PHP, Dreamweaver and MySQL

[curly73]

I am new to PHP and I don't have a seperate server. I am running Dreamweaver CS3 with Developers toolkit and Xampp 2.1.10.
My problem appears to be that I cannot get my head around whether I need to have a seperate server, or whether I can do everything locally. I have also got MS SQL Server 2005, as I thought that this might be the way to go.
I need help in how to setup the components - DW, Xampp, and how then link DE to Xampp to make it talk to the dummy table I have created. Alternatively, an easy way of ensuring that I have setup the configuration correctly.
I host on Fasthosts and also have MySQL on there, but they are not helping much.

Thanks,

[digital-ether]

How far have you got?
Have you installed XAMPP and have PHP working?

My problem appears to be that I cannot get my head around whether I need to have a seperate server, or whether I can do everything locally.

Depends on what everything means. Yes, you can do everything on your localhost that you can on a remote server. (the only difference is physical location)

If everything just means a development environment to run PHP, then you don't need the remote server at all. Your XAMPP install should work fine.

If you plan to have your code accessed from the internet, (such as a website) you have to either set up your local server with a domain that resolves to your local servers IP.
Or you can develop code locally, then upload to your remote server when done.
If your connection is fast, you can just develop on the remote server.

I need help in how to setup the components - DW, Xampp, and how then link DE to Xampp to make it talk to the dummy table I have created.

Whats DE?

So you're going with MS SQL Server and have created a dummy table there?