Making a custom build PC web page

Edamr

I'm hoping to add a custom build section to my website, which allows users to select which components they want and to have a final price displayed. I'd also like it to change a piece of HTML code that controls my "buy it" buttons so that the new up to date price is integrated into the button. However, I'm oblivious as to the best way to go about doing this.

A mate of mine who was doing a Uni course used MS Access to make a database to supply to my company as part of his course. Unsurprisingly, my web host only supports mysql, so I've got a number of options.

1) Convert the database to MySQL - can this be done, and if so how?

2) Start from scratch.

The second option looks more likely, however I'll have to do it all myself, and I need help.

What's the best way of acheving the desired effect. Can it be done using just PHP, or will I have to use a database to do it? Whichever is the easiest to make would be best.

Can anyone offer some guidance, tips or even decent tutorials which will help me do what I want? All I can find at the moment is a guide which tells you how to make a simple address book.

What software will I need to make a database if I take that route? My web host has PHPMyAdmin, so I assume I could use that somehow?

EDIT* I Also have Sokkit set up, as wel as SQLyog.

Please realise that I've got very minimal knowledge on this subject, so it's a rather large undertaking. Consequently, I'll need rather specific tutorials to help me, rather than ones that simply tell me how to create tables, because I have no idea how to utlise this info in the way I want.

thorpe

Um... You realise that php is a programming language and that it will take some time to learn first? Why dont you start here, once you have read that and have some understanding of the subject, then you might think about building something.

Edamr

Yeah, I know that and I'm wanting to learn as I go along. I'd rather have all the info I need in one place so that I can access what I want at my own pace, rather than learning one thing and then saying "Done, what's next" and then having to route about and find the next thing.

I'm just wanting to collate one big pool of resources that will let me achieve what I want, and then work at it from there. That's the way I work best. 🙂

EDIT* It's not that I want to learn PHP and then "build something". I have an idea, I want to build it and it appears that PHP + MySQL is the way to do it. I'm not just wanting to do it for the sake of doing it, I have an actual practical use. 😛

leatherback

Edamr,

Good luck getting started. Please try not to try and do too much straight away. Youare better of working on small sections at a time (Work out how to query a database, and display the results) before going for the big things (Integrated shopping carts in database-run webshops, with uservalidation & secure registers)

All in all I think you'll find that with a week or two of working with the language you can get the basics down. But you will find yourself in a tight spot even after 4 years.

People on this forum in general are very willing to help you get your application running, or improving it, as long as you show an effort first. Keep that in mind, and I am sure you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Have fun!

Edamr

Well, some decent web tutorials would be a good place to start. I had a quick look through http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql but didn't get any visual results. It talked about adding commands - should this have been done by creating a PHP file and uploading it to the server?

By the way, the shopping cart will just be my papal buttons. All I'm hoping to do is have a small piece of code modified when all of the components are finally selected.