PHP and E-Commerce

[Dylan]

Hello there,

I am 16 years old and I am designing websites on the side of school. I am pretty good with the desiginging and layout of websites and I know some JavaScript. I am currently learning PHP so I can make my sites more dynamic and interactive. When I'm browsing through the internet these days I am comming accross more and more 'shopping carts' and websites with e-commerce. In fact in one of my recent web design requests a user wanted a shopping cart on his website with a user login. I feel that it is important that I learn how to do these. As you are experienced with programming, I have just a few questions.

1. Is PHP a good code to use in creating shopping carts and user logins? I recently bought a book on PHP. From what I've heard and seen, it is quite the language. Is this the way to go?

2. Security Issues - I'm only 16, and since I am creating programs for online transactions, certain problems might occur. I could make small mistakes, which in turn could hold big problems. Is it worth the risk? How do I make it 'secure'?

3. Do I have to have an E-Commerce license? - As I am currently in school, I do not have time to attend a course.

4. If I can manipulate and retrieve data in a MySQL database with PHP, does this mean that I do not need to learn MySQL at all? Since I just need to set it up and I can do the rest with PHP?

5. Do you have any tips to help me start out?

It would be greatly appreciated if you help me out. By the way, here is my website, you can check it out: www.eastern-currents.com/dylanstan/

Cheers,
Dylan

[iago]

Just so we're clear, he's a friend of mine.. I sent him here because I couldn't help him with his problems

[Arta]

1. Is PHP a good code to use in creating shopping carts and user logins? I recently bought a book on PHP. From what I've heard and seen, it is quite the language. Is this the way to go?

Yes! It's great. It's quick to develop in, easy to learn, flexible, powerful, and widely used.

2. Security Issues - I'm only 16, and since I am creating programs for online transactions, certain problems might occur. I could make small mistakes, which in turn could hold big problems. Is it worth the risk? How do I make it 'secure'?

PHP itsself has had very few security problems of consequence. That said, badly written or insecure code will still be badly written and insecure no matter what language you use. It is obviously important for any e-commerce web application to be very secure, and security is *not* something that's easily acheived. It requires time, patience, experience, and above all an extensive and wholesome knowledge of ALL the technologies involved. Thus, I consider it unlikely that a starting programmer would be well-qualified enough to create such a system securely. That said, nothing's impossible - You should start by signing up for the webappsec mailing list at securityfocus.com, and reading it daily, even if you don't understand all of it. Then, read the relevant articles at the Open Web Application Security Project (owasp.org, I think). Learn about HTTP, HTTPS, Web browsers, any other technologies you will make use of. Above all, get lots of practice!

3. Do I have to have an E-Commerce license? - As I am currently in school, I do not have time to attend a course.

No. You can use third-party companies like Worldpay.com to process your transactions - but it'll cost you. Here in the UK you have to pay about £300 (~$450) just to start using their services. There's also a charge based on a percentage of each transaction, and a waiting period before you get the cash. It'd be much easier & far more secure to use paypal or somesuch.

4. If I can manipulate and retrieve data in a MySQL database with PHP, does this mean that I do not need to learn MySQL at all? Since I just need to set it up and I can do the rest with PHP?

You need to learn SQL, but that's easy. You wouldn't really need to learn anything specific about MySQL, no, but some good background database knowledge would help you a lot - specifically with regards to the design and layout of tables and the data they contain.

5. Do you have any tips to help me start out?

A good book is a good start. Work through the examples. The PHP manual is fanstastic - www.php.net/manual. www.phpbuilder.com has a lot of good articles and tutorials.

HTH!

[Etheran]

HTH?

[Dylan]

Thanks! You answered every single one of my questions . I think I'm just going to make the design for peoples website and then tell them to purchase some sort of shopping cart software like Pay Pal or something else which I can just simply customize for their needs. Do you think that would work?

Once again, thanks.

[Noodlez]

HTH?

hope that helped

[Arta]

Yes, that sounds good. I'm pretty sure PayPal run some kind of scheme allowing small businesses to sell goods online with paypal - but you should be aware that often, different legalities apply to goods & services sold online than to those sold over more conventional meda. Your customers (and probably you ) would be wise to find out exactly what those restrictions are before proceeding. For example, here in the UK, the seller is ALWAYS responsible financially for goods purchased fraudlently. If a product needs to be returned for any reason, the shipping cost for returning the item has to be paid by the trader. Recently the EU also brought in new regulations about ecommerce websites requiring that they provide clear information about how to contact the company using offline means. I'm not sure how much of this applies to you but there'll almost certainly be rules that you shnould find out about.