In today’s tutorial, web application development specialist Akash Mehta takes a look at Microsoft SQL Server Express and shows us how to build a simple web app. It’s a natural follow-up to an article we published last year about the [URL=“http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/php-windows-web-platform-installer”]Microsoft Web Platform Installer, which demonstrated how easy it is to set up a web server on Windows with PHP, IIS, and SQL Server Express.
After reminding us of the various open source applications that can be installed with the WPI, Akash then takes us through the process of setting up the development environment. Next we take a tour through the SQL Server Management Studio interface, to see how easy it is to setup and manage your databases. Once all the relevant components have been installed, you’ll learn how to build a simple project time tracker that can help to organize timing records and accurately bill clients.
By the time you’ve finished the tutorial, you’ll also be able to use standard SQL functions to create a simple report. If you really feel like challenging yourself, you can research T-SQL and go on to build a more complex report. Before you know it, you’ll have an SQL Server-driven PHP application up and running!
A big thankyou to Microsoft, who are sponsoring the quiz for this article. If you found the tutorial interesting, be sure to give the quiz a go – and if you’re one of the first 200 people to complete the quiz, you could snap up a copy of Microsoft SQL Server Developer Edition (please see quiz for terms and conditions) delivered to your door for FREE!
