About the MySQL Database Manager

The MySQL Database Manger is a powerful tool that allows you to create, manage and administer MySQL databases on your website. Built upon the popular open source utility, phpMyAdmin, DB Manager includes an intuitive GUI that lets both novice users and seasoned database administrators work quickly and efficiently. This guide is a comprehensive resource covering all features of DB Manager. After reading it, you will know how to:

• create databases (either from scratch or by importing data from another source)

• delete databases

• design and populate tables

• set up user accounts so that others can access your data

• export databases

You will also gain a basic understanding of SQL, or Standard Query Language. SQL is a command language consisting of keywords like SELECT, INSERT and DROP and the syntax governing how they may be used (SQL statements are also known as queries). You can type queries directly or use the GUI to build them visually; regardless of the method you choose, DB Manager displays the queries generated as feedback.

To access Database Manager:

Click the Database Manager icon on your Control Panel.

Looking at the interface

The Database Manager GUI consists of two main parts: the main window, which you use to create databases, users and ODBC connections, and the phpMyAdmin window, the utility you use to manage a selected database.

Creating databases

Database Manager is installed with a default database that uses the same name as your domain name (with underbars replacing periods). For example, if your domain is mydomain.com, your default database will be mydomain_com. As you create more databases, the default name (with a trailing underbar) is used as a prefix for them, for example, mydomain_com_contacts. Once you have created a database, you can build the tables associated with it in phpMyAdmin.

To create a database:

1. Open Database Manager by clicking its icon in the control panel.

2. Click Create New Database. An input field appears.

3. Enter the suffix part of the name.

4. Click Add.

Note: To clear what you have entered in the field, click Clear instead of Add; to abandon creation and return to DBManager Home, click the Back button.

To delete a database:

1. Click the radio button to the left of the database you want to delete.

2. Click Delete.

3. Confirm the deletion

Changing the Language of a Database

You may change the language in which you view your database. This does not affect the information in the database. Only the method of viewing the data is changed.

To change the language:

1. In DBManager Home, select the database of which you wish to change the language.

2. Click the Manage Database button

3. Select the database in the left-hand column.

4. In the drop-down menu that appears, select the language you wish to use.

5. phpMyAdmin will refresh in the new language.

Building Tables

Tables are the basic building blocks of databases. They consist of columns (or fields) and rows. Each row is a single data record; for example, if you had a table for storing customer names, each row might contain a customerID field, a first_name field and a last_name field. You use phpMyAdmin to create, alter and delete records from tables.

Browsing Records

You can control how tables are displayed when you browse them in phpMyAdmin. Specifically, you can:

• toggle full text or partial text views of records containing long text entries.

• apply a different table layout.

• set a result limit (to control how many records appear per screen).

• change how rows are sorted.

Performing Table Operations

A table operation is an action you perform on a table—moving or copying it to another database, reordering its columns, or renaming it. You can also use table operations to perform maintenance on a table, for example, restoring a table that you suspect has been corrupted.

Managing Users

Database Manager supports a sophisticated privilege system that grants and restricts privileges to database users based on their roles. You create user accounts (and associated ODBC connections) to allow users to connect remotely to your databases and perform actions on them, typically through a web page which includes a connection script written in PHP.

Exporting

Database Manager allows you to export a database (or selected tables) to a file. Some file formats allow you to view the records in another application, such as Microsoft Excel. The SQL format is used for backup/restoration purposes; it creates an SQL file (a series of queries) that can be imported back into MySQL to restore a database.