how to connect to multiple tables,

atomas

I have to generate a report based on the information in 3 tables, how will i do that.and how will i display them???

NogDog

There's no single answer, as it depends on what data you need to extract, how you want that data organized, and - most importantly - how those 3 tables are designed and related to each other. There is a good chance you will want to do some sort of "join" in your query. Assuming MySQL, take a look at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/join.html, and I'm sure you can find lots of information doing a web search on "SQL joins" or something like that.

halojoy

atomas wrote:
I have to generate a report based on the information in 3 tables, how will i do that.and how will i display them???

I would take them one-by-one ...
People are obcessed with writing one QUERY that does it all.
Makes life very complicated for those that are not as good as them self-appointed Gurus.
1. Query info from table 1
2. Query info from table 2
3. Query info from table 3
4. Let clever php functions put your report together ... By using collected, handled data.

Let PHP do some of the work, for a change.
Are we programming in language MySQL or in PHP here at phpbuilder?
Yes, sometimes, for ultimate speed, we can restrict to 1 DB query.
But not for ultimate clarity.

Besides,
if you want to write SQL code that can be reused with different databases.
Other than MySQL. Then you may restrict to more 'normal SQL Standard' queries.
Such that can be understood by most common DB-bases.
... and by normal php people 😃

I have said this before:
PHP in itself have got such qualities, such many functions
that the need for letting mysql.dll execute your php scripting program,
doing some complicated and advanced extra functions,
is minimal.

Let php.exe do the excution of PHP Scripts.
Let whatever database, like mysql.dll, .... handle the data bit.
Handle it TO PHP.

My reasoning is this - Let each one do what he is supposed to do:
- Let the baker bake your bread.
- Let your president, himself, hold the gun and shoot them 'bad people' down.
- Let the gardener care for our flowers.
- May your friend stand by to support you. And not your enemy.

Today's halojoy quote:

- Let the driver drive the car.
- Let the car engine deliver power to the wheels, to your car.
When you start letting the motor engine take over driving your car - you are gonna get some troubles.
You will. If not Sooner, so later.

Regards 🙂
halojoy - for thinking beyond ... and a bit more

NogDog

Halojoy: the whole purpose of a RDBMS is to allow you to effectively and efficiently store and retrieve data. Learning how to create a normalized database design utilizing multiple, related tables (that's why it's called a "relational" database) and use SQL to make that database dance to your tune is what it's all about. Not learning how and when to use SQL joins is like not learning to use arrays in PHP. Sure, you could still write workable programs by using variable variables and/or kludgy eval() statements, why not learn to do it more cleanly and efficiently with arrays? Yes, you could do a bunch of separate queries, then write a mess of PHP code to link them together, and hope like heck you didn't screw up and end up with different numbers of rows in your queries or something else that would mess it all up; but it's both more dependable and much faster if you let the database do what it was designed to do in the first place.

In fact, learning to make a database do what you want it to do is a much more important skill in the long run than learning a single programming language like PHP: the database concepts and SQL syntax (with minor variations) will carry over to all the major DBMSs out there, and can be utilized by any programming language.

Your self-appointed guru,
NogDog :p