How can you ensure mySQLi is compatible with your PHP version?

1 Check your PHP and mySQLi versions

The first step to ensure mySQLi compatibility is to check your PHP version and see if it supports the extension. You can do this by creating a simple PHP file with the following code:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>        

This will display a lot of information about your PHP configuration, including the version number and the loaded extensions. Look for the section called mysqli and see if it is enabled and what version it is. You need at least PHP 5.3 to use mySQLi, and the latest stable version is 8.0. If you have an older version of PHP, you may need to upgrade it or install a newer version of the extension.

2 Enable and configure mySQLi

If you have a compatible PHP version, but mySQLi is not enabled, you need to enable it in your php.ini file. This is the main configuration file for PHP, and you can find it in your PHP installation directory or by using the phpinfo() function. Open the file with a text editor and look for the line that says: ;extension=mysqli Remove the semicolon at the beginning to uncomment the line and save the file. This will enable the mySQLi extension. You may need to restart your web server or PHP service for the changes to take effect.

You can also configure some settings for mySQLi in the php.ini file, such as the default host, port, socket, user, and password for connecting to MySQL servers. You can find these settings under the [mysqli] section of the file. For example, you can set the default host to localhost by adding this line: mysqli.default_host = localhost

3 Use mySQLi in your queries

Once you have enabled and configured mySQLi, you can use it in your PHP code to execute queries on MySQL databases. There are two main ways to use mySQLi: procedural and object-oriented. The procedural style is similar to the old mysql extension, but with some differences in syntax and function names. The object-oriented style is more modern and elegant, and uses classes and methods to interact with MySQL servers.

To use the procedural style, you need to use the mysqli_connect() function to establish a connection to a MySQL server, passing the host, user, password, and database name as parameters. For example: $link = mysqli_connect("localhost", "user", "password", "database"); Then, you can use the mysqli_query() function to execute a query on the database, passing the connection and the query string as parameters. For example: $result = mysqli_query($link, "SELECT * FROM table"); You can also use other functions to fetch, process, and free the result set, such as mysqli_fetch_assoc(), mysqli_num_rows(), and mysqli_free_result(). To close the connection, you can use the mysqli_close() function.

To use the object-oriented style, you need to create an instance of the mysqli class, passing the host, user, password, and database name as parameters to the constructor. For example: $mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "user", "password", "database"); Then, you can use the query() method to execute a query on the database, passing the query string as a parameter. For example: $result = $mysqli->query("SELECT * FROM table"); You can also use other methods and properties to fetch, process, and free the result set, such as fetch_assoc(), num_rows, and free(). To close the connection, you can use the close() method.

Both styles offer the same functionality, but the object-oriented style is more concise and consistent. You can choose the one that suits your preference and coding style.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?