Reflection

For both MySQL and Access, we have gone beyond what is necessary for a database that will be accessed in a Web application using middleware. The exact steps you take will depend on a variety of factors. The application, with its database, already might exist and your task might be to port it to the Web. You might find it useful to do some “batch” loading of records into the database working with the databases directly. You also might choose to use utilities such as MyCC to create a new or modify an existing MySQL database. Chapter 16 identifies several critical issues to scale up your application.

It will help your understanding of databases in general, and MySQL and Access in particular, if you now reflect on what these two DBMS products have in common and how they differ. Certainly, the command interface of MySQL and the graphical user interface of Access is a big difference. The terminology for data types is another difference, although both products could produce essentially the same database. Continue to make these comparisons as you learn more about the use of the databases with PHP and ASP, respectively.

In the next chapter, you will learn about connecting to a database using PHP and ASP, and how to do simple insert and select queries.