I m interested in creating my own virtual pet site- but I can t find any descriptive tutorials. All of the php tutorials I find start with "hello world" echo- and I ve gotten that now.

Does anyone know a comprehensive php utorial that can start me on a pet site- similar to teripets.com- nutrinopets.com- or misticpets.com?

Can I create the mysql database first using a different tool and then use RoR to configure and script with it? I ask because there are many other tools out there such as appgini that quickly and efficiently create mysql databases and from what I have seen- RoR is not quite so nimble in that area unless I am missing something.

Also I think we should tell all those poor people using php and javascript about ruby on rails.Newbs like myself- go for instant rails.
http://rubyforge.org/
to get on rails.

I am looking to add a comments section to my web page. I want it to be managed via a MySql database so that I can pull the e-mail addresses that are entered. Can anyone recommend a free script that is easy to install and easy to manage. My PHP knowledge is pretty minimal. Thanks-
Vivian-

That is exactly what I am looking for. I ve been searching constantly and nothing was quite right. Thanks!

My apache server records an error of;
#22001Data too long for column
when i try and add the value 60+
I have the column set to varchar(5) in database
Thanks the value was actually being sent as over60 which is 6 characters!

Hello- what do you think is the best way to handle apostrophes in PHP/MySQL?

I’m writing an adventure game and the user can enter text. If they enter text with an apostrophe I need to strip this out or I get MySQL errors. Ideally I want to escape the apostrophe so it gets stored in the table and then when it’s retrieved the code recognises an escaped apostrophe and displays it correctly

How would you handle the input from the user and then display it back again?

Thanks!