I dare say I'm in the wrong place but...

Question

Hi folks.
I'm new to the database of the internet concept, and so must
be considered a vomplete dummy.
How the hell do I get MySQL to work/connect/put data in a
table/validatge user entry against it?
Yeh, I know - a big question.
Quite simply, I have a form with a username and password
field in it. Click on submit and if the name/password was valid
then you go on to the next page.
I've created the form and the button.
I've created the MySQL database called fred_ and a table
called users. I have a valid user for the database too, fred_harry.
Try as I might I can't get the connection to work, and once I
have got the connection what happens, I could write the thing in
Clipper or Delphi easily, but my knowledge of SQL is minimal.
ANd how the hell do I actually get the usernames and
passowrds into the table to validate against? As in, now do I
create records?
Yeh, I know, go back to school but I can't afford to do that.
:D
Thanks for your help
Simon

Answer 1

trunkles wrote:
> How the hell do I get MySQL to work/connect/put data in
a table/validatge user
> entry against it?
>
> Yeh, I know - a big question.
Big enough for me to have written several books about it. If
you want
the complete answer, consider grabbing hold of "Foundation
PHP for
Dreamweaver 8" or "The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3
with CSS,
Ajax, and PHP" (details of both books can be found by
following the link
in my sig).
However, the first thing you need to do is to get your MySQL
connection
working. Obviously, MySQL must be installed and running. If
you're
working on your local computer, you also need a web server,
such as
Apache, not only running, but configured to work with PHP. If
PHP isn't
installed, you can find instructions for installing it with
Apache on my
website at the following address:
http://foundationphp.com/tutorials/php_installer.php
You also need to set up your testing server in the
Dreamweaver site
definition. For a local testing environment, the settings are
as follows:
Server model: PHP MySQL
Access: Local/network
Testing server folder: C:\htdocs\mysite\
URL prefix:
http://localhost/mysite/
The last two settings are examples only. Testing server
folder is the
path to the root folder of your site, which must be inside
the web
server's document root. URL prefix is the URL to the same
location.
If working with a remote server, choose FTP as Access, and
fill in the
FTP host address, login, and password. In place of Testing
server
folder, you will see Host directory. This needs to be the
path to your
site root. If your FTP login takes you directly to the site
root, leave
this blank or simply insert /.
David Powers, Adobe Community Expert
Author, "The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3" (friends of
ED)
Author, "PHP Solutions" (friends of ED)
http://foundationphp.com/