mysql & php(total newbie, asp developer)

A total newbie to this, Im an ASP web developer, looking to switch to PHP. I installed PHP only last night. Now as i understand it you can php on any odbc compliant database. What would be the point of using access if the php hosting company dont support it. I presume that mysql is the database to use.
Where can i find it.
Has it got an interface.
does it come with php
can php connect using a dsn-less conection (no odbc setup)

i know its lots of questions but this is my first day with php

Any help would be great

Paul

I'm something of a newbie myself, but I think I can help. You can get the latest mySQL database from www.mysql.com, though you should really try to find it from a mirror near you. It doesn't have a GUI in the windows sense. It has a CLI that runs in DOS. PHP 4.0 has support for mysql built in so you shouldn't need any funny .dll's. However, if you want to hook mySQL up to ODBC look for a little number named myODBC, as I understand this will allow you to import records from mysql into an access database. There's a killer book about mySQL by Paul Dubois (I found it a copy at CompUSA for 15 bucks PHP and mySQL are like coffee and donuts.

Just a suggestion but you might want to look into Linux or Unix to run MySQL on.

The best configuration is Apache webserver on a Linux/Unix box.

PHP is a module that you compile into Apache.

Get PHP separately from http://www.php.net/
Get MySQL from http://www.mysql.com/
Get Apache from http://www.apache.org/

The basic procedure is to build PHP with support for MySQL and then build Apache with the mod_php module.

There's an excellent article here at devshed that explains how to do it pretty well, there's another article at webmonkey and some at phpbuilder.com too.

Enjoy!

Actually there are several graphical interfaces to MySQL available as third-party apps. Just browse the links at the www.mysql.com site.

My personal favorite interface to MySQL is a web-based admin kit called phpMyAdmin (uses PHP, of course). You can get it at www.phpwizard.net. It will work under windows or Unix/Linux, although generally faster in a *nix environment.

Enjoy!