Hi all -
I agreed to help a buddy out with a simple page he needs built in PHP....the scenario is something like this: there would only need to be 2 screens - a User Screen where people can drill down to locate specific file types - call them resources, and an admin screen where you could add (new resource entries) / edit or delete (existing resource entries)

User Screen Would be:
Drop Down #1: Select Grade (K-12)
Drop Down #2: Select Subject (Math, English, Science, etc...)
Drop Down #3: Select Resource File Type (Word Doc, Excel Doc, PDF Doc, etc...)

Admin / Entry Form Screen would be:
same as above, but be able to add some attributes to the Resource File like: Description, Other helpful links, etc...
and then the ability to submit this info. The next time the user used the page, this content would be available for viewing...the admin screen should also allow the admin to edit or delete existing entries

this would be a very simple fix using a mysql database - could probably plop everything into one table for simplicity and have a working page in 1/2 hour or so....however

a mysql database isn't an option - I'd like to give him something that affords at least the primary functionality of a mysql database (Insert new entry, Edit/Update an entry, and delete an entry) - but I'm not sure the best way to proceed if mysql isn't an option....anyone have any ideas for the best route to take?

    look up sqlLite in the manual. its a simple embeded db.

      If MySQL isn't an option, then it's a good chance that PostgreSQL wouldn't be an option either (without knowing why, it's impossible to say). So sqlLite might be the only serious alternative left.

        thanks for the input weedpacket -
        yup the thing is it's not that mysql isn't an option from a technological standpoint - the web server is running apache and is fully PHP compliant, but I don't believe they have any mysql databases installed - it's more of an administrative thing - so he was wondering if he could achieve the same functionality using just PHP alone

        i was thinking about an app that more or less would read and mimmick a file structure on the web server - for example, u may have 2 primary folders: 7th_Grade, 8th_Grade - in the 7th Grade folder you might have 7th_Math folder, 7th_English folder, etc....and in the 7th_Math folder, you might have 7th_Math_ResourceFile1, 7th_Math_ResourceFile2, etc....

        if we could build the entire file structure that way, i could probably just recursively read the folders/contents, and use that to create the web-based menu system strictly for browsing resource files....on the admin side he could delete and add categories and files - behind the scenes in PHP i could just create new folders or delete/rename existing ones.....but it would make it tough to actually tie descriptive information to each specific resource file (something very easily done in a database by just adding a column) like a description of what the file does, additional resource URL's for the file, etc...

        I figured there would probably be some way to do it with flat files...or possibly XML, but i'm afraid i'm not brushed up enough on XML to know where to start : ( - i do appreciate all the helpful info from everyone though!

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