Before you can do anything with your database, you must create a table. A table is a section of the database for storing related information. In a table you will set up the different fields which will be used in that table. Because of this construction, nearly all of a site’s database needs can be satisfied using just one database.
Creating a table in PHPMyAdmin is simple, just type the name, select the number of fields and click the button. You will then be taken to a setup screen where you must create the fields for the database. If you are using a PHP script to create your database, the whole creation and setup will be done in one command.
Fields
There are a wide variety of fields and attributes available in MySQL and I will cover a few of these here:
Field Type Description
TINYINT Small Integer Number
SMALLINT Small Integer Number
MEDIUMINT Integer Number
INT Integer Number
VARCHAR Text (maximum 256 characters)
TEXT Text
These are just a few of the fields which are available. A search on the internet will provide lists of all the field types allowed.
Creating A Table With PHP
To create a table in PHP is slightly more difficult than with MySQL. It takes the following format:
CREATE TABLE tablename {
Fields
}
The fields are defined as follows:
fieldname type(length) extra info,
The final field entered should not have a comma after it.
Creating The Table In PHP
The following code should be used to create this table in PHP. Some of the code has not been covered yet but I will explain it fully in the next part.
<? $user=”username”; $password=”password”; $database=”database”; mysql_connect(localhost,$user,$password); @mysql_select_db($database) or die( “Unable to select database”); $query=”CREATE TABLE contacts (id int(6) NOT NULL auto_increment,first varchar(15) NOT NULL,last varchar(15) NOT NULL,phone varchar(20) NOT NULL,mobile varchar(20) NOT NULL,fax varchar(20) NOT NULL,email varchar(30) NOT NULL,web varchar(30) NOT NULL,PRIMARY KEY (id),UNIQUE id (id),KEY id_2 (id))”; mysql_query($query); mysql_close(); ?>
Enter your database, MySQL username and MySQL password in the appropriate positions on the first three lines above.
