Building a Database-Driven Web Site Using PHP and MySQL

by Kevin Yank of SitePoint.com

A Challenge

As homework, see if you can figure out how to put a link labeled "Delete this Joke" next to each joke on the page that, when clicked, will remove that joke from the database and display the updated joke list. Here are a few hints to get you started:

• You'll still be able to do it all in a single multi-purpose page.

• You'll need to use the SQL DELETE command, which we learned about in Part Two.

• This is the tough one. To delete a particular joke, you'll need to be able to uniquely identify it. The ID column in the Jokes table was designed to serve this purpose. You're going to have to pass the ID of the joke to be deleted with the request to delete a joke. The query string of the "Delete this Joke" link is a perfect place to put this value.

If you think you have the answer or if you would just like to see the solution, advance to the next page. Good luck!

Wrap-up

This week, we learned some new PHP functions that allow us to interface with a MySQL database server. Using these functions, we built our first database-driven Web site by publishing our Jokes database online and allowing visitors to add jokes of their own to it.

In Part Five, we go back to the MySQL command line and learn how to use relational database principles and some more advanced SQL queries to represent more complex types of information, and give our visitors credit for the jokes they add!

Article Index Introduction and Contents Part 1: Installation Part 2: Getting Started with MySQL Part 3: Getting Started with PHP Part 4: Publishing MySQL Data on the Web   Challenge Solution Buy this book in print format now

Challenge Solution

SitePoint.com is a fast growing Web Developer Community. Kevin Yank is the Editor of the SitePoint TechTimes, a fresh, technically oriented newsletter for the serious Webmaster.