Help needed by silver haired confused surfer!

PHP
1

Hi

I am trying to learn php and mysql and have a query.

My problem is getting the basics to work. I am willing to travel within 50 miles of Newcastle upon TYne (England) and pay for help if that would get me off base 1

I have used wamp to introduce the settings and have followed instructions in the book called ‘Sitepoint build your own database driven website using PHP and MySQL’, perhaps i should install everything as an individual package, your advice appreciated.

This is what has happened after setting up and getting to page 51!

If I run the query ‘mysqladmin’, I get the welcome output - mysql version 8.42 distribution 5.5.16 for win 32 on X86 etc.
If I run the query ‘mysqladmin -u root status’ again I get the correct output
If I run the query 'mysqladmin -u root -p again I get the output showing everything works
If I run the query ‘mysqladmin -u root -p status’ I get ‘mysqladmin connect to server ‘localhost’ failed’ error Access denied for user ‘root’@‘localhost’ (using password ‘YES’)

Following the book I then enter 'mysqladmin -u root -p password eAc2c8Bd74Dd to change the password. When I enter the query again it asks for password and I enter as shown here and I get the same error as before as if the password is not working.
If I enter the query ‘mysql’ I get the output showing everything is OK
If I enter the query ‘mysql -u root -p status’ I get -> on the next line showing it is waiting for a command and I clear this command request using ‘\c’

Is there anyway I can get it to accept the password as above?

My main reason for wanting to learn MYSQL is that presently I write all my web site pages using Dreamweaver and HTML saving as a’PHP’ file normally. However I help a charity of European Counsellors and their Website is currently using an old version of Joomla which is controlled by another company who charge them a fortune if they ask a question and the third party company are obviously just selling them white label hosting. Recently they decided they would like a register of European Counsellors and the only way I could give them one was to create a link from their website to one of mine where I created ‘http://eacnews.net/directory/directory.php’, from there you can select country and then individual counsellor.

If I get knocked down by the proverbial bus, no one could maintain the register, so what I want to do is to create a new web site for them where there is a simple input screen for their news content which can be saved to various pages just as you can with Joomla and they can call down a template so that anyone can input a counsellors details and save it to the correct section of the register held on their webpage instead of linking to mine as they do now.

The first stage would be to go direct to a hosting company to register their DNS to take them away from the existing situation, but I cannot do this before constructing a working model that can be placed under their URL when it is taken under their control. The whole process has to be simple as no one on the Executive is even slightly computer literate believing all software should be like the proprietry software available off the shelf. I should say of course that they have no money to go out to a third party to have all this designed for them, and I am totally self taught when it comes to coding or website design.

Hey this is turning into my life history but that is the background.

cheers and thanks again for trying to help.

2

Hi goalseeker. There’s a lot in your post, but as it mainly asks a PHP question, I’ve moved your post to the PHP forum.

Are you using the latest version of Kevin’s book (the Ninja version)? In the latest version, he defaults to using XAMPP/MAMP anyhow.

You can actually do that even if you are using a CMS like Joomla etc. You’d just want to back up the database now and then too, but you can edit all the files from your desktop even so, and just upload the changes.

So it might be simpler to use a CMS that is already set up for this sort of thing.

If I get knocked down by the proverbial bus, no one could maintain the register

Remember that, unless the client has access to your hosting, they will lose the site anyway following your demise.

3

Many thanks for that guidance Ralph it is apprciated

I have borrowed the book from the library so perhaps it is the older version

I appreciate that this could be the case but the present company have not updated the version of Joomla and they will charge a great deal of money to do so, I just thought if I developed my skills I could give them a site that was easy to manage and keep up to date. When I transferred a working version over to them under their URL, I would set up hosting for them direct with a hosting company such as Hostgator.

Again thanks for your help

4

Certainly, but that could be a big job for you, so a quicker alternative would be to set up a new version of Joomla for them, or any other CMS. Joomla, like a lot of CMSes (inlcuding MODx etc.) are free anyway, so you can save a lot of time by just using an out of the box solution. I’m not sure how client-friendly Joomla is, but there are other CMSes that are very easy for cleints to use, and would have all this functionality already built in—along with security etc., which is a big responsibility to take on yourself.

5

I appreciate that comment and must admit I dismissed Joomla because of bad experiences trying to maintain a website with an old version and unable to add anything as I did not have control. I will look at this today adn perhaps save a few grey hairs on my head.

Thanks again for advice it is appreciated

6

xamp, mamp, wamp = basically all the same it’s a complete ApacheMysqlPhp installation in one go. the X stand for Linux as OS, W for windows and M for Mac. Just pay attention when developing on WAMP you don’t use features that are limited to Windows based installations and vice versa. That way you’re not limited in your search for hosting companies (altough most offer both Linux and Windows based hosting, price may differ)

This info besides the fact, that ralph allready mentioned, that creating a complete CMS on your own for your client, as new developer, is a way to difficult goal to achieve. It can become really complex and if you’re somwhat limited in time, you’re way better of in taking something off-the-shelf.

That all said, the problem you have is the following:
The password in your command needs to be directly after the -p. So no whitespace between -p and the password.

7

Thanks for helpin I entered a password as you indicated, I was asked for password again and the result was a successful output. However, when I enterd mysqladmin -u root -p status; again I got enter password, when I did i got the connect failure error again.

I have downloaded Joomla and will look at that for a short term solution but I never give up and am determined to conquer mySQL!

Thanks again

Dave