Migration from MS solution to *nix solution

[Karl Blessing]

Hello, for some time now I've been very microsoft oriented in my projects, a site that I am working on is moving to a redhat based hosting soon ( I had been preparing a ASP/Access version of the site, since we had original plans to get a Win2k hosting , but expenses knocked us down to a *nix hosting) I need to migrate to PHP and mySQL , the issue is I downloaded PHP 4.11 and MySQL and MyODBC to install on a small local Win2k Advanced Server , so that from the developer point I could understand the learning curve before trying to tackle it on the actual server (which host linux but , I wont be touching or administering the server just acting as the web developer)

PHP installed and worked without a hitch, got it as a CGI extension on ISS and so forth. I installed MyODBC and MySQL ok, the only problem is when I use either client tool, I've come to realize that all the client tools seem to do is view the database nothing more, no where near GUI capable like microsoft SQL enterprise(well its free so what do I expect), so I'm having to try to figure out where I Can learn raw SQL query language all over again (typically had Access do most of my work by creating tables and such, and using queries to create the SQL View).

I have managed to least know how to export Access tables out to the ODBC into MySQL , but I need some reasources I can refer to , since the actual server will be a *nix server without ODBC support, and I will not be able to do the same export method, and will have to learn the differences between PHP and ASP , in the ways they talk to the database. I am much more familiar with the ADO way of doing things, not as familiar with things like mysql_fetch(...) and so forth (though it soudns like RS.getarray)

Any reasources and links would be appreciated. Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[JimEkleberry]

First I would like to say "Welcome to the club". I switched from a Win2K host to a *nix host by choice. I am in the process of re-creating my site along with all of my customer sites to use PHP/MySQL instead of ASP/(Access or SQL Server). I can’t say that I haven’t been challenged but it has been interesting and I am thoroughly enjoying the ride. I hope that you will have as much fun.

The MySQL documentation located in the /docs folder of your MySQL directory should give you just about everything you need for SQL and working with the database. I would seriously suggest creating a bookmark to the table of contents for easy access. In addition, create a bookmark for the PHP documentation.

If you really want to have the front-end, you actually can use Access but you won't have access to everything.

Honestly, you would be much better off getting used to working with mysql through the command line. It took me a while (about 3 weeks) but I actually enjoy it more than if I had a GUI.

Your biggest catch will be to make sure that you have your PHP setup the same as your host (version and modules). Use PHPINFO() and compare the results. Also ask for a copy of their PHP configuration file.

Also, here are some great sites for information regarding working with PHP/MySQL and other technologies:

http://www.devshed.com

http://www.phpbuilder.com

(similar to 4guysfromrolla.com but for PHP).

Definitely look into some books that discuss both PHP and MySQL.

Above all, remember that we are here to help.

Good luck!

 

[rycamor]

Actually, there is a great GUI admin tool for MySQL, called phpMyAdmin. It is a web-based admin kit, which allows you to create tables, alter tables, run queries, insert/edit data, and export data in several ways.

http://phpmyadmin.sourceforge.net/

MySQL is not what I consider a complete RDBMS, so be ready for some surprises, if you are used to MSSQL: no foreign key constraints, no triggers, no views, no stored procedures, no transactions, to name the most important.

Also, I have noticed that a lot of former ASP people miss the concept of the "Application variable", so I have created a small PHP class which allows for this. (I tried to put it in the FAQ section here, but that is not working at the moment). Just visit this thread at another forum:

http://forums.devshed.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31263&forumid=5

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"Calculus is just the meaningless manipulation of higher symbols"
                          -unknown F student

 

[Karl Blessing]

well I grabed a book as mentione din one of the FAQ , called "PHP4 and MySQL webdevelopment" (something like that) , the main thing that helped me out was knowing how to in the console to login, create a database, and assign user permisions. Something I was much more used to when using Sql Server 6.5 in my former employment (I use access on my current site for sake of simplicity, and cuz it wont cost me like trying to get SQL server hosting would), least with the MS SQL enterprise manager, I could control stuff like tables, columns, user permisions, and so forth. So when I seen the way the GUI was for this MySQL , i was kind of disappointed in that feature, but then I thought "well maybe the company makes you pay $$ for the tools they develop revolving around MySQL". one of the biggest changes for me will be creating most of it from scratch rather than using Access to create most of the general stuff.

I have looked into PHP in the past even created a little news poll, but its been one heck of a long time before I tried to do anything database wise with it. I'm so used to ADO style coding. Least this will broaden my horizon. The site thats moving is EnvyNews (currently

http://www.nvnews.net/envy/)

a non-profit hardware review site. Past couple weeks I've been developing ASP solutions and showing alpha version of it at my own ASP hosted site

http://www.kb244.com/envy/

but because UGO is going down soon (UGO A major free hosting provider to over thousands of similar sites) finding a cost-effective NT solution wasnt a good route, and so "my boss" so to speak , went with the same solution that the owner of NvNews is going which is a ReadHat one, a very good deal for a dedicated rack, so its better to attempt the learning curve than to drown in debt trying to stick with what I know.

Any information would be useful, I'm gona see what I Can get out of the book, I currently use Interdev on my own local webserver. I might see if they have frontpage extension on their hosting provider as it'll make publishing nicer from my standpoint. Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[rycamor]

There is a database abstraction library for PHP that models ADO:

http://php.weblogs.com/ADOdb.

There are quite a few good books for PHP. Wrox press has a nice one called "Beginning PHP4". (The Wrox "Beginning..." series are still quite complete). I also very much recommend "Web Application Development with PHP" by Tobias Ratschiller.

The good thing about PHP is that it runs quite well on Windows (with IIS, or even with Apache for Windows), so you can develop the site on your own workstation, rather than FTPing a file every time you want to test it. Steer clear of Frontpage extensions, though, because FrontPage doesn't play nice with PHP, and it deteriorates the performance of Apache/Unix. My recommendation: use Dreamweaver or Homesite for the design, and a nice text editor for the code, such as (

http://www.ultraedit.com).

Template libraries, such as

http://quicktemplate.sourceforge.net

can really speed up your development time, by separating the PHP code completely from your HTML front end. -------------------------------------------

"Calculus is just the meaningless manipulation of higher symbols"
                          -unknown F student