Introduction to the VConsole PHP Engine
This section and all sub sections deal with the PHP scripting part of developing your VConsole application. Most of your development work will be done in PHP. It is important to know that, although VConsole is heavily reliant on the client side javascript capability of the user's browser, it is not where most of the development takes place. This is because most of the VConsole client side javascript handles high level GUI (graphical user interface) type functions. Most of the time, you will not need to worry about the high level GUI interface of VConsole, because all the GUI work is done for you for the most part. In other words, the GUI is already programmed and ready to go. This allows you to focus on the PHP programming part of your application without having to worry if the user interface is going to work right.

The sections in this area presume that you are at least proficient in PHP programming and are meant to be uses as a reference while developing your application. We recommend skimming through the next sections briefly so that you can get a general idea of what is available to you as a PHP developer. After skimming through the next sections, you should then refer back to these sections while you are developing. This area of this publication contains the following sections:

• PHP Variables - Gives you a reference of the variables that are available to you and what they contain.
• Built In PHP Functions - Gives you a reference of the functions that are available to you and how to use them.
• Creating PHP Function Libraries
  - Shows you how to create your own PHP shared function libraries.