Database may frying my brain

[wmabear54]

Hello Everybody

I may be way out of my league for the time being but I want to learn. I figure the best way to learn is by doing. I seem to be getting along with DWMX ver. 6 very well. I am building a new web site to sell products I have all of the basic ideas of how I want it to look and feel. I have the structure of how I want it designed. I got through the process of server side includes very easily.

The hosting company that I am signed with seems to be fine and offer the features that will work well for me Cpanel Version/Build 9.2.0-STABLE Build 25, Operating System Linux, Apache Version 1.3.29 (Unix), Perl Version 5.8.1 Perl Path /usr/bin/perl Installed Perl Modules, PHP Version 4.3.3, Mysql Version 4.0.18-standard
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What my plan is is to build databases to hold and contain information to populate the interior pages of the site which will not only include images, price, description but also title, description and keywords and also html to generate related products links that will be dynamically inserted at the bottom of the page could be anyshere from 7 or 8 items to 25 or 30 related items.

Here's where the problem is I have very very limited knowledge of databases, I have downloaded from swamp a package of mysql, apache and php to my local machine which is only XP Home. If some of you more knowledgable people would steer me in the direction of some step by step tutorials that may be of help to me, I may be asking because of brain fry.

Mike

P.S. this is my new http://www.giftdealsgalore.com
also anothe test page http://www.giftdealsgalore.com/Untitled-1.htm

[Andilinks]

I have very very limited knowledge of databases

Learning and designing your own databases can be quite a challenge, especially when you have a business to run at the same time.

You may want to look into catalog or content management software that has already forseen some of the problems you face.

You should also look into shopping cart and e-commerce software packages also which anticipate the needs of merchants.

No need to reinvent the wheel. Though choosing the right wheel for your needs can be daunting as well.

I do not have any direct experience with this software but I'm sure others here have.

In the mean time I do have such software listed here:

e-commerce:
http://www.andilinks.com/wbd.htm#24060
catalog and content mgmt:
http://www.andilinks.com/ctm.htm#26045
shopping cart, order process:
http://www.andilinks.com/web2.htm#23040

Good Luck.

Andi

[hugoguzman]

I agree with wmabear54. I would advise against reinventing the wheel. Finding a good content management or Shopping Cart program will save a ton of your most valuable asset...TIME!

One of my colleagues is an expert in Database Mgmt. Send me a private message and I'll be happy to get you in contact with him.

Hugo

[richkoi]

I haven't begun to design online databases yet, but I have worked on MS Access and SQLplus.

First thing to tell you (if you are making a relational database) is take a class. I am taking one right now, and even though it has frustrated me to no ends, I have been able to optimize my current databases so that I am not making redundant tables or entries.

ERR diagrams, relational schemas, and learning how to use queries helps you understand how it all works.

Does anyone know good classes or books for MYSql and PHP? They seem to be the best for online databases...

Thanks,

Rich

[rev606]

Sorry, but I have to say it -- RTFM. Both MySQL and PHP have fantastic online documentation including tutorials.

[JayDrake]

Using existing content management or shopping cart software is a great thing, but knowing it inside and out helps a lot. There are a couple ways to approach this.

You could learn php/mysql and create what you need from scratch. This is probably one of the more difficult ways of going about things for most people and will take longest to get you where you need to be. The benefits of this way is that you know exactly how it works and have set yourself on your way to being able to work with any sort of data driven php/mysql system, which is really nice.

Another route is to go ahead and find a shopping cart/content management system that fits your needs, install it based on the tutorials you can find and then adjust it as necessary. This will likely get you running fastest but you will learn to tweak that system rather than how it works. The biggest downside I find with this is that it's hard to find something that exactly meets your needs sometimes and that becomes frustrating if you don't know how the inner workings do what they do.

Sure, there's no need to reinvent the wheel, but I wouldn't want to put tractor tires on my Celica, nor would I care to put little red wagon wheels on it. Sure, every wheel out there rolls, but one engineered for your vehicle is best.

If I had the time to do a project like this, I'd do it twice. I would setup an open source project first, then come back and work on learning how to create my own which I would base loosely on what I have installed, making sure to add things the other didn't have and remove things that it did which are useless to you, with thought toward whether or not you might need it in the future.

As far as tutorials go, I haven't looked for tutorials for PHP or MySQL for quite some time so I really don't know. I use the documentation for both to figure out what to do and post questions from time to time to forums, lists and friends who know more than I do when I am stumped. That's really rather important when trying to use documentation like this because a lot of getting the answer you need is knowing the right question to ask. I'd be willing to bet that if you asked questions on these forums, several people would be willing to help and others would also be able to benefit from your experiences.

[richkoi]

Wow, I had to look up RTFM...thanks a lot! j/k :)

Rich

[jgoddard]

Windows XP Home... that will cause you problems. I don't think it can run IIS or PWS... and it has lots of other limitations on it, so even though you downloaded mySQL, PHP and Apache which "should" install properly... it will be hard to learn it when they aren't supported on XP Home. You may find problems that would work on XP Pro... if you can, I'd upgrade.

[JayDrake]

Does anyone know good classes or books for MYSql and PHP? They seem to be the best for online databases...

MySQL is a very popular database for online usage, but not necessarily the best. Don't get me wrong, I use MySQL myself and love it, but others are good also including PostgreSQL and Oracle.

MySQL is easy for beginners to use, works on a variety of operating systems, is very fast, and has a very large base of friendly, helpful users, most of which won't tell you RTFM, or at least will point you to the correct part of the manual to read.

[hupp25]

I paid money to have mine developed. Take a look and you will see why. I have images, part numbers, descriptions, list price and sale price. I load everything into a data base form and then upload it to the server. I can then just place the item number on any html page to list it live. I also have a database search to where each item is broken down into a category, subcategory, section and sub section. As in for a Bunn coffee brewer- would be in coffee brewers and accessories>>Bunn brewers>>automatics>>>low profile. This allows for easier search. There is even a place for tax rate, shipping weight and whether free ground shipping is offered. Like they said it is difficult and a lot of javascript, mysql etc. It is doing well for me and getting better.