May 15, 2004 PACS Database SIG Meeting Notes

May 15, 2004 PACS Database SIG Meeting Notes

We had an excellent turnout and enthusiastic participation from the members! Many members have installed PHP and MySQL already and we have two sites up for member use.

Meeting Recap

Both new websites were introduced: databasedrivenwebsite.net and databasedrivenwebsite.com.

Reed Gustow, John Davey, Rich Sias put up the .net site (free hosting provided by Gryphyn Media, Inc.) and Mark Stringfellow and Ouida McIlhenny put up the .com site (free hosting provided by Maximum Computer Systems, Inc.)

We discussed our experiences in installing PHP and MySQL following the instructions in the text: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL,
Second Edition by Kevin Yank, SitePoint Pty Ltd 2003, ISBN 0957921810

Some members had been successful in installing PHP and MySQL and some not:

Macintosh

A Macintosh user who had Mac OS 10.3 had a significantly easier installing than those who had OS 10.2. As John Ashmead pointed out, when you thought about it made sense since the two operating systems are quite different, much more different than a 0.1 increment in version number usually indicates.

Windows

Among Windows users, using IIS and the instructions in Yank's second edition worked smoothly.

Windows users who used the instructions in the first edition had difficulty. Please note that the free instructions on the internet are from the first edition.

Windows users who had Oracle already installed on their machines had difficulty, particularly with trying to use Apache. They plan to try reinstalling a newer version of Apache to see if that helps. Details will be forthcoming in their installation notes.

Site #2, databasedrivenwebsite.com, has posted notes on for Windows users on installing PWS (Personal Web Server) and IIS (Internet Information Server) from QUE: Using XHTML, XML, and Java 2 (ISBN: 0789724731).

PACS Database SIG website was updated, and designations of the website projects were changed from #1 and #2 to .net and .com.

For the June 12, 2004 Meeting:

  • Database SIG members will write installation notes on their successful and unsuccessful attempts to install PHP and MySQL on their own computers, following Yank's instructions (See "Last Meeting," below, for more links), or whatever worked.
  • New members who have not yet installed PHP and MySQL will do so.
  • Webmasters for the web projects databasedrivenwebsite.net and databasedrivenwebsite.com will install a "playpen" database for all members and an admin-only backup database.
  • We will first discuss any remaining PHP and MySQL installation issues, particularly for newer members, and then move on to database installation, focusing on the "playpen" databases and the joke database in Yank's book.
  • We will also discuss whether we should meet in July and/or August when there is no general PACS Meeting. We already know of two potential locations that Web Design SIG and Database SIG have used in the past (Community Room at Upper Moreland Library, and second floor lecture area in University of Pennsylvania Barnes and Noble), but the real question is will member availability and interest support any summer meetings.

    • Joining the Database SIG Listsev

    The Database Special Interest Group of the Philadelphia Area Computer Society has formed a listserv in order to facilitate questions and discussion related to databases, especially relational databases, outside of monthly S.I.G. meetings. Design, implementation, troubleshooting, etc. in any relational database software management system may be discussed. Currently, building database-driven websites using PHP and MySQL, and related issues, are the main topics of discussion.

    If you are interested in joining the group, follow this link

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pacs-db-sig

    or email me directly at my email link.

    PACS Main Page . . . Database SIG Main Page . . . Curriculum 2004