[thelist] MySQL as CMS

[Michael Barrett]

Hello Listeroos

I am in the midst of planning a new web site project and thinking about how
to manage content.

This web site will include a library of articles and a product catalog,
along with the usual about us, contact, policies, etc.

I was thinking that Library articles and the product data should naturally
be stored in a database. Then I got to thinking...
"Hey. Why can't I just put all the content in the database?"

I began scheming how I might put all the sites content in the database, then
access each section of the site with one template and a query string.

I imagine a simple administrative tool allowing the client, or myself to
update the content of the site without managing a bunch of scattered HTML
files.

Are there any faults in this approach that I am not seeing?

This will not be a particularly high traffic site, so I am not concerned
about taxing the data base.

<tip type="php/mysql" author="Michael Barrett">
If you need to count the number of rows returned by a mysql query. Don't
write code for it. Simply select a COUNT on the rows you need counted.

$sql = "select count(row_I_wanna_count) where some_condition=\"something\"";

$result = mysql_query($sql,$db_connection);

While ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$count = $row["count(row_I_wanna_count)"];
}

$count = number of rows

</tip>
--
Michael Barrett
-O^O-
  -

mbarrett at triad.rr.com