PHP + New DB creation?

[Jeraych]

Well boss doesn't want to use databases, for something that *needs* databases... so I will have to work with txt files... so How should I format this stuff so its searchable? I posted previously on phpbuilders about this, but, I am not advertising. Anyways... how would I start off doing something like this?

[bubblenut]

Originally Posted by Jeraych

how would I start off doing something like this?

By reading the XML spec at w3c or if you're not mad then by reading a book on XML I just got this book a few days ago and I'm finding it incredibly usefull. It moves pretty quick so it may be a little daunting but if you soldier on through it's well worth it.
There are other options (CSV) but they're not really feasable if you're talking about structured data.

[Cele]

Hello
If you want to use php and use files i would suggest you use *.db files as they can't be read from a browser. I also suggest you encrypt all your data using the md5(); function.
You can also take a look around pixel2life.com for tutorials on how to do this project.
Cele

[bubblenut]

Originally Posted by Cele

Hello
If you want to use php and use files i would suggest you use *.db files as they can't be read from a browser.

Well neither can XML files if you place them outside the document root, which is where they should be if they're even slightly secure. Also, what exactly do you mean by *.db files (I hope it's not some proprietry Winblows thingy ), I can call a text file something.db and then put XML in it XML is a w3c standardised data modeling format which is not only incredibly versatile but also incredibly widespread. If you were to need a datafeed capability down the line you would probably just be able to cut out chunks of your DB and send them over to whoever as is with nothing more than a DTD or Schema and prehapse an XSLT for convenience.

Originally Posted by Cele

I also suggest you encrypt all your data using the md5(); function.

WHAT?!? The md5 algorithm is a one-way hashing algorithm NOT an encrypition algorithm. This means it's only usefull if you know what the data is and you just need some way of confirming it for security (like with a password). You cannot use md5 to hash all the data in your database (well you can, but it would render all your data useless).

Finally you start to talk sense Seems to have a lot of tutorials there from all around the place, couldn't find any on flat file databases though?

Originally Posted by Cele

You can also take a look around pixel2life.com for tutorials on how to do this project.
Cele

XML Databases : A lot of the articles are regarding integrating XML with existing database systems but there are a couple of articles on actual XML databases. I would imagine you won't even need the kind of complexity a full Datatabase aplication would provide, it may suffice to have a collection of simple files and write your own app to query them. What sort of data are you needing to store and how much of it?

Bubble