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Also other databases can be connected in Visual PHP™. This can be mainly used to share data by individual projects. If both projects are on the same server of if the database of a shared project has allowed connections from from foreign servers, it is possible to display and change data in the database connected this way with ease.

Setting a Database Connection

New database connections to foreign databases can be defined under the Presentation -> Database Connections menu. You have only to enter appropriate access data and in case of need the system will connect itself to such database. The following properties are available:

Name	Your own name of this connection. It is used for easier identification or for use in PHP scripts.
Server Name / IP	The domain name or IP address of the server on which a database to be connected runs.
Port	The port under which connecting to a database can be made. Leave empty for the default port number.
Database	The name of a database.
Login Name	A name for logging in to a database.
Password	A password for logging in.
External Project URL	In the case of projects running under Visual PHP™ enter the URL of such project (e.g. http://www.domain.cz). The system will adjust itself all virtual components (e.g. IMAGE or FILE) to make it is possible to work with them also in a project without physical access to the files these components work with. It will therefore be possible, for example, to display images from a foreign project.

Creating a Virtual Table from an External Database

The next step towards connecting is creating a virtual table. This table has to be virtual one because it will work physically with data in an external database by means of the database connection set above.

Go to the Presentation -> Table menu and create a new table with the following properties:

Table Name	The name of a virtual table. This name has to be the same as the name of a table from an external database. In the case there is already such name in the local database, enter a different name and enter the actual name of the external database table in the Table Name (SQL) property.
Table Name (SQL)	In the case you have had to use a different name for the table name than the actual name of the database table, enter the actual name of the table from the external database in this property. (A typical example is loading articles from another Web site when the articles table already exists in the local project. Consequently, enter e.g. articles_extern in the Table Name and cms_articles in the Table Name SQL – this is the actual name of the table in the database.)
Database Connection	Select a database connection created above.
External Table	Select this option in order to create a virtual external table. Any changes in external tables (e.g. changes of fields) will remain within the local project only and will not appear in any way in the external database. Attention!! If you leave this option empty, then when deleting or changing the data type of a field of this table, a physical change would also occur on the remote server, which could affect its functionality and result in an irreversible loss of data!!
Use an External Field	Select this option in the case you are connecting a table from a project created in Visual PHP™. This option will load itself the required fields including their components and settings. Of course, it is possible to change these fields and such changes will also occur within the local presentation only.

On saving, a virtual table will be created. You can check its functionality by entering the display table_name command in the command prompt at the bottom of administration or by adding to the Admin menu. From this moment, it is possible to work with the table in the absolutely same way as if it is a table from your own database, i.e. to display data by means of Table Content components and templates.

NOTICE

Some properties published in this article can only be functional with the latest core version. If you have any older core version, we recommend you to update to the latest version.

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