A PEAR CMS: Examining the Code

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In the last article we looked at some of the scripts that are going to make up our CMS system. Codewise, this Content Management System is very simple, but will form a very good basis for a custom-made CMS. It is also a very good way to learn PEAR and database abstraction.

A walk through the code

In the last article, we looked at the “connx.php” configuration file, but we did not go through the code, so lets take a look at it:

<?php

// the hostname of the database server

// the username to connect with

// the user's password

// the name of the database to connect to

// the type of database server.

$dbhost= "localhost";

$dbuser= "root";

$dbpass= "apass";

$dbname= "cms";

$dbtype= "mysql";

// Build a DSN string (Data Source Name)

// Required by DB::connect()

$dsn = $dbtype . "://"

.$dbuser . ":"

. $dbpass . "@"

. $dbhost . "/"

. $dbname;

// Creates a database connection object in $db

// or, a database error object if it went wrong.

// The boolean specifies this is a persistent

// connection like mysql_pconnect(), it

// defaults to FALSE.

$db = DB::connect($dsn, TRUE);

// Check whether the object is a connection or

// an error.

// Print out a message and exit if it's

// an error object.

if (DB::isError($db)) {

die($db->getMessage());

}

?>

Basically, this script is of such importance that it will be included in every script that uses the database. It contains all the information that is required by the DB class to successfully connect to a database server. The code is heavily commented for ease of reading.

It starts off by defining some connection details. This part of the script tells the server about the host, password and some other information that is required to connect to a database:

// the hostname of the database server

// the username to connect with

// the user's password

// the name of the database to connect to

// the type of database server.

$dbhost= "localhost";

$dbuser= "root";

$dbpass= "apass";

$dbname= "cms";

$dbtype= "mysql";

 The next part builds a Data Source Name or DSN. It is required by the DB::connect() function. As you will see in the next block of code, it will be used to initiate the connection:

// Build a DSN string (Data Source Name)

// Required by DB::connect()

$dsn = $dbtype . "://"

.$dbuser . ":"

. $dbpass . "@"

. $dbhost . "/"

. $dbname;

The DSN will then look something like this:

$dsn = $dbtype://$dbuser:$dbpass:$dbhost:$dbname;

Next: Connecting to the Database >>
 

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