How to read in data from MySQL to Authorware?

Question

Hi,
I am trying to read in values from my database (MySQL) to
authorware, but the best I am able to get is true or false.
I would like to be able to get some data from the database
and return it to AW as a string. Does anyone have any experience
with this? Can anyone lend a helping hand in this endeavor?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Brad

Answer 1

"Paul Swanson" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Kevin, you shouldn't need to worry about ODBC or OLEDB.
Your PHP script
> needs to handle the database connection, and you can use
PHP's
> mysql_connect() function for that. You really don't need
to do anything
> different for Authorware than you do for any PHP/MySQL
application in
> terms
> of connecting to the database.
>
> My PHP script returns data to AW in the form of
name=value pairs delimited
> by the ampersand character. I then use the following
code in AW to convert
> them into lists:
>
> =========================
> -- Use this routine to break queryString into name /
value arrays.
> -- Assumes a database query returns a string of
name=value pairs
> -- delimited by the ampersand (&) character.
>
> -- strip leading & from queryString
> queryString := SubStr(queryString, 1,
CharCount(queryString))
>
> -- break into list of individual lines
> tempList := Replace("&", Return, queryString)
>
> listLength := LineCount(tempList)
>
> -- create empty arrays for name and value
> name := Array("", listLength)
> value := Array("", listLength)
>
> repeat with counter := 1 to listLength
> singleLine := GetLine(tempList, counter)
> name[counter] := GetWord(1, Replace("=", " ",
singleLine))
> value[counter]:= GetWord(2, Replace("=", " ",
singleLine))
> end repeat
>
> -- now you will need to add a separate calc icon with a
routine to
> -- read the data from the arrays. name[counter] matches
value[counter]
> =========================
>
> I follow this with another Calc icon (I could have done
it all in one
> calc)
> that parses the names and assigns the values to my
custom AW variables:
>
> =========================
> -- get just the info we want, and store in variables
>
> repeat with counter := 1 to listLength
> if name[counter] = "Lesson1Complete" then
> Lesson1Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "Lesson2Complete" then
> Lesson2Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "Lesson3Complete" then
> Lesson3Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "Lesson4Complete" then
> Lesson4Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "Lesson5Complete" then
> Lesson5Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "Lesson6Complete" then
> Lesson6Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "Lesson7Complete" then
> Lesson7Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "Lesson8Complete" then
> Lesson8Complete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "OverviewComplete" then
> OverviewComplete := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "grade" then
> score := Number(value[counter])
> else if name[counter] = "passed" then
> passed := Number(value[counter])
> end if
> end repeat
I'd like to point out here that any time you have a series of
variables that
all have identical names except for a number in the variable
name, you
should be looking at lists. I'm surprised, Paul, that you
have lists used
to the extent that you're able to use Value[counter] on the
right side of
the equation, yet you're not using lists on the left side of
the equation.
Let's look at how this code could be made super simple by
having ONE list
variable, LessonComplete, instead of Lesson1Complete through
Lesson8Complete.
-- Assumes a database query returns a string of name=value
pairs
-- delimited by the ampersand (&) character.
-- strip leading & from queryString
--(note you could also not add this ampersand on the PHP
side)
queryString := SubStr(queryString, 1, CharCount(queryString))
-- break into list of individual lines
tempList := Replace("&", Return, queryString)
listLength := LineCount(tempList)
-- create empty arrays for name and value
name := Array("", listLength)
LessonComplete := []
repeat with counter := 1 to listLength
singleLine := GetLine(tempList, counter)
name[counter] := GetWord(1, Replace("=", " ", singleLine))
LessonComplete[name[counter] * 1] := GetWord(2, Replace("=",
singleLine))
end repeat
-- now you will need to add a separate calc icon with a
routine to
-- read the data from the arrays. name[counter] matches
value[counter]
--No you don't...You're DONE :-)
Also note that this is extensible...you can have Lesson 9,
10, etc. and not
have to change the code. You can also lower the amount of
data being
transmitted, because now instead of Lesson8Complete=1 all you
need is 8=1.
This lowers the server load and speeds the response. It has
advantages on
the Authorware side as well, because if, for instance, you
had a series of
buttons that were checked or not based on the completion, you
could do the
same type of loop. Separate variable names do not allow for
that type of
loop unless you use Eval (ugh).
HTH;
Amy