MySql and Joomla

[lologirl]

Hi. First of all, please excuse my ignorance. I'm new to XAMPP.

I installed XAMPP as I wanted to use Joomla. When I am setting Joomla in the localhost, I am asked for a User Name, Password, and Database Name, all of which "must already exist for the database I am going to use". The database that I believe I must use, is MySql. I have no experience of MySql, and I have only used MS Sql Server before.

The problem lies when I try to figure out what is going on with MySql, that I understand is meant to be installed during the installation of XAMPP. I can find the MySql folder in my XAMPP folder, but I do not know how to run that, and I think it is not installed properly, but am not sure.

When I open up the XAMPP control panel, and click on 'Admin' for MySql, a window opens up which disappears in approximately one second (so I have no chance to examine it properly). I have managed to see that in 'Environment' it says "Not Found. Driver 3.51 not found" under 'MyODBC'. Also, in the 'Start Check' tab, I can see the words "fatal error".

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I looked under the FAQ of Apache Friends, and it did not help me. I'm sort of stuck now, and don't know what to do.

Thanks for any advice, or thoughts.

[dmphotography]

No problem,
Make sure MySQL & Apache are running under your XAMPP control panel, then go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin . phpMyAdmin is the interface program that controls and configures databases on your MySQL server.

[Izzy]

Here is how to use phpMyAdmin to create a database.

I am using WordPress as an example but most scripts like Joomla require similar database information and setting up a database is much the same.

Just substitute your own names and passwords to suit your particular Joomla script.
Let me know if anything is not clear for you.



Required information being asked to create by a script.

Code: Select all

define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');    // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', 'wp');     // Your database username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'pw'); // ...and password
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost')  // The database host

If we use this info above as an example then we create a database "wordpress", a user "wp" with a password "pw" on host "localhost" with all privileges like this:

Go into phpMyAdmin from the XAMPP welcome Page http://localhost or type http://localhost/phpmyadmin in your browser.

Create Database In phpMyAdmin

In the text box "Create New Database" type
wordpress
click on
Create

In the left hand frame find the Home icon near the top and left - click on it.

You will return to the first screen we just typed "wordpress" in.

In the left frame you should see "wordpress (0)".

The wordpress database is now created.

Create A Database User
Click on
Privileges

Click on
Add a new User

Fill in the blanks

User name: wp
Host: Select Local from the drop box
Password: pw
Re-type: pw
Click on Go (bottom right)

Click on the Home icon in the left frame again.

This will put you back to the home page again.

We now have a user wp with a password pw

Now we have to give the user wp privileges to our wordpress database.

Give A User Database Privileges
Click on
Privileges

In the list, find your wp user and click on the Edit Privileges pencil icon at far right of the name.

Find the box "Database-specific privileges".

Select the wordpress database in the drop box Add privileges on the following database:

In the next screen that is displayed after selecting the wordpress database
Click on
Database-specific privileges ( Check All )
Click on
Go

Click on the Home icon in the left frame once again to return you to the phpMyAdmin home page.

We now have a database on localhost called wordpress with a user wp who has a password of pw with all privileges to use that database.

To Check All Is Correct

Click on the database wordpress (0) in the left frame.

Click on the Privileges button in the top menu.

Check that you have the following in the Users having access to "wordpress" table.

Code: Select all

User     Host              Type                  Privileges        Grant
wp     localhost      database-specific       ALL PRIVILEGES        Yes

Thats it and you are set to go and complete your Wordpress installation.



Give Joomla the details of the database you just created when asked and it should try and connect to the database and give you the nod if it can.



You can use the above method to create any database with any username with any password for any script you want in the future, so keep a copy of this procedure.

Good luck!