Forum Moderators: mack
That is just one of my problems. I have tried to get help and read as much as I can...everywhere. I thought, I'll just let it go for now, keep uploading my pages and work on something else. Now I have a program called Perseus Survey. I just spent almost 2 days building this great survey. I need it on my pc., I ftp'd up no worries but now all this scripting starts coming into play again. I was doing it one step at a time but AGAIN, it asks for things I have no idea about. Then it wants a database name and vendor. I figured i was MYSQL (whatever that is), just cuz i looked it up in their help menus. They told me I have to learn how to create a database and set it up on my site and THEN they will set me up with a DNS (which I have no idea what that is either), then I suppose I can work this survey.
I am sorry I'm rambling so much. Is there anyone who can come in and just do this for a fee? I'm so tired of trying to learn so much within a certain amount of time.
Do I make any sense? I can up my pages no problem and get my flash to work fine., its this dang scripting stuff that is messing me up .. How do I make a database now? Do I need to buy another program or software for this too?
Any help would be greatly appreciated and if you are interested in giving me a price to come in and set up my survey and paypal script and give me a mini lesson on how to maintain it or do this database thing, then you can sticky me a message please. Thank you
Laura
I think we have all been there at some point or another.
The most importaint think about placing scripts on a webhost is, does your host support it?
The main scripting languages are PHP and Perl. In order for your to be able to run scripts written in these languages your host must have the scripting language installed. You mentioned "it asks for things I have no idea about" My guess is it is asking for you to alter a confoguration file. These files usualy ask for certain information that is specifit to your web hosting account. sometimes it is...
Server path : This is the location that your host has alocated you on their computer. If you look within your own pc your files may be something like c\my documents\
your host places users in a similay layout
account/www/webspace this is just an example, different hosts use different directory structures.
Path to perl : This is a system directory that points to the location of the perl scripting language on your web hosts server. this is usualy either /usr/bin/perl or /usr/local/bin/perl
Mysql : This is a form of database that is offered by most web hosts. to use mysql in a script or program you will need to supply some information. database address, database username, database name, database password. each of these values should be available from your hosting company.
These are just a few of basic ones. if you have any more specific questions then please post them here.
Mack.
First off thank you for replying so quickly to my post. I DO appreciate that very much.
With this survey I built, it asks Web Server Document Root Directory Path and then asks Survey Data Directory Path. As for the database thing. It asks for Database Vendor which I assume is MYSQL. Then it asks for Database/DSN Name. Of course I knew nothing about it and when i called Rogers Hosting it said that I need to build a database in and have it all set up and ready to go and configured right then I'm supposed to call them back and request a DSN and then wait a few days for it to be processed. All this I don't know of. So I asked how am I supposed to make a database. They said they weren't trained on teaching me that stuff, so I asked what does DSN mean and he said he wasn't sure. He thought it meant Date Network String. I asked him to explain what that was and he said he wasn't expected to know that sort of thing.
So they don't help me and won't be able to help me with database address or anything like that. My plan says I have CGI-BIN, PHP, Active Server Pages, Coldfusion Support, Ad Server, MySQL, SSL. I asked them flat out that I needed to put a paypal perl script on there and they said that it would be fine. That is a whole different story as I haven't figured that one out either.
So how do I build this database that my hosting company is telling me I HAVE to do? I'm just so confused by this scripting and I really would love to try and master php and perl for starters and even the Apache server....but for now, getting my website launched after all this time would be my first priority.
Thanks
Laura
Web Server Document Root Directory this is like a server (computer) path. It is the location on your webhosts computer that holds your website. for example if your site is www.example.com you path may be something like /webhost/sites/www.example.com again this is just an example, your host should be able to tell you this exactly. it may even be available from within your control panel.
Data Path this is a directory where your data will be stored. You might want to make a directory for this example.com/data or something like this. This will allow your program to store data in this area.
database The most common database provided with hosing is MYSQL. Mysql is a popular database server. If you have a control panel you should have some information about mysql there. Many hosts offer web based administration of mysql through your web browser, one common tool for doing this is phpmyadmin. Again you should ask your host about this. With these sort of tools you are able to add users, create databases and add/change passwords. With many hosting accounts they supply you with a database already instaled and set up. the username and password may well be the same as you use to log into your control panel.
DNS Domain name system, this is a complicated protocol used to point trafic to the right location, for example they might want to make your database data.example.com
The best bet may be to ask to someone involved with technichal support at your hosting company, that way they will be able to advise you properly for their specifics. Here we can only offer very general advice.
On a related note it is importaint to understand chmod (change mode) this is a method setting permisions to your uploaded files. Not all ftp clients allow you to do this. for example scripts sometimes require their permisions to be set to 755 on order for them to run properly. whereas your data directory will almost certainly require chmod 777.
This can be quite complicated but I will try to explain.
The following is specific to wsftp_le but will be similar with many other ftp clients. it is available for free and widely used. If you want to alter the permisions of a file simply right click on it and select "chmod unix" you will then be presentes with 9 boxes.
[ ] [ ] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [ ]
[ ] [ ] [ ]
all boxes at the top have a value of 4
the middle row has a value of 2
the bottom row has a vlaue of 1
so to set chmod 755...
[x] [x] [x]
[x] [ ] [ ]
[x] [x] [x]
and for 777...
[x] [x] [x]
[x] [x] [x]
[x] [x] [x]
The readme or install file that came with your script should tell you what files should be chmod to what value.
Hope this is of some help.
Mack.
