Hi,
well lets start with some basic explanations!
first of all, mysql is a real database-system working over tcp/ip (networking protocol)-connections. mysql does not use database files like ms access, so you have to connect to a specific service on your prod-server (there are no database-files or folders on the webserver). there all the data can be found.
there are some basic commands to connect to the database server. before you can connect to the database you need to know following (from your network admin):
database hostname: "$hostname"
username: "$username"
password: "$password"
database name: "$dbname"
your php-file should look something like:
<?php
// fill the information to variables:
$hostname = "server.domain.com";
$username = "user";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "MyDB";
// connect to the database host, you can use "localhost" instead of $hostname, if the mysql server is the same machine as your web-server:
$link = mysql_connect ($hostname, $username, $password);
// now query the database: select all the records in table "xxx":
$query = mysql_db_query($dbname,"select * from xxx;");
// then you should retrieve the results: this retrieves the first record:
$result = mysql_fetch_object ($query);
// now write some additional code in here
...
...
...
// don't forget to close the database connection
mysql_close ($link);
?>
the rest of the information you need can be found in the php manual under "mysql functions". there are also a lot of sample scripts inside the documentation: http://www.php.net/docs.php.
roland
