How To Run PHP in XAMPP


2020-05-21 PHP Web

I installed XAMPP in Installation of XAMPP. Today, I’ll use XAMPP as a test environment for PHP.

GOAL

To setup XAMPP and start PHP development in XAMPP.

How to start XAMPP

Be sure that the started module is stopped before quitting the control panel.

Method 1 Use xampp/xampp-control.exe

Right-click and run as administrator “xampp/xampp-control.exe” or “XAMPP Control Panel” in start menu.

Click “Start” buttons on the control panel.

If you add modules as a service, the check box is checked.
*You can’t see whether the check box is checked if you run the control panel as a non-administrator.

In this article below, a situation in which all modules are not registered as a service is supposed.

Click “Start” to start Apache and access localhost to confirm that apache is running.

Open browser and input “localhost”
The index page of XAMPP

Method 2 Use batch file

Use batch files in xampp\ directory to start each application individually.

xampp\xampp_start.exe
xampp\xampp_stop.exe
xampp\apache_start.bat
xampp\apache_stop.bat
mysql_start.bat, mercury_start.bat and filezilla_start.bat

Run your php program

The directory “xampp\htdocs” is document root that is assigned to localhost. So you can run your php program by putting the php file here.

Open xampp\htdocs\index.php and you can see the program to redirect users to localhost/dashboard by using header() function.

<?php
	if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && ('on' == $_SERVER['HTTPS'])) {
		$uri = 'https://';
	} else {
		$uri = 'http://';
	}
	$uri .= $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
	header('Location: '.$uri.'/dashboard/');
	exit;
?>

1. Create “test” directory in xampp\htdocs.

2. Create PHP files

Create 2 PHP files in the “test” directory, index.php to post input data and posted.php to get and display the input data.

xampp\htdocs\test\index.php

Use POST method to send the message.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
	<title>test</title>
</head>
<body>
	<form action="posted.php" method="POST">
		<label>Input message：</label>
		<input type="text" name="message" />　<input type="submit" value="Submit!" />
	</form>
</body>
</html>

xampp\htdocs\test\posted.php

Get the posted data by using $_POST[<name>].

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
	<title>posted</title>
</head>
<body>
	<p>Message "<?php echo $_POST["message"] ?> " is posted!</p>
</form>
</body>
</html>

3. Change the redirect destination URL in xampp\htdocs\index.php

xampp\htdocs\index.php

<?php
	if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && ('on' == $_SERVER['HTTPS'])) {
		$uri = 'https://';
	} else {
		$uri = 'http://';
	}
	$uri .= $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
	header('Location: '.$uri.'/test/');  // Change here!
	exit;
?>

4. Access localhost

Access localhost and the page is redirected to localhost/test/. Input any message you like and press submit button.

The posted page will be displayed and you can see the message you input.