Database question
Chrispy
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Last semister, in my database class, we were given a project to create a bookstore website. We had to make databases and webpages (in PHP and HTML, you know the easy stuff). It didn't actually need to be online, we could just run it from our machine.
What I was wondering though is: How would I go about putting something like that online. I know I have to put the actually pages online (I have access to a server). But what about the actual database? I know the database was on my machine because the offline pages could access it. But if I upload the pages and not the database, will the website still be able to pull the info out. If I need to upload the database as well, where would go about locating that, because it never seemed like it was saved on my computer.
Why: The reason I am asking about this is, I was put in charge of creating my family business' website. I'm putting all the stuff we sell (which is a lot) on it. I originally wanted to do it with databases, but I couldn't figure it out. But since I've started, I've come up with some ideas that I would like to do that would be really hard to hard code (but I've basically have been doing), and I know that a database system would be a heck of a lot easier.
I'm using apache with myPHPadmin (localhost).
I hope this makes sense, I Know what I want to say but I'm doing my best to convey it into words. I guess: when I'm working with a website and databases, do i just upload the website and not worry about the database, the website knows what to do. Or do i have to do more?
What I was wondering though is: How would I go about putting something like that online. I know I have to put the actually pages online (I have access to a server). But what about the actual database? I know the database was on my machine because the offline pages could access it. But if I upload the pages and not the database, will the website still be able to pull the info out. If I need to upload the database as well, where would go about locating that, because it never seemed like it was saved on my computer.
Why: The reason I am asking about this is, I was put in charge of creating my family business' website. I'm putting all the stuff we sell (which is a lot) on it. I originally wanted to do it with databases, but I couldn't figure it out. But since I've started, I've come up with some ideas that I would like to do that would be really hard to hard code (but I've basically have been doing), and I know that a database system would be a heck of a lot easier.
I'm using apache with myPHPadmin (localhost).
I hope this makes sense, I Know what I want to say but I'm doing my best to convey it into words. I guess: when I'm working with a website and databases, do i just upload the website and not worry about the database, the website knows what to do. Or do i have to do more?
~ Make life how you want it ~
Chrispy on
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If you're using a "server" style database like SQL Server or Oracle, you'd need a web host that is actually running said server, and an account that you would then connect to. Where the database itself is hosted isn't the big issue at that point as much as the question "does your website have sufficient access rights to reach it?" This generally means that the connection string you use will have a URL to the database server, and your assigned username and password.
You'll want to make sure to be careful not to store the username and password in such a way that people can find it by navigating to your website (i.e. don't store it in a text file on the server). This issue of connection string security scratches the surface of a whole ocean of security issues, which may or may not be relevant for your situation and fill several tomes. Luckily, if you need to, there's plenty of resources about how to make your website more secure... but I digress.
If you're running a file-based database like MySQL or Microsoft Access (by the way... if at all possible, don't do it with Microsoft Access), you would need a folder that people navigating to your site couldn't reach (a private folder), but that your website has the rights to access. Then you would point your connection string to that file and give any other needed permissions.
Is that what you were looking for, or were you looking for actual connection string syntax?
If you were looking for how to do it syntactically, go to:
http://www.connectionstrings.com
That site shows you how to make connection strings for just about any database in existence. All you need to know at that point is where the database is located that you need access to, and to make sure that your website can actually reach it in the first place. Note that you will likely have to get this information from your ISP if it is a server-based database setup.
Since you've already learnt php, go ahead and combine that with mySQL. There's plenty of documentation out there on how to use the two in tandem. Buy some web hosting and you get database options along with it. Run the database and web page on your hosting together.
I already have the hosting so it's just a matter of talking to my friend (we have it jointly). When I talk to him I can see if we have the ability to make databases (which I'm sure we can).
However, you really should not be running the database off your personal computer if this is actually supposed to be a permanent business website.
Since you're using MySQL you should find a webhost that offers a MySQL database with your website -- many do. Once you get a database set up, you can go to your myPHPadmin on your local computer and do a backup of your database, and then set up myPHPadmin on your webspace and restore the backed up database into it. Then it's just a matter of updating your webpages to point at the new database server address (like www.mydatabase.com or whatever).
I've talked to my friend and we can make databases with our server. I've made table, with fields, and put one item into it. This is to test to make sure it works before I go head first into it.
I just want to display the database at that moment. So what I did was this:
In the website page, that people will be viewing I have this
[PHP]<?include_once ("../../functions.php");
NormalDisplay("generic_table_name");[/PHP]
Where functions.php (two folder above this file) is a bunch of functions that I have.
in functions.php, I have:
[PHP]
<?function Make_Connection()
{ $link = mysql_connect('mysql.generic_name.com ', '', '');
if(!$link)
{ die("Error: Could not connect -> ".mysql_error());
}
$result = mysql_select_db("generic_database" ,$link);
if(!$result)
{ die("Error: Could not find Database -> ".mysql_error());
}
return $result;
}
function NormalDisplay($TableName)
{ ?> Testing<br>
<?
$connect = Make_Connection();
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM ".$TableName);
$Type = mysql_query("SELECT Type FROM ".$TableName);
$Category = mysql_query("SELECT Category FROM ".$TableName);
$Code = mysql_query("SELECT Code FROM ".$TableName);
$Name = mysql_query("SELECT Name FROM ".$TableName);
$Price = mysql_query("SELECT Price FROM ".$TableName);
$Item = mysql_query("SELECT Item FROM ".$TableName);
$NC = mysql_query("SELECT NC FROM ".$TableName);
if(!$result)
{ die("Error: Could not find Table -> ".mysql_error());
}
?>
<table border = "1" valign = "top" align = "center" width = "90%">
<tr>
<th colspan = "5"> <? print $TableName ?> </th>
</tr>
<?
for($i = 0;$i < mysql_num_fields($result);$i++)
{ $header = mysql_field_name($result,$i);
if($header != "ID" && $header != "NC" && $header != "Era" && $header != "Color")
?> <td> <? print $header ?> </td> <?
}
?>
</tr>
<?
?></table><?
$connect.mysql_close();
}
?>[/PHP]
Side note - where it says "generic_name", I have the actual name of the item
I have both of these files uploaded, but it's not getting the database. I know when I was looking around for some PHP information, I found that a function file needs to be in the same folder as the file that's calling the function. BUT, when I was doing the project for school, the function file was not in the same folder. SO I don't see why it's not allowing me to do it here. There will be more in that NormalDisplay function, again, I wanted to test things before going head deep into it. (Sidenote: Turned out that I did need to be online to view that site, even though it wasn't uploaded)
I understand that you have web hosting. But web hosting is not everything hosting. You need to have a webhost that permits you to run MySQL (or some other database). Just because you can host HTML pages with Apache and run PHP doesn't guarantee you can run MySQL on your webhost's computers. In the OP, you stated:
phpMyAdmin (not myPHPadmin) is a tool that allows you to administer MySQL databases through a Web interface. Normally, you administer MySQL databases through a command-line interface. phpMyAdmin lets you do administrative things through a browser.
Because you said "myPHPadmin (localhost)" this leads me to conclude that your database is running on your local host - that is, your personal computer. Not your web host's computer. Ideally, what you'd like is for your web host to install a copy of phpMyAdmin on their computers and then you would administer MySQL databases hosted there through their installation of phpMyAdmin.
The code tells a little bit of a different story: it attempts to connect to "'mysql.generic_name.com". Does this machine actually exist? Can you ping it?
Finally, a word of caution: hosting database-driven websites running your own custom code can be a lot of fun. However, if you don't take adequate steps to protect it, especially from SQL injection attacks, you're in for a world of hurt. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to stop now and get smart on this stuff first. A SQL injection attack lets a not-very-sophisticated person from the outside manipulate and query your entire database remotely. They could surreptitiously add new data, read all your data, or just delete the whole database in one swell foop. Bad news, and all it takes is a bit of sloppy coding on your part.
I surely hope that you're only using the database for delivering product information, and not for e-commerce. If you want to do e-commerce (i.e., actually taking orders, possibly including credit card numbers, over the Web), there are about a billion turnkey packages that will help you and which have been vetted against these kinds of things.
Yes, that machine exists. I typed it into the browser and typed in my user name and password. which sent me to the phpMyAdmin of the server.
As of right now, it's only a display purpose type of thing, showing all of product. I was also going to use it a search type of set up. We did buy a shopping cart to add to the site. It's some program that I just add and set up myself. I'm guessing I'll have to change some things when that time comes.
So it's not even displaying the "Testing" that you have at the beginning of the table display function?
In the connect function, do I need my user name and password? How safe is that?
http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/connect-to-mysql-using-php.php
http://phpsec.org/projects/guide/3.html
Usually the username/password is kept in a separate config file that is kept outside of the webpage path, so that it can't be accessed by anyone just typing in the location of the file, but that the PHP script can see.
For example if your website is located in something like /home/username/www and that's where your index.html and such are, then you might put this config file in /home/username and include it in that way from your PHP script. That way someone can't go and type www.mywebsite.com/config.php and actually bring up your config file, but the PHP script can still include it with include_once('/home/username/config.php'); or whatnot.
Chrispy, Frylock states well the security issues that could result, which I eluded to earlier but didn't spell out. You would be well advised to read up on it and take whatever steps you can (there's a lot of good websites out there that teach you how to thwart potential SQL Injection attacks) to make sure this cannot happen on your site.