and slow moving framework, but it has great documentation, a ton of users, and since your needs aren't that great it should definitely do everything you need.

2) Install the framework, setup your controller, controller functions, and HTML view for your form. You can create your database with phpMyAdmin, that works well.

3) Will this form require authentication, or will it be wide open to the whole world in allowing vistors to write to the database? If the latter, you should definitely learn about good security practices in designing this form, such as cross-site scripting prevention. If the form will send out email make sure that there is appropriate error checking, hard code the recipient's email address, etc.

4) Google Charts works well and it will probably cover your charts and graphs needs. You might want to look for a plugin/library/widget of some sort that will assist you with integration. I haven't used Google Charts much myself, so I'm making some assumptions here.

5) If you aren't much of a graphic designer you can pickup a decent webpage template at Website Templates | Web Templates