[AhrenBa]

Hello,
Lately I have been trying to understand how databases with websites work. A company that I am going to be doing an internship uses them and I need to brush up my skills.

Basically, I need to know how a website database works. What are databases made in (languages, programs)? What are the for? How does the website call out information from the database and display it?

Anything will help. I am just trying to figure out how everything works. One thing I am extremely confused with is how the website pulls data from a database and displays it in a webpage. And what type of script/html/language is used to do this?

Sorry for my ignorance, but anything will help. I appreciate it very much!

[imidiot]

my 'little' piece of 'anything'.

http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/b...tutorial3.html

[AhrenBa]

Originally Posted by imidiot

my 'little' piece of 'anything'.

http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/b...tutorial3.html

Thank you! Does anyone else have any comments?

[jbezweb]

There are serveral different databases out there, SQL Server, MySql, Access, Oracle, etc, etc. It would be best to find out which one this company uses and focus your learning in relation to that database.

All databases use a communication language called SQL although there are small differences in SQL between the different databases.

Websites use server-side languages like PHP or ASP.Net to make SQL queries, send the queries to the database, retrieve the database's response to the query, and process the results to the screen.

[AhrenBa]

Originally Posted by jbezweb

There are serveral different databases out there, SQL Server, MySql, Access, Oracle, etc, etc. It would be best to find out which one this company uses and focus your learning in relation to that database.

All databases use a communication language called SQL although there are small differences in SQL between the different databases.

Websites use server-side languages like PHP or ASP.Net to make SQL queries, send the queries to the database, retrieve the database's response to the query, and process the results to the screen.

Ok, that is good to know. I believe the company uses MySQL and PHP as a Server language. Is there any programs that I can use to make a database for this type of language? Thanks

[Sequal7]

You can download MySQL and PHP and install them on your computer for development. Both of the programs are free. Read the sites firums on how to set up the software. Manual installtion is the most effective, but they do have automatic windows installers too (although I would not use them as you will encounter errors).
Next you need a webserver for local testing (eg; http://localhost) If your not using IIS (on XP Pro or Windows server) you need to also download Apache server so the pages and database can connect and function (otherwise windows wont know what to do with the php files)

To integrate and manipulate MySQL you can use either learn MySQL syntax and hard code it..very hard to understand immediately, or get a program named phpmyadmin (there are others but this one is very popular) and as usual... phpmyadmin is also free. It will allow you to see the database and much like a GUI create, edit and set fields.
Once you have installed these you can begin to design and test any php and databae scripts that you create (or downlaod from hotscripts.com etc) on you computer.

Now, not to worry if this all seems too much for you, there is still hope!
You can even downlaod a great testing server that is bundled with all those programs, it is called XAMPP, and is part of the Apache Friends network.
XAMPP is not intended to be used for live sites, but it bundles all those apps and programs in an easy to install and setup package. You will be up and running in about ten minutes if your only testing on your local computer.

[AhrenBa]

Wow! Thank you very much!!

So with a database, you can basically use it to supply the data and content for a website? What I am trying to say, is lets say for instance you have a website with news articles. Can you just write the article, put it in a database and refer to it somehow and it will come up in your page? Thanks

[Sequal7]

Yes, a good example is this site, which is database driven website. So every time you post an "article" (or question) it saves it in the databse, then the PHP prints the output on the page. PHP is the processor that is doing the work, Mysql is the database holding all the data.

I think what your asking is, can you use phpmyadmin to update or change the data in the database?
Yes, you can simply use PHPMyadmin to input the data into the database, however what most designers do is create a server side sript (using php) so you login to your site as an admin (for example) then you can edit, delete or add your news to the page live and save it. The database is updated to reflect the changes and the output is on the page.

[AhrenBa]

Originally Posted by Sequal7

Yes, a good example is this site, which is database driven website. So every time you post an "article" (or question) it saves it in the databse, then the PHP prints the output on the page. PHP is the processor that is doing the work, Mysql is the database holding all the data.

I think what your asking is, can you use phpmyadmin to update or change the data in the database?
Yes, you can simply use PHPMyadmin to input the data into the database, however what most designers do is create a server side sript (using php) so you login to your site as an admin (for example) then you can edit, delete or add your news to the page live and save it. The database is updated to reflect the changes and the output is on the page.

Oh! That is good. So basically, you really don't need something like Excel/Access or FileMaker to create databases? You can just use PHPmyadmin? Thanks for the help.

This isn't really too important right now, but how does one go about making a Server Side Script so that you can login? Thanks

[Sequal7]

Check this link out, you can even downlaod and look at it page by page.
http://www.evolt.org/PHP-Login-Syste...Admin-Features

[AhrenBa]

Originally Posted by Sequal7

Would you like to see an example of a PHP script and a mysql database? Its a simple calendar script as an example where you can add or delete events.

Yes! That would be great!! Thank you very much.

[AhrenBa]

Also, I installed XAMPP. Are the MySQL and PHP actual programs that I can go to? If not, what are they and what did that install? Thanks.

[Sequal7]

Yes, what you now have is a web server of sorts (dont use it as a live site hosting application, but it is excellent for testing php and mysql driven sites.)
If you type http://localhost in your web browser, you will see the xampp starter page. You will also see links there to your phpmyadmin to create and administer your MySQL databases. (these are now installed on your computer, making it a server)
Read the xampp server page and it willtell you how to protect the server, and how to edit the root location of your website files.
If for example you were to edit the httpd.conf file in your apache2/conf directory you could point the sites root to your own website files locally stored on your computer, that way you can test them on your computer wihtout having to FTP them to a webhost.

[AhrenBa]

Originally Posted by Sequal7

Yes, what you now have is a web server of sorts (dont use it as a live site hosting application, but it is excellent for testing php and mysql driven sites.)
If you type http://localhost in your web browser, you will see the xampp starter page. You will also see links there to your phpmyadmin to create and administer your MySQL databases. (these are now installed on your computer, making it a server)
Read the xampp server page and it willtell you how to protect the server, and how to edit the root location of your website files.
If for example you were to edit the httpd.conf file in your apache2/conf directory you could point the sites root to your own website files locally stored on your computer, that way you can test them on your computer wihtout having to FTP them to a webhost.

Thats awesome!!! Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it!

Now that I understand the PHPadmin and MySQL (well, for the most part), how exactly would I start to edit and create databases and have them display content on websites? Thanks, I really appreciate your help.

[Sequal7]

That is where php comes into play. PHP is the server language that scripts are made from. Scripts can do almost anything that you can imagine on the internet.
Now that you've had a taste, learn more here;
http://ca.php.net/tut.php

Also for scripts you can go to hotscripts.com and see the php ones.