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How to start using your MySQL database

1. Request a MySQL account from Blue 105 support
2. How do I access my database?
3. Download and install phpMyAdmin
4. Design your first table

   Congratulations!

 1. Request a MySQL account from Blue 105 support

Go to our contact form and request a MySQL account, making sure to indicate your server ID (vsxxxxx) and password. Blue 105 support team will then send you your new MySQL user name and password.

2. How do I access my database and verify it's ready?
From your telnet prompt, type the following at the command line to access your database:

$ mysql -u vs##### -p vs#####DB
$ Enter password: 
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 53 to server version: 3.22.23b
Type 'help' for help.
$ mysql> 

If you see the prompt above appear ("$ mysql>") your account is in place and you are ready to continue...

3. Download and install phpMyAdmin

For the beginner we recommend to download a free administration script that will help in creating and modifying MySQL tables. Go to http://phpwizard.net/phpMyAdmin/ and download the latest version of this script.

Setting up this script is very easy. Unzip all files into a directory and open the file "config.inc.php3". Modify the first few lines according to the following example (where vsxxxxx is your user name, 12345 is your password and vsxxxxxDB is your database name):

$cfgServers[1]['host'] = 'localhost';
$cfgServers[1]['port'] = ''; // Leave blank for default port
$cfgServers[1]['adv_auth'] = false;
$cfgServers[1]['stduser'] = 'vsxxxxx';
$cfgServers[1]['stdpass'] = '12345';
$cfgServers[1]['user'] = 'vsxxxxx';
$cfgServers[1]['password'] = '12345';
$cfgServers[1]['only_db'] = 'vsxxxxxDB'; // if set to a db-name, only this db is accessible

That's it. Close the file and upload all of them in ASCII format (very important) to your preferred server directory.

4. Design your first table structure

phpMyAdmin is quite self explanatory to work with. So now that you have your database installed and your administration script working, I believe we should start creating a simple table to get our feet wet. To do that open phpMyAdmin, click on your database name on the left sidebar and voilà, the main window now shows some meaningful commands.

• Scroll down to "Create new table on database..."
• In the "Name" field type the name you would like to give to your new table (do not use spaces or unconventional characters). In this case type test
• In the "Fields" field type the number of fields you want in your new table. In this case type 2
• Click "Go".
• On this new screen you'll see two rows (one for each field) where you establish each field properties.
• Type in the name of the "Field", in this case field1 and field2
• Select the "Type", in this case Text
• Leave "Length/Set" and "Attributes" blank for now
• Set "Null" to null
• Leave "Default", "Extra", "Primary", "Index", and "Unique" blank for now
• Click "Save".

Congratulations! You have just created your first table.
You are now ready to fill it with existing data or use it to store new data submitted from your website.

For help on setting up this system, to make a one-click publishing system, or for all your PHP/MySQL development needs, contact me via our online form.

• Related Pages -

  How to Import your offline database into MySQL