FreeTDS Development Group

[Daniel Fazekas <fdsubs AT t-online.hu>]

On May 29, 2005, at 22:40, max wrote:

> I am running a local Fedora Core 3 box with FreeTDS / PHP and  
> Apache.  I
> have successfully set up, configured FreeTDS, PHP (with graphic  
> support)
> and Apache (with PHP support) using the book SAM PHP, MySQL and Apache
> book (sadly slightly out of date - as it references PHP4 instead of
> PHP5).

That looks like a bit of a confusion.
You just have to make up your mind on what kind of database server do  
you want to use. :-)

MySQL and MSSQL are two totally different things.

a) MySQL
It's the free, GPL-licensed and open source database server from  
MySQL AB in Sweden.
The server runs on a wide variety of platforms, including just about  
all flavors of UNIX and also on Windows.
See http://www.mysql.com/

In PHP, you use the mysql extension to access it, with function names  
starting with mysql_


b) MSSQL aka Microsoft SQL Server
Closed source and expensive database server from Microsoft.
The server itself only runs on Windows.
See http://www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/overview/default.mspx

In PHP, you use the mssql extension to access it, with function names  
starting with mssql_

This is what you need FreeTDS for. If you're trying to talk to a  
Microsoft SQL server running on a Windows machine from another  
computer which is *not* running Windows, you need FreeTDS and you are  
- mostly - in the right place.

> In essence, I want to assume a couple of things - FreeTDS translates
> mysql_fetch_array() and mysql_num_rows() when looking up  
> information in
> the database.

FreeTDS has absolutely nothing to do with those mysql_ functions.  
Just switch them to mssql_ and things should work -- looking at the  
list of functions you are trying to use, I think only mysql_error  
won't have a direct mssql_error equivalent.

> I did have a look at the API's on the FreeTDS site, but
> was slightly confused over what I should be using.

Having successfully installed FreeTDS for use with PHP, the FreeTDS  
manual should be quite unnecessary for you now. You even appear to  
have successfully connected to the database.

Going from there, it's the PHP Manual and its pages describing the  
MSSQL extension you should be reading:

http://www.php.net/mssql

--
fds