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connect to an external mysql database

With Ms Sql a connection string lets me connect to and external ms sql database in asp.

Is there an equivalent forn an external mysql database in php?

SOLUTION

Ahmed Merghani

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SOLUTION

Dave Baldwin

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Ray Paseur

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Mark Brady

Here is a small example of what you need to have ion your php code.

<?php
mysql_connect('server_name_here', 'mysql_user_name', 'mysql_password');
// now you are connected to the host server (if username and password match)
mysql_select_db('database_name_here');
// now you can begin doing queries on that database.
?>

Ray Paseur

Thanks for the points. An example of MySQL connect-and-select with error visualization.

<?php // RAY_mysql_example.php
ini_set('display_errors', TRUE);
error_reporting(E_ALL);


// THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM YOU MUST UNDERSTAND TO USE PHP AND MYSQL
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.mysql.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/mysql.installation.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-connect.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-select-db.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-real-escape-string.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-query.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-errno.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-error.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-num-rows.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-fetch-assoc.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-fetch-array.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-insert-id.php
// MAN PAGE: http://php.net/manual/en/function.error-log.php


// DATABASE CONNECTION AND SELECTION VARIABLES - GET THESE FROM YOUR HOSTING COMPANY
$db_host = "localhost"; // PROBABLY THIS IS OK
$db_name = "??";
$db_user = "??";
$db_word = "??";


// OPEN A CONNECTION TO THE DATA BASE SERVER
if (!$db_connection = mysql_connect("$db_host", "$db_user", "$db_word"))
{
    $err = mysql_errno() . ' ' . mysql_error();
    echo "<br/>NO DB CONNECTION: ";
    echo "<br/> $err <br/>";
}

// SELECT THE MYSQL DATA BASE
if (!mysql_select_db($db_name, $db_connection))
{
    $err = mysql_errno() . ' ' . mysql_error();
    echo "<br/>NO DB SELECTION: ";
    echo "<br/> $err <br/>";
    die('NO DATA BASE');
}
// IF THE SCRIPT GETS THIS FAR IT CAN DO QUERIES

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