Access database without using php

[daneosporin]

I have an old site with lots of html urls that I don't want to change, but would like to add some more to the pages. I recently tried to parse html as php by putting commands suggested on other threads in the .htaccess file. After lots of trial and error and other peoples' comments about my host I am pretty sure my host doesn't allow this. Instead I put

AddType text/html .shtml
AddHandler server-parsed .shtml
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes

in the .htaccess file so I could add my includes. Now I am stuck with trying to figure out how to connect to my database without php(php is the only language I know other than html so far). Anyone know how I could connect with my database now?

[ChadSEO]

daneosporin,

If your host supports cgi's, and most of them do, then you could write a perl script to connect to the database. If you decide to go that route, Perl in a Nutshell from O'Reilly is an invaluable reference, as is the Perl forum on this site. Other than that, you could see what languages your host does support, or find another host that supports PHP (the vast majority do these days).

Chad