Table of Contents
PHPLIB targets the PHP application developer. You need to have good knowledge of the PHP language, at least basic SQL database knowhow and at least basic knowledge on how to operate your web server to be able to use the library.
To make use of the library you obviously need access to a web server with a working installation of a current PHP interpreter (we recommend 3.0.12 or newer for this release of the library) and access to a supported SQL database (currently, PHPlib supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, mSQL, Oracle 7 and Oracle 8, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server and ODBC databases). You need to be able to create and drop database tables in that database and your web server must be able to execute SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE statements on these tables.
Throughout this manual, we assume that you are using the MySQL database server. PHPlib will run with any supported SQL server, but we are using MySQL in the development of PHPlib.
PHPlib can be used in conjunction with the CGI version of PHP and with mod_php, integrated into Apache. Usage of the CGI version has an impact on overall speed, because you cannot take advantage of persistent database connection. We recommend the Apache module over the CGI version, although we personally use the CGI version for various reasons (easier to update and can be run with Apache suexec).