This is a PHP tutorial for the PostgreSQL database. It covers the basics of PostgreSQL programming with PHP. The examples were created and tested on Linux. [...] PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system. It is a multi-user, multi-threaded database management system. It runs on multiple platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. PostgreSQL is developed by the PostgreSQL Global Development Group.

The chapters guide you through every step you'll need:

• An introduction to PostgreSQL and getting it and PHP support installed (with the php5-pgsql package)
• Example code showing how to extract data from your tables
• Working with images and storing their data in a table
• Pulling out the metadata from the database, things like number of rows returned and table information
• Transactions and database-side processing

PHP Data Objects, or "PDO" as it is commonly known, is a lightweight database abstraction layer that is arguably the best, at least in terms of speed. A great deal of this speed is owing to the fact that the PDO extension was compiled with C/C++. The extension became available in PHP5, and as with any other database abstraction layer, its aim is to provide a uniform interface to access a variety of databases. This is also a way for developers to create portable code for a variety of platforms.

The tutorial shows you how to find the enabled PDO connection types for your installation (and where to go if you have access to turn more on or off). They show an example connection - in this case, to a MySQL database - and how to run a query or two using this new resource.

PHP now enables you to build robust, manageable, and beautiful enterprise web applications. The best way to do that is to divide the application into three components: model, view, and controller. In other words, you need to separate the presentation, the database, and the business logic from each other. The most common approach for achieving this design goal is to adhere to a strict Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework.

He uses the example of creating an application (a feed reader) to show how the parts of the MVC will fit together as a whole. You won't find any code examples in the article, just an explanation of how everything works together. You can, however, dowload the source and follow along.

XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl, plus many additional modules. The whole package is well integrated and can save a lot of time and hassle for the inexperienced web developer. [...] phpPgAdmin is a web-based administration tool for PostgreSQL, exactly as phpMyAdmin for MySQL.

It's a simple three step process (with a few sub-steps inside each) to get the system up and running - basically: install XAMPP, install PostgreSQL and install phpPgAdmin.

In my recent talk on sending mail from php I mention that you want to avoid sending mail directly from a web page. A couple of people have asked me how to implement that, and one of the suggestions I have is to queue your mail in a database table and have some other process act on that table.

He gives a solution that's a bit more optimized for this solution than just polling the same information over and over - using PDO and LISTEN/NOTIFY processing along with transactions to make the CLI script only grab information when there's something new.

We are currently in need of four people:

• A junior PHP dev
• A junior-ish web designer (Photoshop, HTML, CSS, Javascript + ideally some coding)
• An Oracle DBA
• A PostgreSQL DBA

The job ads will be up on our website shortly, but if you are eager to act before then, please email me your resume at jobs@omniti.com.

You can find out more about OmniTI as a company from their site and more about previous jobs and how they hire from these two links.

The next drawing will be On May 27th (2006) and will be announced both live on IRC (in #dotgeek on the Freenode network) and on their site. Head over to the signup page for your chance!

This is a simple guide on how to start connecting to a postgres database with php. I also assume that you already have a database setup with a table/tables.

He shows how to make a connection to a database, perform a simple query, and provides the names of some other "helpful functions" from the PostgreSQL part of the manual along with what they do.]]> Mon, 06 Mar 2006 07:43:10 -0600 http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/4859 http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/4859 new announcement already about their March meeting to be held on the 16th.

This time, the topic is still a bit up in the air and they request that those attening vote on one of two - either "Ajax tools in Eclipse" or "postgresql + stored procedures" - but from Ray Hunter. The meeting will be in the usual place, the Linux Networx offices, and will get going around 7pm.

For more details on the group and this meeting, check out their website.]]> Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:49:03 -0600