Newbie questions about phpBB and MySQL

[Allen]

Don't shoot me please, as my knowledge is not brilliant and my terminology may not be correct either.

Right, having a mess about with phpBB and MySQL on my computer. I'm running Windows 2000 and have set up IIS so I can use http://localhost/. php pages run ok (the php test page and the front pages to phpBB work fine) and after a lot of fiddling about I think I got phpBB to install correctly following this guide. The MySQL was setup differently and I had to RTFM for ages to find out how to create a db, but I think it's running ok.

Now, I can see the front page of the basic phpBB forum, and I can login successfully as the Administrator like I set up, but when I try and actually do something (like look at the basic intro post or go into the control panel) it doesn't load the page. I've left it for like 10 mins and nothing happens. Click back and it goes back, but you can't do anything else. It's like it locks the site.

Anyone have any ideas what I could have done wrong please? Also, need to know of a free host for me to test it online. Don't care about adverts for the time being. Cheers.

:edit: Believe it or not, Lycos' Tripod service has free php and MySQL services.

[Shorty]

IIS + PHP = trouble. I know many use it and have no problems but.. yuck mate. Really yuck.

When you say it stalls?? Does it ever load at all?

Do me a favour.. open notepad and put this in it:

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

Save it as "info.php" and then access it on your server (http://localhost/info.php). Then PM me a link (if you want it kept private) where I can access it (or copy the output and get it to me via email/PM).. and Il take a look at your PHP setup

Ps.. Tripod do offer MySQL & PHP but I warn you.. it's dogslow

[malfunction]

IIS + PHP = trouble. I know many use it and have no problems but.. yuck mate. Really yuck.

Arse! Just typed out a long message and lost it due to bloody back button on my keyboard...

Anyway. Shorter version:

Shorty: Care to qualify that statment? I've just installed PHP on IIS 6 in the office for our other developer (I've stuck to ASP so far) and was wondering if there's anything I should look out for.

Al: Sorry for the hijack. FWIW I think that MySQL is very good but like many things originating in the linux world you don't get to know everything you need to know without actually trying it out... Setting up replication in the office was fun... Not.

[Shorty]

It was more a generalised statement as Im not a big fan of IIS in general.

I prefer the tight integration and portability of AMP (on either Linux/BSD or Windows) but that is just my personal preference

The main things to look for in ANY PHP installation is the obvious configurations you will find in your php.ini file.

register_globals = Off

Globals are bad. Any google search for that term will go into the indepth reasons why that flag should be like that (think variable scope).

allow_call_time_pass_reference = Off

Only really relevant to OOP level PHP programming as it causes hell with procedural functions (and lazy programmers!).

magic_quotes_gpc = Off

With this flag set On, all GET, POST and COOKIE vars are automatically escaped ("). Again, lazy programming to rely on it and causes all hell of issues down the line.

http://www.pinkgoblin.com/quotesarticle.php is a good reference of several PHP flags to watch for

[Allen]

IIS + PHP = trouble. I know many use it and have no problems but.. yuck mate. Really yuck.

When you say it stalls?? Does it ever load at all?

Do me a favour.. open notepad and put this in it:

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

Save it as "info.php" and then access it on your server (http://localhost/info.php). Then PM me a link (if you want it kept private) where I can access it (or copy the output and get it to me via email/PM).. and Il take a look at your PHP setup

Ps.. Tripod do offer MySQL & PHP but I warn you.. it's dogslow

I'll email the output to ya, it's friggin huge!!

And I got it running ok on Tripod, don't care about speed either as it's only for testing right now. Adverts mucked it up to start off with, but now the only advert I get is on the right hand side of the screen.

If I ever make a real one and it goes public, I'll pay for a non-advert/fast service. I must say though, phpBB is very easy to use once set up!

[Allen]

Al: Sorry for the hijack. FWIW I think that MySQL is very good but like many things originating in the linux world you don't get to know everything you need to know without actually trying it out... Setting up replication in the office was fun... Not.

Took me long enough to figure out how to create a new database! I won't be doing anything in depth with this, as I'm not a programmer at all.....

[Stoo]

phpmyadmin rocks