The Bare Necessities - PHP

It's the coolest store on the Web - and now, its databases are accessible to you. Welcome to Amazon Web Services, an XML-based API that allows you to quickly build an online store that leverages off Amazon.com's massive databases. Find out more, inside.

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By: icarus, (c) Melonfire

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November 06, 2002

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TOOLS YOU CAN USE

here are a couple of things you'll need before you can get started with PHP and AWS. Obviously, you need a working build of PHP - I recommend the latest version, PHP 4.2.3, which you can download from http://www.php.net/

You'll also need an external PHP class named NuSOAP, which exposes a number of methods that can be used to instantiate a SOAP client and perform SOAP transactions over HTTP. You can download NuSOAP from http://dietrich.ganx4.com/.

Finally, you need a ticket to the Amazon.com gravy train. Drop by http://www.amazon.com/webservices/, register with Amazon.com, and pick up your free developer token. This developer token will be used in all your interaction with AWS, so handle it carefully - you're going to need it very soon.

While you're on the Amazon.com Web site, you might also want to download the AWS software development kit, which contains numerous examples of how AWS can be used on different platforms, together with detailed documentation of the AWS API. Be sure to read the SOAP development guidelines in the AWS documentation, so that you don't inadvertently burn down Amazon's servers.

All set up? Let's rock and roll.

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