PHP connection to MS SQL - php

Question

I'm trying to connect my PHP webpage with my MS SQL database. I've got this code from the internet, but have tried others. All seems to come back with a problem with "mssql_connect".
I have tried (I think) everything and can not find out why it won't work.
My code is:
<?php
$myServer = 'SQL5008.Smarterasp.net,1433';
$myUser = '*****';
$myPass = '*****';
$myDB = '*****';
//connection to the database
$dbhandle = mssql_connect($myServer, $myuser, $myPass)
or die("Couldn't connect to SQL Server on $myServer");
//select a database to work with
$selected = mssql_select_db($myDB, $dbhandle)
or die("Couldn't open database $myDB");
//declare the SQL statement that will query the database
$query = "SELECT id ";
$query .= "FROM tblEmployees ";
$query .= "WHERE CompanyID=3";
//execute the SQL query and return records
$result = mssql_query($query);
$numRows = mssql_num_rows($result);
echo "<h1>" . $numRows . " Row" . ($numRows == 1 ? "" : "s") . " Returned </h1>";
//display the results
while($row = mssql_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<li>" . $row["id"] . $row["name"] . $row["year"] . "</li>";
}
//close the connection
mssql_close($dbhandle);
?>

Answer 1

Why dont you try using PDO. I use it with SQL SERVER daily. You will need the php sqlsrv extenstion though.
// instantiate the pdo object
try {
$Server = "localhost";
$User = "username";
$Pass = "password";
$Database = "mydb";
$this->conn = new PDO("sqlsrv:Server=$Server;Database=$Database", $User, $Pass);
$this->conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_WARNING);//allow for SQL query errors
}
catch (PDOException $e) {
print "Error!: " . $e->getMessage() . "<br/>";
die();
}

Answer 2

Check using phpinfo() if mssql extension is loaded. According to PHP Manual:
This extension is not available anymore on Windows with PHP 5.3 or later.
If you find out mssql is unloaded, try to connect using sqlsrv extension. Here you can find a few examples http://php.net/manual/ru/function.sqlsrv-connect.php
Anyway it's a good idea to post here an error message you get from PHP.