PHP 5 and later can work with a MySQL database using: MySQLi extension (the "i" stands for improved) PDO (PHP Data Objects) Earlier versions of PHP used the MySQL extension. However, this extension was deprecated in 2012.

With PHP, you can connect to and manipulate databases. MySQL is the most popular database system used with PHP.

AJAX Database Example. The following example will demonstrate how a web page can fetch information from a database with AJAX:

For the MySQLi functions to be available, you must compile PHP with support for the MySQLi extension. The MySQLi extension was introduced with PHP version 5.0.0. The MySQL Native Driver was included in PHP version 5.3.0. For installation details, go to: http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.installation.php

Create Connection. Start by creating a connection to the database. Use the username and password from your MySQL database:

Prepare: An SQL statement template is created and sent to the database. Certain values are left unspecified, called parameters (labeled "?"). Example: INSERT INTO MyGuests VALUES(?, ?, ?) The database parses, compiles, and performs query optimization on the SQL statement template, and stores the result without executing it

AJAX Database Example. The following example will demonstrate how a web page can fetch information from a database with AJAX:

Code Editor (Try it) With our online code editor, you can edit code and view the result in your browser

Think SECURITY when processing PHP forms! This page does not contain any form validation, it just shows how you can send and retrieve form data. However, the next pages will show how to process PHP forms with security in mind! Proper validation of form data is important to protect your form from hackers and spammers!

AJAX PHP Example. The following example will demonstrate how a web page can communicate with a web server while a user type characters in an input field: