- NoSQL Databases
- Tutorial Summary
A database-driven website is a website that has most of its content in a database.
In a database-driven website, the content of the website doesn’t really reside in HTML files on the server, but in rows and columns in a database.
Reading: How to create a data backed website
A website with its content that stored in HTML files in the file system are often referred to as “static” websites, while a database-driven website is often referred to as “dynamic”.
Content Management Systems
A website with dynamic content usually has a CMS (Content Management System) to assist the content providers in updating the website.
See also: 5 Ways To Make Your Blog Unique
A CMS is typically deployed in the form of a management area where content providers must log in before they can add content. Once logged in, they can create, update and delete articles. You may be able to upload files such as Word documents, PDF files, etc. You may also be able to upload images.
All this content can be stored in the database. However, some can also be stored in the file system. For example, although documents and images can be stored in the database, sometimes there are reasons to store them in the file system. Performance is often an important reason. The size of the database is different.
Discussion forums and blogs
Discussion forums and blogs have become a popular feature for many websites. Most if not all forums and blogs are database driven. Users can register their details and then add content. When the user clicks the Submit button, their details/content will be inserted into the database. Then, when someone decides to view that content, it’s read from the database using SQL (Structured Query Language).
Combination of static and dynamic content
Some websites have a combination of static content and dynamic content. There could be any number of reasons for this. Smaller websites are often static. There’s hardly any need to configure a database just to store a handful of web pages – it’s much easier and cheaper to keep them as files on the server. Even sites like this can include additional features like a discussion forum or blog. In this case, the content of the discussion forum or blog must be stored in a database.
Advantages of a database-driven website
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Database-driven websites can offer much more functionality than a static website is allowed to. Advanced features could include:
- Allow many (possibly non-technical) users to contribute content to the site. Users can publish articles on the website without having to FTP them to a web server.
- Cart
- You can provide an advanced search function that allows users to filter the results based on a specific field. You can then sort these results by a field – say “Price” or “Date”.
- Customized homepage
- You can allow your users to perform tasks such as registering for a newsletter post questions on your forums, comment on a blog, update their profile, etc.
- Integrate with enterprise applications such as CRM systems, HR systems, etc.
- Much more
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Creating a database-driven website
The most common tasks for database-driven websites are inserting, updating, and deleting data. Some of these are the same tasks you learned in this tutorial. However, if you’re using a database-driven website, you’ll need to use a different method to accomplish these tasks. You must use a programming language called SQL (Structured Query Language) to insert, update, and delete your data.
Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it might sound. SQL is a very easy language to learn and once you get started you will be grateful you took the time to learn it. In fact, you’ve already learned some basic SQL statements in previous lessons.
To create a database-driven website, you need the following skills:
- You must be in the Able to create a static website in HTML and preferably CSS and JavaScript.
- You must be able to write simple code using a server-side scripting language such as PHP, ColdFusion, etc.
- You must know how to write basic SQL (this SQL tutorial will show you how)
- You must be able to design/build a database. If you need to learn something about databases but missed the beginning of this tutorial, here it is 🙂
If you are familiar with PHP or ColdFusion, see how to connect to a database in any of these technologies.
See also: 15 Tips for Creating a Great Website Footer
- Querying a database using ColdFusion
- Querying a database using PHP
- NoSQL -Databases
- Tutorial Summary
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