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PHP

PHP is used for Web browser access to POSTGRESQL. With PHP, database commands can be embedded in Web pages.

Two Web pages are required for our state code application: one for data entry and another for display. Figure [*] shows a Web page that allows entry of a state code.  

        
        <!--
         -- PHP sample program -- input
         -->
         
        <HTML>
        <BODY>
        <!-- prompt user for a state code -->
        <FORM ACTION="<? echo $SCRIPT_NAME ?>/pg/sample2.phtml?state_code" method="POST">
        Client Number:
        <INPUT TYPE="text" name="state_code" value="<? echo $state_code ?>"
                maxlength=2 size=2>
        <BR>
        <INPUT TYPE="submit" value="Continue">
        </FORM>
        </BODY>
        </HTML>
        
 

Figure [*] shows a second Web page that performs a SELECT and displays the results.  

        
        <!--
         -- PHP sample program -- output
         -->
         
        <HTML>
        <BODY>
        <?
                $database = pg_Connect("", "", "", "", "test"); # connect to the database
         
                if (!$database)                                 # did the database connection fail?
                {
                        echo "Connection to database failed.";
                        exit;
                }
         
                $result = pg_Exec($database,                    # send the query
                        "SELECT name " .
                        "FROM statename " .
                        "WHERE code = '$state_code'");
                
                
                for ($i = 0; $i < pg_NumRows($result); $i++)    # loop through all rows returned
                {
                        echo pg_Result($result,$i,0);           # print the value returned
                        echo "<BR>";
                }
        ?>
        </BODY>
        </HTML>
        
 

Normal Web page commands (HTML tags) begin with < and end with >. By contrast, PHP code begins with <? and ends with ?>. The PHP interface does not ship with POSTGRESQL, but can be downloaded from http://www.php.net.  


Bruce Momjian
2001-05-09