Wicked Cool PHP: Real-World Scripts That Make Difficult Things Possible

Rather than explain the basics of PHP, "Wicked Cool PHP" provides scripts that can be implemented immediately to make programmers' lives easier. It includes scripts not found in any other books, including scripts for processing credit cards, getting live shipping quotes, and accepting PayPal payments online. Author William Steinmetz approaches the limitations of PHP frankly and honestly, showing readers where security holes might be created by novice programmers and suggesting workarounds for when PHP fails. Readers will learn how to create robot-blocking security images and on-the-fly graphs to embed in Web pages, transform pictures into thumbnail images, design screen scrapers to connect to other sites and download information from them, and much more.