What are some best practices for creating a banner exchange script using PHP?

When creating a banner exchange script using PHP, it is important to ensure that the script is secure, efficient, and easy to use. One best practice is to properly sanitize and validate all input data to prevent SQL injection and cross-site scripting attacks. Additionally, using prepared statements for database queries can help prevent SQL injection vulnerabilities. It is also recommended to implement caching mechanisms to improve performance and reduce server load.

// Sanitize and validate input data
$banner_id = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'banner_id', FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT);
$website_url = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'website_url', FILTER_VALIDATE_URL);

// Use prepared statements for database queries
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM banners WHERE id = :id");
$stmt->bindParam(':id', $banner_id, PDO::PARAM_INT);
$stmt->execute();
$banner = $stmt->fetch();

// Implement caching mechanism
$cache_key = 'banner_' . $banner_id;
$banner_data = $cache->get($cache_key);

if (!$banner_data) {
    // Fetch banner data from database
    $stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM banners WHERE id = :id");
    $stmt->bindParam(':id', $banner_id, PDO::PARAM_INT);
    $stmt->execute();
    $banner_data = $stmt->fetch();

    // Cache banner data
    $cache->set($cache_key, $banner_data, 3600); // cache for 1 hour
}

// Display banner on website
echo '<a href="' . $website_url . '"><img src="' . $banner_data['image_url'] . '" alt="' . $banner_data['alt_text'] . '"></a>';