Hi Doug, on 22/09/02 9:25 AM, Doug Parker ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> often i use text files at my data sources, delimted by the "|" symbol. > i simply delimit the fields of each line, then when i need to open them, > i open the text file, populate an array with each line, then explode the > fields for each to get the corresponding values. i use this method for > catalogs - and even backend interfaces, for which the client can > add/edit/delete products. everything seems to be working fine, and > there doesn't seem to be a need for MySQL or anything. i was wondering > if there is anything i'm not thinking of that perhaps would push me to > favor using php and mysql instead of the plain old text file. If it aint broke, don't fix it I guess, but I'd argue a few points: - at some point, your data will get too large, and the file method will get sluggish. this is where MySQL differs, because you can index columns, have full text indexes for search engines, etc etc to increase performance and features. - simple things like auto-incrementing row numbers - i find updating / editing data MUCH easier in a database than I do in a CSV... - i find complicated queries MUCH easier in a MySQL database. I guess the answer is that you COULD provide functionality for all of this by writing some functions, but my question is WHY, when MySQL is likely to be 1 or 100 or 1000 steps in front of you at all times. What I *DO* find useful is to let some of my customers edit or export their data in CSV format, which I use to munch into a set of MySQL tables... It gives them very cheap, hands-on editing of the data, but still gives me a quick/flexible back-end. Justin French -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
