PHP SOLUTIONS: DYNAMIC WEB (Florida web design) DESIGN MADE EASY What
PHP SOLUTIONS: DYNAMIC WEB DESIGN MADE EASY What this chapter covers: Installing the MySQL database on Windows and Mac OS X Securing the database Setting up the phpMyAdmin graphical interface Backing up and transferring data to another server Dynamic websites take on a whole new meaning in combination with a database. Drawing content from a database allows you to present material in ways that would be impractical if not impossible with a static website. Examples that spring to mind are online stores, such as Amazon.com; news sites, such as the International Herald Tribune (www.iht.com); and the big search engines, including Google and Yahoo! Database technology allows these websites to present thousands, sometimes millions, of unique pages with remarkably little underlying code. Even if your ambitions are nowhere near as grandiose, a database can increase your website s richness of content with relatively little effort. First of all, though, you need to choose and install a database system. Why MySQL? Of all the available databases, why choose MySQL? The following reasons should convince you: Cost: The MySQL Community Edition is free under the open source GPL license (www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html). Powerful: The same basic database system as the Community Edition is used by leading organizations such as NASA, Yahoo!, and Alcatel. It s feature-rich and fast. Widespread availability: MySQL is the most popular open source database. Most hosting companies automatically offer MySQL in combination with PHP. Cross-platform compatibility: MySQL runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. A database created on one system requires no conversion when transferred to another. Open source: Although there is a commercial version, the code and features in the Community Edition are identical. New features are being added constantly. Security: Bugs, when found, are dealt with quickly. So, are there any drawbacks to MySQL? I d love to be able to say it s perfect, but MySQL is not as fully featured as its main commercial rivals, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle, or its main open source rival, PostgreSQL (www.postgresql.org). However, the missing features are primarily of interest to advanced users, and most are expected to be implemented by MySQL 5.2 (currently, MySQL 5.1 is in an advanced beta stage). Perhaps the biggest drawback for people who don t come from a programming background is the fact that MySQL doesn t come with a glossy interface. That s because MySQL is a database workhorse. It s fast and efficient, and is particularly suited to web-based applications. There are several graphical interfaces available, the most popular being
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