Making life easier; database enabling your site


Database enabling your site with PHP and MySQL [1] can add dynamic, visitor-specific information, shopping carts, or just help you keep your site current without the trouble of editing your site's html directly. If you need to database enable your site, but don't yet need to hire a full-time database administrator, let us help. We're used to using existing web design work or, if you'd prefer, we can save you some money and design a site for you. Either way, we'll provide you with the same high-quality, affordably priced, experienced web and database design your site requires.

Database enabling websites usually require two distinct types of pages, those that allow you to enter & edit the information, and those that display it. The amount of time needed to create each depend on a number of factors, like the number of fields you have, how to vet user input, and what sorts of html form elements to use. That said, the most important factor for determining price is to figure out what parts of your system need to be publicly accessible.

View an example; learn what to expect


We've created a page with a step-by-step example of what to expect, using a website at North Carolina State University where we retrofitted database-enabled content into a prebuilt template. Here, the only portion that was going online was a page that did not require user input. The information for the students' page was protected on the intranet, which is a best case. The external page was built according to a template previously created in Dreamweaver, and we went in and made their vision come to life.

$result = mysql_query($strQuery, $db);
while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
     echo "<div class=\"student-profile\">\n";
     echo "\n";

     // HEADSHOT
     if (!isNull(trim($myrow['studentHeadshotUrl']))) {
          echo " <img src=\"" 
               . $myrow['studentHeadshotUrl']
               . "\">\n";
     } 
...


[1]Though PHP and MySQL are the most popular technologies for small to medium-sized database enabled sites, we can also help you with Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP), and ASP.NET tied to MS SQL Server 6.5-2005, postgresql, Oracle, or Sybase. It really comes down to whatever works best with your current infrastructure, on-site expertise, and other resources.