Connect to a MySQL database using PHP [closed] - php

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I'm creating a form where users can enter information and it will enter into the database on the website:
<?php
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";
// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
$sql = "INSERT INTO MyGuests (firstname, lastname, email)
VALUES ('John', 'Doe', 'john#example.com')";
if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
echo "New record created successfully";
} else {
echo "Error: " . $sql . "<br>" . $conn->error;
}
$conn->close();
?>
Only problem. It will work for me great because I can manually enter the feilds of my database information
($servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";)
But I am planning on releasing this form out to the public and I want them to not have to edit every single .php file (theres going to be about five php files)
How can I have it so they can "set it up" the first time they install these forms on their site.

Answer 1

You can solve this by having all the database settings inside a separate file, e.g. dbsettings.php
<?php
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";
?>
In the file that you would normally do the database connection, instead of just connecting your database using:
// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
You would include the database settings file first.
<?php
include 'dbsettings.php';
// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
$sql = "INSERT INTO MyGuests (firstname, lastname, email)
VALUES ('John', 'Doe', 'john#example.com')";
if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
echo "New record created successfully";
} else {
echo "Error: " . $sql . "<br>" . $conn->error;
}
$conn->close();
?>
This is how you do it in PHP. You will see similar setup used in Wordpress, and all other PHP frameworks like Laravel, FuelPHP, CodeIgniter etc (it might be a good idea to use these for bigger projects).