PHP Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 10. Database Access

Introduction

Databases are central to many web applications. A database can hold almost any collection of information you may want to search and update, such as a user list, a product catalog, or recent headlines. One reason why PHP is such a great web programming language is its extensive database support. PHP can interact with (at last count) more than 20 different databases, some relational and some not. The relational databases it can talk to are Apache Derby, DB++, FrontBase, IBM Cloudscape, IBM DB2, Informix, Interbase, Ingres II, Microsoft SQL Server, mSQL, MySQL, MySQL MaxDB, Oracle, Ovrimos SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and Sybase. The nonrelational databases it can talk to are dBase, filePro, HyperWave, Paradox, and the DBM family of flat-file databases. It also has ODBC support, so even if your favorite database isn’t in the list, as long as it supports ODBC, you can use it with PHP.

DBM databases, discussed in Recipe 10.1, are simple, robust, and efficient flat files but limit the structure of your data to key/value pairs. If your data can be organized as a mapping of keys to values, DBM databases are a great choice.

PHP really shines, though, when paired with an SQL database. This combination is used for most of the recipes in this chapter. SQL databases can be complicated, but they are extremely powerful. To use PHP with a particular SQL database, PHP must be explicitly told to include support for that database when it is compiled. If PHP ...