Noob in Apache, PHP, MySQL Query Browser & PHPMyAdmin.

[bpat1434]

PHP has no typical "gui" like Dreamweaver does for HTML. PHP is a coding language, and one that doesn't have a GUI like C# or .NET applications.

Zend Studio is proprietary software, meaning that Zend created and sells the product for a profit. It is however, worth every penny if you're really developing PHP applications.

The Eclipse plug-in called PDT (the PHP for Eclipse project) does not have a design page. There is good reason: there are no "controls" or anything to design. PHP is all back-end coding. It's all text-based. The design view of Dreamweaver is only for HTML. It's a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor, and only useful for HTML and XHTML documents. The only difference between design view and your browser is that in Dreamweaver, you're afforded the ability to move and add "elements" with a few clicks and put them where you need, rather than having to hard-code it.

For a beginner like you I'd say use a small text program like E-Texteditor or EditPlus or Notepad++ or even just notepad. They all do the same thing (create text-based files and highlight based on syntax). The advantage to using these over dreamweaver is overhead. Dreamweaver can be a resource hog. Although, Dreamweaver offers code-hints I believe. But even that can be added to things like EditPlus through user tools. Or what's better is to just use the manual as you go.

I've been doing this for about 5 years now, and I use a mix between Edit Plus, E-Texteditor, Zend Studio 5.5, and NuSphere PhpED. But the resource I use the most: www.php.net <-- The first place to look when you're stuck, chances are someone has noted it 😉

[fr5nz]

Oic.
Ok.
So PHP is a server-side scripting.
Wow.
You been working with programming for 5 years.
I just started because my teacher want me to do a project using MySQL and PHP.
I have installed Apache, PHP, MySQL Query Browser & PHPMyAdmin.
I created a database in MySQL Query Browser.
How can I link into the database in PHPMyAdmin?
I follow the manual given on the net but it didn't work.
Or I can just create a database straight in PHPMyAdmin than in MySQL Query Browser?
Need your help again.
Sorry.

[bpat1434]

MySQL query browser and PHPMyAdmin should be nothing more than front-end clients to the MySQL databases you have on your system. You should set up phpMyAdmin per the documentation they have on the web, only asking for HTTP authentication and connecting to localhost. Then when you connect, just make sure you input the username and password of the correct user. Than you can create, modify, or delete databases, tables, columns, and rows of data at your leisure. That is all presuming you actually have MySQL installed, and not just the "front-end" clients.

[Roger_Ramjet]

If you are just starting out then hand coding in a text editor is the only way to go if you really want to learn the languages.

Since the MySQL Tools came along I find phpmyadmin to be redundant. Personally I use the Administrator to create dbs and tables etc. I find it just more convenient than the query browser for that. It displays the sql code it generates so you can save it for future use.

Like bpat, I found Eclipse to be more trouble than benefits - same with DevPHP. Just find a good text editor with syntax highlighting etc for the languages you are going to learn and use (I use UltraEdit myself).

Since I assume you are using php 5.1+ (you should be) then you should use PDO to work with the db rather than mysql_connect/query/etc which are again redundant now that PDO is here.

[fr5nz]

Yup.
I have installed phpMyAdmin and MySQL Query Browser.
My teacher wanted me to create a website to display the database I have created.
But can you give a simple example using Dreamweaver to display the database?
Or any of your friends can show me how to?
Thank you very much. 🙂

Reply for user - bpat1434

[fr5nz]

Oic.
MySQL Administrator can also create database?
Cool.
Okay.
I go try it out.

Hmmm.
Okay.
I go try UltraEdit too.
Since you know UltraEdit, next time I can need your help. 🙂
By the way I just need to activate PDO in php.ini?

Reply for user - Roger Ramjet

[bpat1434]

Yes, PDO is enabled or disabled in the php.ini file. Just remember to reload Apache (or whatever server software you're using) so that the changes are taken.

phpMyAdmin and MySQL Query Browser are two front-ends to the MySQL RDBMS system. You have to have MySQL installed somewhere (either on your local computer or on a server) and have access to it in order to use it. Otherwise, they're useless applications. If you have that, then they both can equally create databases and tables; however, phpMyAdmin has a better interface for creating tables & databases, while MySQL Admin is better than MySQL Query Browser for creation of databases & tables.

You can ask for help using any editor you like. Just because Roger uses UltraEdit, I use Zend Neon / Edit Plus / Notepad++, and Rod uses Dreamweaver doesn't mean that any of us can't help the other. The application to create the php script is a moot point; it's the code within that script that matters. So you can edit in whatever you like 🙂 Just make sure you're happy with it.

I'm not sure how to use Dreamweaver to create a database or table (as I don't particularly use Dreamweaver) but in phpMyAdmin you'd do the following:

1. Log on to your phpMyAdmin

2. From the home area, there should be a text box in the right pane with a label above it: "Create new database"

3. Fill that with the name of a database you want, I'll call it "testing"

4. Once it's created, you should be in a new page, with the left having what will be a list of tables on the left, and on the right another area that says "Create new table". Fill in the text-box with the table name, and in the "Fields" texbox, put the number of columns to create (we'll use 3 in our example)

5. Create a new table with whatever name you like, I'll call it "test_table"

6. You'll be brought to another screen where you can add and remove columns. In here, you need to add the name of the column, select the type, and then continue over selecting the options you want.

7. Once you're satisfied, click the "Save" button. If you need to add more columns, click the "Go" button which by default will add 1 more column (you can change the number in the text-box from 1 to whatever number and that many columns will be added).

8. That's it

That's the basics. All of those steps usually take about 2 minutes. The longest part is putting all the data-types and default values together in there. That's why MySQL Admin is sometimes easier to create databases with. It's a little more user-friendly.

All of that could easily be accomplished with:

DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS `testing`;

CREATE DATABASE `testing`;

USE `testing`;

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `test_table`;

CREATE TABLE `test_table` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `column2` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `column3` SMALLTEXT NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY(`id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO INCREMENT=1;

There may be some typos, but that's the general gist of it.

[fr5nz]

Oic.
Ok.
I also have MySQL installed.
I go play around with Dreamweaver and phpMyAdmin.
Thanks for your help.
Really thanks. 🙂

Reply for user - bpat1434

[fr5nz]

Your configuration file contains settings (root with no password) that correspond to the default MySQL privileged account. Your MySQL server is running with this default, is open to intrusion, and you really should fix this security hole.

Alot of people post:
1) "Use Finder and locate config.inc.php"
2) "Edit config.inc.php with a text editor"
3) "Replace $cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri'] = ''; with my phpMyAdmin URL address"
4) "Save the file, and visit phpMyAdmin URL again. Now the phpMyAdmin should be password protected"

But I couldn't find config.inc.php file in my computer.
I only have a file called "config.sample.inc.php".
Is it the same file as config.ini.php?

I tried:
1) Select mysql from (Database)... pull down menu
2) Click Browse
3) Edit the entry for root user, with your host name attach to it
4) Select PASSWORD from the Function pull down menu for the Password field
5) Input a password and click Go

But it didn't work.
I also restart my Apache.
Can anyone tell me how to solve this?
Thanks. 🙂

[bpat1434]

If you haven't set up phpMyAdmin before, you need to either manually create a config file, or use it's setup script in the "scripts" folder of phpMyAdmin.

[fr5nz]

I couldn't find the file config.inc.php in the scripts folder in phpMyAdmin folder.
I only find a file config.sample.inc.php in phpMyAdmin folder.

But the file doesn't have the line $cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri'] = '';
Where can I add this line in the file?

This is what I have in the file.

/
First server
/
$i++;
/ Authentication type /
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
/ Server parameters /
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'localhost';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type'] = 'tcp';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress'] = false;
/ Select mysqli if your server has it /
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] = 'mysql';
/ User for advanced features /
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = 'pmapass';
/ Advanced phpMyAdmin features */
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma_bookmark';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma_relation';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma_table_info';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma_table_coords';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma_pdf_pages';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma_column_info';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma_history';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = 'pma_designer_coords';

/
End of servers configuration
*/

[bpat1434]

You can add the line anywhere in the file.... typically it goes above the servers configuration. But once again, it may be best for you to use the config generator script to get your config.inc.php file set up.

[fr5nz]

How to use config generator script to get my config.inc.php file?
What did you mean by that?

Can I add the line here?

/
First server
/
$i++;
/ Authentication type /
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
/ Server parameters /
$cfgPmaAbsoluteUri = 'http://localhost/phpMyAdmin/'; <--- insert here?
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'localhost';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type'] = 'tcp';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress'] = false;
/ Select mysqli if your server has it /
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] = 'mysql';
/ User for advanced features /
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = 'pmapass';
/ Advanced phpMyAdmin features */
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma_bookmark';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma_relation';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma_table_info';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma_table_coords';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma_pdf_pages';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma_column_info';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma_history';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = 'pma_designer_coords';

/
End of servers configuration
*/

[bpat1434]

in your phpmyadmin folder, there should be a folder called "scripts" and inside there should be an install or configuration script. It relies upon you creating a directory "config" so that it can save the configuration for you, but that's not entirely required.

Anyway, point your browser to that install script, and then add the server you want fiddling with the items you want. Then either save the file or download it and upload to your phpmyadmin server. If you save the file on the server, make sure you move it to the correct spot (phpmyadmin root).

I'll refer you to phpMyAdmin's documentation for further reading.

[fr5nz]

Ok.
Thanks for the info. 😛

[foyer]

SQLyog is a nice program for managing mysql databases. It's free, and much better than using PHPmyadmin IMO

[bpat1434]

Or you could use MySQL's own cluster of software to do things like MySQL Query Browser, MySQL Admin and MySQL Workbench....

[fr5nz]

Ok.
I go try it out.
Thanks for the tips.

Reply for user - foyer

Ok.
I go try it out.
Thanks for the tips.

Reply for user - bpat1434

[s0me0ne]

I'm a database n00b myself and was wondering if PDO uses mysqli_ functions, I've read this is more desired with PHP5. And since I'm learning databases, I'm going to use PHP5 and not old crusty PHP4 like i do with non-database sites. That way I can use newer and better functions and not have to relearn stuff.

[bpat1434]

I'm not 100% sure about that. PDO is more of an object-oriented database interaction technique while mysqli is procedural. I can't be 100% sure to say that PDO doesn't use mysqli, but I'm going to say no because it includes mysql 3 support. But PDO does give you similar functionality to mysqli in that you can "prepare" and "execute" statements rather than just querying the database.

So depending on whether you want to eventually add database systems (PostgreSQL, MSSQL, IBM DB2, etc.) to your application, helps make the determination about whether to use PDO or mysqli. If you're using only MySQL and have no plans to add any other RDBMS, use the mysqli functions. If you think you "might" (or do actually plan on) including other RDBMSes, use the PDO.

Hope that helps.