Mastering phpMyAdmiri 3.4 for

Effective MySQL Management

A complete guide to getting started with

phpMyAdmin 3.4 and mastering its features

Marc Delisle

[ t]open so1 I community experience c

urcedistilled

PUBLISHING

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Chapter 1: Getting Started with phpMyAdmin 7

PHP and MySQL: The leading open source duo 7

What is phpMyAdmin? 8

Project documentation 9

Installing phpMyAdmin 9

Required information 9

System requirements 10

Downloading the files 10

Installing on different platforms 11

Installing on a remote server using a Windows client 11

Installing on a local Linux server 11

Installing on a local Windows server (Apache, IIS) 12

Configuring phpMyAdmin 12

The config.inc.php file 12

Avoiding false error messages about permissions on config.inc.php 13

Configuration principles 13

Web-based setup script 15

Manually creating config.inc.php 20

Tips for editing config.inc.php on a Windows client 20

Description of some configuration parameters 20

PmaAbsoluteUri 21

Server-specific sections 21

Installing phpMyAdmin configuration storage 24

Goal of the configuration storage 24

Location of the configuration storage 24

Performing the installation 25

Installing for a single user 25

Installing for multiple users 27

Table of Contents_

Upgrading phpMyAdmin 28

Summary 29

Chapter 2: Configuring Authentication and Security 31

Logging in to MySQL through phpMyAdmin 31

Logging in to an account without a password 32

Authenticating a single user with config 32

Testing the MySQL connection 33

Authenticating multiple users 33

Authenticating with HTTP 33

Authenticating with cookie values 34

Authenticating with signon mode 36

Configuring for multiple server support 38Defining servers in the configuration file 38

Authenticating through an arbitrary server 39

Logging out 40

Securing phpMyAdmin 40

Protecting phpMyAdmin at directory level 40

Displaying error messages 41

Protecting with IP-based access control 41

Defining rules 42

Order of interpretation for rules 42

Blocking root access 43

Protecting in-transit data 43

Summary 44

Chapter 3: Over Viewing the Interface 45

Over viewing panels and windows 45

Login panels 45

Navigation and main panels 46Home page 46

Views 46

Query window 46

Starting page 47

Customizing general settings 47

Configuring window title 47Natural sort order for database and table names 48

Creating site-specific header and footer 48

Themes 49Configuring themes 49

Selecting themes 50

Selecting a language 50Slider 51

Restricting the list of databases 51

Table ofContents

Deactivating Ajax 52

Character sets and collations 52

Effective character sets and collations 53

Navigation panel 54

Configuring the logo 54

Database and table list 55

Light mode 55

Full mode 57

Table abridged statistics 58

Table quick-access icon 58

Nested display of tables within a database 58

Counting the number of tables 59

Choosing from the server list 59

Handling many databases or tables 60Limits on the interface 60

Improving fetch speed 61

Main panel 61

Home page 62

Database view 63

Table view 64

Server view 65

Icons for home page and menu tabs 65

Opening a new phpMyAdmin window 66

User preferences 66

Accessing user preferences 67

Possible locations for saving preferences 67

Saving in phpMyAdmin configuration storage 68

Saving in a file 68

Saving in the browser's local storage 68

Changing settings 69

Disallowing specific preferences 69

Showing developer settings 70

Query window 70

Summary 72

Chapter 4: Creating and Browsing Tables 73

Creating a database 73

No privileges 74

First database creation is authorized 74

Creating our first table 76

Choosing the columns 76

Creating a table 76

Choosing keys 79

Table ofContents

Inserting data manually 80Data entry panel tuning for CHAR and VARCHAR 82

Browse mode 83

SQL query links 83

Navigation bar 84

Query results operations 86Displaying data as a chart 86

Sorting results 87Headwords 89

Color-marking rows or columns 89

Limiting the length of each column 90

Display options 90

Browsing distinct values 91

Profiling queries 92

Creating an additional table 92

Summary 94

Chapter 5: Changing Data and Structure 95

Changing data 95

Entering edit mode 95Moving to next field with the tab key 97

Moving with arrows 97

Handling NULL values 97

Applying a function to a value 98

Duplicating rows of data 100

Multi-row editing 101

Editing the next row 102Inline row editing 102

Deleting data 103Deleting a single row 103Deleting multiple rows 104Deleting all of the rows in a table 104

Deleting all rows in multiple tables 105

Deleting tables 105

Deleting databases 106

Changing table structure 107

Adding a column 107Vertical mode 108

Editing column attribute 108TEXT column type 109BLOB (Binary Large Object) column type 110Uploading binary content 111

ENUM and SET column types 113

Table ofContents

DATE, DATETIME, and TIMESTAMP column types 115

Calendar pop up 116

TIMESTAMP option 116

Bit column type 117

Managing indexes 118

Single-column indexes 118

Multi-column indexes and index editing 120

FULLTEXT indexes 120

Optimizing indexes with EXPLAIN 121

Detecting index problems 122

Summary 123

Chapter 6; Exporting Structure and Data (Backup) 125

Dumps, backups, and exports 125

Scope of the export 126

Exporting a database 126

The Table(s) sub-panel 128

The Output sub-panel 128

File name template 128

Choosing a character set 129

Kanji support 129

Compression 129

Export formats 130

SQL 130

CSV 135

CSV for Microsoft Excel 136

PDF 137

Microsoft Word 2000 137

LaTeX 138

XML 139

Open document spreadsheet 140

Open document text 140

YAML 141

CodeGen 141

Texyltext 141

PHP array 142

MediaWiki table 142

JSON 142

Exporting a table 143

Split-file exports 143

Exporting selectively 143

Exporting partial query results 144

Exporting and checkboxes 144

Exporting multiple databases 145

Saving the export file on the server 146

User-specific save directories 147

Table ofContents

Memory limits 148

Summary 148

Chapter 7: Importing Structure and Data 149

Limits for the transfer 150

Time limits 150

Other limits 151

Handling big export files 151

Uploading into a temporary directory 152

Importing SQL files 152

Importing CSV files 154

Differences between SQL and CSV formats 154

Exporting a test file 154

CSV 154

CSV using LOAD DATA 156

Requirements 156

Using the LOAD DATA interface 157

Importing other formats 158

Open Document Spreadsheet 158

XML 159

Reading files from a web server upload directory 160

Displaying an upload progress bar 161

ConfiguringAPC 161

Summary 162

Chapter 8: Searching Data 163

Single-table searches 163

Entering the search page 163

Searching criteria by column—query by example 164Searching for empty / non-empty values 165

Producing reports with Print view 166

Searching with wildcard characters 166Case sensitivity and search 168

Combining criteria 168

Search options 168

Selecting the columns to be displayed 168

Ordering the results 169

Applying a WHERE clause 169

Avoiding repeated results 170

Performing a complete database search 171

Restricting search to a column 172

Stopping an errant query 173

Summary 173

Table of Contents

Chapter 9: Performing Table and Database Operations 175

Maintaining a table 176

Changing table attributes 177Table storage engine 177

Table comments 177

Table order 178Table collation 179Table options 180

Emptying or deleting a table 180

Renaming, moving, and copying tables 181

Appending data to a table 182

Performing other table operations 182Multi-table operations 182

Repairing an "in use" table 183Database operations 183

Renaming a database 184

Copying a database 184

Summary 184

Chapter 10: Benefiting from the Relational System 185

Relational MySQL 185InnoDB and PBXT 186

Defining relations with the relation view 186

Defining internal relations 187

Defining the relation 188

Defining the display column 188

Foreign key relations 189Foreign keys without phpMyAdmin configuration storage 192

Defining relations with the Designer 192Over viewing the interface 193

Defining relations 195Defining foreign key relations 196

Defining the display column 197

Exporting for PDF schema 197

Benefiting from the defined relations 197

Foreign key information 197

The drop-down list of foreign keys 199

The browseable foreign-table window 200

Referential integrity checks 200

Automatic updates of metadata 201

Table ofContents

Column commenting 201

Automatically migrating column comments 202

Summary 203

Chapter 11: Entering SQL Statements 205

The SQL query box 205

The Database view 206

The Table view 207

The Columns selector 208

Clicking into the query box 208

The Query window 209

Query window options 210

Session-based SQL history 210

Database-based SQL history (permanent) 210

Editing queries 211

Multi-statement queries 212

Pretty printing (syntax highlighting) 213

The SQL Validator 213

System requirements 214

Making the Validator available 214

Validator results 215

Standard-conforming queries 215

Non standard-conforming queries 216

Summary 216

Chapter 12: Generating Multi-table Queries 217

Choosing tables 218

Exploring column criteria 219

Column selector: Single column or all columns 219

Sorting columns 220

Showing a column 220

Updating the query 220

Adding conditions to the criteria box 221

Adjusting the number of criteria rows 223

Adjusting the number of criteria columns 224

Generating automatic joins (internal relations) 224

Executing the query 225

The visual builder 226

Summary 228

Chapter 13: Synchronizing Data and Supporting Replication 229

Synchronizing data and structure 229

Goals of synchronization 230

Moving between the development and production servers 230

Table of Contents

Collaboration between database designers 230

Preparing for replication 230

Over viewing the synchronization process 231

Preparing for the synchronization exercise 231

Choosing source and target servers and databases 232

Analyzing comparison results 234

Performing a complete synchronization 236

Performing a selective synchronization 236

Supporting MySQL replication 237

The Replication menu 238

Configuring replication 238

Master server configuration 239

Slave server configuration 242

Setting up a test environment 243

Controlling a slave server 244

Obtaining replication information 245

Gathering replication status 245

Replicated databases 245

Replicated tables 246

Summary 247

Chapter 14: Using Query Bookmarks 249

Comparing bookmark and query history features 250

Creating bookmarks 250

Creating a bookmark after a successful query 250

Storing a bookmark before sending a query 252

Making bookmarks public 253

The default initial query for a table 254

Multi-query bookmarks 255

Recalling bookmarks from the bookmarks list 256

Executing bookmarks 256

Manipulating bookmarks 257

Passing a parameter to a bookmark 257

Creating a parameterized bookmark 257

Passing the parameter value 258

Summary 259

Chapter 15: Documenting the System 261

Producing structure reports 261

Creating a printable report 261

The database print view 262

The selective database print view 262

The table print view 263

Preparing a complete report with the data dictionary 264

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Table of Contents

Generating relational schemas 264

Adding a third table to our model 265

Producing schema pages 266

Page planning 266

Creating a new page266

Editing a page267

Exporting a page for display 269

Changing the font in PDF schema 271

Laying out a schema with the Designer feature 272

Summary 273

Chapter 16: Transforming Data using MIME 275

Browsing data without transformations 275

Switching display options 276

Enabling transformations 276

Configuring settings for MIME columns 277

Selecting the MIME type 278

Browser transformations 278

Assigning values to transformation options 279

Requirements for image generation 279

Configuring GD2 library availability verification 280

Asserting support of JPEG and PNG libraries 280

Evaluating the impact of memory limits 281

Examples of transformations 281

Clickable thumbnail (JPEG or PNG) 281

Adding links to an image 282

Date formatting 283

Links from text 283

text/plain: link 284

text/plain: imagelink 284

Preserving the original formatting 286

Displaying parts of a text 286

Displaying a download link 286

Hexadecimal representation 287

SQL pretty printing 288

IP address 288

Transforming data via external applications 288

External application example: In-cell sort 289

Summary 290

Chapter 17: Supporting Features Added in MySQL 5 291

Supporting views 291

Creating a view from results 292

Main panel and views 294

Controlling row counting for improved performance 295

Table ofContents

Supporting routines—stored procedures and functions 295

Creating a stored procedure296

Changing the delimiter296

Entering the procedure297

Testing the procedure297

Manipulating procedures and functions 298

Manually creating a function 299

Testing the function300

Exporting stored procedures and functions 300

Executing code with triggers301

Manually creating a trigger302

Testing the trigger303

Using information_schema303

Partitioning304

Creating a table with partitions 304

Maintaining partitions305

Exporting a partition definition 305

Exploring the event scheduler306

Activating the scheduler306

Granting EVENT permission306

Creating an event306

Manipulating events307

Exporting307

Summary307

Chapter 18: Tracking Changes 309

Understanding the goals of the tracking system 309

Tracking in other software applications309

Tracking in phpMyAdmin310

Prerequisites310

Configuring a basic tracking mechanism311

Principles311

Versioning311

Taking a snapshot of the current structure 312

Understanding archiving issues 312

Initiating tracking for one table 313

Choosing the statements to be tracked 315

Testing the tracking mechanism315

Tracking report316

Determining tracking status317

Deactivating and activating tracking320

Table ofContents

Structure snapshot 320

Exporting a version 321

Creating a new version 322

Quickly accessing tracking information 323

Deleting tracking information 323

Summary 324

Chapter 19: Administrating the MySQL Server 325

Managing users and their privileges 325

The user overview 326

Exporting privileges 327

Privileges reload 328

Adding a user 328

Entering the username 329

Assigning a host value 329

Setting passwords 330

Understanding rights for database creation 330

Assigning global privileges 330

Limiting the resources used 331

Editing a user profile 331

Editing global privileges 331

Assigning database-specific privileges 332

Changing the password 334

Changing login information or copying a user 334

Removing a user 336

Database information 336

Enabling statistics 337

Sorting the statistics 337

Checking the database privileges 338

Dropping selected databases 338

Server information 339

Verifying server status 339

Server variables 341

Server processes 341

Storage engines 342

Available character sets and collations 343

Examining binary logs 343

Summary 344

Appendix: Troubleshooting and Support 345

Troubleshooting 345

System requirements 345

Verifying the base configuration 346

Solving common errors 346

Table of Contents

Seeking support 346

FAQs 347

Help forums 347

Creating a SourceForge account 347

Choosing the thread title 347

Reading the answers 347

Using the support tracker 348

Using the bug tracker 348Environment description 348

Bug description 348

Contributing to the project 349

The code base 349

Translation updates 349

Patches 349

Index 351