OK, we seem to be seeing different words when looking at this.
I may have been in error to mention the "
SQL files" when I should perhaps be referring to the "
database files" - the files that actually hold the database data.
I think this is a phpMyAdmin issue, not an SQL issue - my error due to being somewhat new at this...
Here is the short layout of the problem as I see it:
When I create a database in phpMyAdmin, it is supposed to be saved in htdocs.
This is from the Apache Friends own FAQ page on XAMPP
https://www.apachefriends.org/faq_windows.html:
Where should I place my web content?
The main directory for all WWW documents is \xampp\htdocs. If you put a file "test.html" in this directory, you can access it with the URI "http://localhost/test.html".
But, when I install the newest version of XAMPP - 1.8.3-4 for Windows, when I open phpMyAdmin and look at the list of included databases, it shows me the ones in the [url]C:\xampp\mysql\data[/url] folder. I know this because when I couldn't find these in htdocs I created a database named "DBtest", and then used windows explorer search the xampp folder for any file called "DBtest" - and it found it in the [url]C:\xampp\mysql\data[/url] folder.
When I first installed XAMPP, I placed my "SCW-FILES" database in the htdocs folder so it could be seen and read by phpMyAdmin - which is the normal way to copy existing databases into a fresh install of XAMPP.
When I first installed XAMPP, I placed my "SCW-FILES" database in the htdoc folder, but phpMyAdmin could not find it.
When I reinstalled XAMPP, I placed my "SCW-FILES" database in the mysql/data folder so I could read it, and it was there and I could scan the tables.
So...the phpMyAdmin is directed to use the mysql/data folder, not htdocs.
I checked the phpinfo list, it shows that the data directory is htdocs:
DOCUMENT_ROOT C:/xampp/htdocs
And yet, phpMyAdmin goes to mysql/data...
Oddly enough, while I can modify the database manually in phpMyAdmin, any attempt to have a php file interact with it gives me a data not found error...until I copy the database file into the htdocs folder,
THEN the php can access the data!So, I can manually modify the data in mysql/data, but only use php in htdocs - and they are not the same files, each is a copy!
As I say, this is not the way it is supposed to be...and I need to fix this ASAP.
I may, if desperate enough, use the php to modify the data in htdocs, then copy THAT into mysql/data to be able to check it - but that is not a solution, it is simply a tedious workaround...and totally unnecessary.
Hopefully this has cleared up any confusion I may have created.