DLib Library

This freely downloadable library was created to make programming dynamic web sites much more easier. It has been through several revisions since its initial conception in 2002 and is currently at version 6.5. It contains functions that can be broken down into the following main categories:

• Database functions that simplify the handling of single records or arrays of records. Table layout and updating becomes almost trivial (change the layout and the database will automatically and transparently update itself without further intervention). Note that the availability of Database functions depends upon the 'plug-in' used. The library was primarily coded to use the MySQL database engine, however, it can also use 'plug-ins' for other databases such as MS Access or FoxBase. Currently, only the MySQL plug-in is supplied and can be considered complete.
• HTML page, table, form and field functions that mean that, in general, there should be little need to hand code any HTML code whatsoever.
• Date and time functions for handling date and time input, calculations and formatting.
• Specialist areas such as e-commerce, graphics and PDF generating functions.
• Code to handle miscellaneous functions.

Who is the library for?

It is for programmers with a working knowledge of PHP and JavaScript who want to spend time creating unique interactive web sites without having to assemble it from the bare 'nuts and bolts'. It provides short cuts to database handling and HTML table and form output. The actual design and implementation of a site is down to the programmer.

What will it not do?

It will not create an 'instant' web site as some utilities do - these utilities are suitable for those who are not programmers or do not have the time to put together a complex design themselves - they must therefore be happy with the restrictions that such utilities impose.

Requirements

The library requires PHP version 7 onwards and has been tested on most modern web browsers.

What the rest of this section is about...

The next few pages contain the library download, installation instructions, some preliminary examples (and I stress the preliminary - yes, I know that much more information will be required to fully get to grips with all the available functions). The next section describes the APIs for each of the library files. Each API page is generated from the comments in the source files themselves along with some examples extracted from another secondary file. This means that API details should always be up to date.

Go to the next page to download the library.