XAMPP and Hosting Service phpMyAdmin

[sodidwe]

Hello all,

I'm completely new to using XAMPP and just needed some basic info that I couldn't find in the FAQs. I'm sure that once I have this figured out, I'll have more questions.

I have my webhosting service that links to MYSQL and phpMyAdmin, I also downloaded XAMPP so I could test PHP databases on my localhost that I will be creating without publishing them online through my webhosting root directory until they're ready.

1) Was downloading XAMPP unnecessary to do what I want? Should I just use phphMyAdmin from my webhosts control panel?

2) If I use XAMPP, will I be causing a conflict with how my webhost already has phphMyAdmin configured and set up?

3) When I open XAMPP, I get an error message that it can't connect to MYSQL database because it's either not running, or I changed the password. I suppose it was because I already set it up with a password through my webhost and it's not linking?

Thanks!

[LooseCannon]

Hello and welcome sodidwe.

You've some pretty general web site/hosting/development questions, which aren't XAMPP specific, so not necessarily in the FAQ. Thanks for trying that though, as many seem not to. Also use the search of this forum... but one needs to know what to search for, right?

I have my webhosting service that links to MYSQL and phpMyAdmin, ...

The web host will have the Apache web server and MySQL setup and configured to work in a certain way, but at least you don't have to know about it much. The controls that come with the hosting package enable some configurations, but will be limited for security and stability reasons.

1) Was downloading XAMPP unnecessary to do what I want? Should I just use phphMyAdmin from my webhosts control panel?

You can download Apache, phpMyAdmin (actually a kind of 'website') and MySQL all separately. THEN you have to install and configure them! The Apache config file alone is a great read.... XAMPP does all the basics for you and you can still read all the config files, which is nice, because you'll have gained a lot of time for doing so.

2) If I use XAMPP, will I be causing a conflict with how my webhost already has phphMyAdmin configured and set up?

Very, no extremely (don't say never!) unlikely. XAMPP sets you up to work all locally.

3) When I open XAMPP, I get an error message that it can't connect to MYSQL database because it's either not running, or I changed the password. I suppose it was because I already set it up with a password through my webhost and it's not linking?

What exactly do you mean "When I open XAMPP"? Have you read through the setup notes and got to the test website? The XAMPP control panel 'works'?