7 replies to this topic

[hbr]

I need to create a database of around 1000 music albums that I can put on my site, with the ability to search the database according to several different criteria.

Being a complete and total NOOB to the world of databases, can anyone point me in the direction of some software that will let me create a good-looking and functional database, but that isn't too complicated for me to use?!

Sounds like a tall order I know, be grateful if anyone can help though.

Thanks!

Notice from microscopic^earthling:

Topic edited to reflect content better.

Edited by microscopic^earthling, 12 April 2005 - 02:38 PM.

[Trekkie101]

Simple Machines Forum
www.simplemachines.org

Diable psoting from everyone except admins, add a new post for each album, then use its search engine.

Remove all the stuff you dont need from the theme and its done.

[Hercco]

This kind of system isn't very difficult to program. A good language would be PHP.

You did not mention if you have any programming skills but if you do you should be able to program the system if you are willing to learn the basics of SQL (Structured Query Language. A rather simple language for doing queries on realtional databases)

To get started I'd recommend creating a MySQL database (can be done from the cPanel by just setting a databasename and username & password pair) and then heading to phpMyAdmin (also from cPanel).

PhpMyAdmin is full graphical web utility for managing your databases. You shold be able to use it with no problems.

First select your just created database (from the pull down menu at left) and then create some tables in it. A table structure for your album database could be somthing like this:

Albums table:
_______________________________________________________
album_id | artist_id | album_name | year | record_label


Artist table
____________________________________
artist_id | artist_name | country |

The fields of course can be anything you want... But it is smart to have id's for all rows (and setting them to auto_increment) so that each album and artist has an unique ID.

After you have created the tables (you could create just one for testing) then add some data to them. This also can be very easily done from the phpMyAdmin. But pay attention to the SQL code that phpMyAdmin prints out. This is the form that your scripts should be using when they insert/get data to/from the database. After few inserts you should be able to get the idea how SQL works. It is really that simple. Then you could read more about SQL and MySQL DBMS (database management system) from http://dev.mysql.com/doc.


Next step would be to create scripts to do queries from the database and printing out the data in a suitable manner for your site. I personally use PHP, but I'm sure ASP or JSP are just as good options for this. If you don't know any of these languages yet but have some previous programmign experience, pick the one that's closest to what you've been doing before. PHP is quite similar to C, if you know C you'll learn PHP real easy. JSP is Java for server side scripts so if you're java-man you'll feel home with JSP.

At least PHP has excellent online documentation (http://www.php.net) with lot of examples. Also for dealing with databases.


I hope this helped. Dealing with databases is whole lot easier that you might think, but like everything new, it takes time to learn and get used to it. And if and when you ran into problems remember that these boards are filled with people willing and capable to help out.

[miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG]

hbr - get your hosting account here (you've to meet the Post Requirements first) - but once you get that - we can guide you gradually in setting up your optimized MySQL Database and help you link it with a PHP based web-page that will spit out categorized albums+tracks - the way you want. It's a fairly long drawn process but nothing complicated at all - so no need to worry

All the best

[amkint]

lets see...
from the sound of it.. i don't think you know any scripting language..
i recommend you to learn PHP..
php.net and phpfreaks.com is a good place to start. after that you can move on to mysql.. there are some good books out there on php and mysql combined.. i recommend you to read one of those..
and hey.. PM me if you need any help.. i love to help aspiring webmasters!
cheers

[Analyst]

It's not a database but have you considered creating a Gmail account and posting items by email to it. With extensive searching capability, ability to order emails by category and up to 2Gbyte storage, and did I mention free, it could meet your needs
Regards