# Newbie as Newbie Gets

**URL:** <https://www.phphelp.com/t/newbie-as-newbie-gets/24692>\
**Category:** Greetings\
**Created:** [November 4, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/newbie-as-newbie-gets/24692 "2015-11-04T02:39:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![todtown](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@todtown](https://www.phphelp.com/u/todtown)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/newbie-as-newbie-gets/24692/1 "2015-11-04T02:39:40Z")

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I don’t know ANYTHING about PHP, MySQL or Java. However, I’ve been given an opportunity to take over a project abandoned by some other developer. Naturally I plunged into the deep end of the pool and said, “Nooo problem.”

So I hope I can pepper you guys with questions and learn little by little as I go.

tod

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**Author:** ![astonecipher](https://www.phphelp.com/user_avatar/www.phphelp.com/astonecipher/32/2797_2.png) [@astonecipher](https://www.phphelp.com/u/astonecipher)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/newbie-as-newbie-gets/24692/2 "2015-11-04T02:48:50Z")

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How were you given this “opportunity”? And are you a developer in other languages?

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**Author:** ![todtown](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@todtown](https://www.phphelp.com/u/todtown)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/newbie-as-newbie-gets/24692/3 "2015-11-04T03:02:58Z")

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I accepted a part time gig at a law firm doing basic Internet research and data entry. I am an Excel\VBA developer and saw a need to automate and streamline their processes. The boss liked it and asked if I’d take over some database development from someone who left. It sounded simple enough so I said yes. The boss gave me a link to a PHP page with some simple HTML prompting users to upload files to ‘the database’. That’s it. That’s all I have to go on.

These guys are lawyers so…I’m gonna have to figure this out myself. I figured the first place to start is find out if there are clues I can use to find and access the database.

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**Author:** ![astonecipher](https://www.phphelp.com/user_avatar/www.phphelp.com/astonecipher/32/2797_2.png) [@astonecipher](https://www.phphelp.com/u/astonecipher)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/newbie-as-newbie-gets/24692/4 "2015-11-04T03:07:38Z")

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Some programming knowledge is better than none!

The absolute first thing to do, is get access to the server. Credentials, url, everything. Then, you can start looking through the code, seeing how it works, and where the information is likely to be.

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**Author:** ![ErnieAlex](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@ErnieAlex](https://www.phphelp.com/u/ErnieAlex)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/newbie-as-newbie-gets/24692/5 "2015-11-04T04:36:08Z")

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Yes, Tod, same as I told you on your other post. First, here are some simple guidelines for this site to help  
us be able to help you better.

First, never post your email address or passwords. So, if you show us code, XXXX them out. ( You can send  
them in private messages if you trust the person at the other end. ) Next, always post your code inside the  
PHP tags. Just click the PHP button above and place the code between the tags. This makes it much easier  
for us to copy the code into our own editors for testing. Lastly, please do not double-post on one subject.  
It just wastes our time as we have to answer twice… As you come across a new problem, create a new  
post for it unless it is part of the previous post.

These will help us help you! Now, for general help, you can search this site for solutions. Since you are a  
total “newbie”, you might want to start with our tutorials. But, here is a great site that helps with tons of  
tutorials on just about anything. HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP… Just select the language at the top and  
then the subject on the left. This page starts you with tutorial on connections to a database using PHP.  
Hope it helps…  
[http://www.w3schools.com/php/php\_mysql\_intro.asp](http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_mysql_intro.asp)  
( Each page is short, click on “Next Chapter” to walk thru it… Might help some… )