php/mySQL and hosting companies

[mdo4]

This is a sipe question...

I have a hosting company that provides PHP, but how do I implement a project using mySQL? Is this a service the hosting company has to support or do I simply place some sort of file containing my db into a folder like any other website asset? Does a mySQL database condense into a file like an Access db does (.mdb)? I'm not too savvy with hosting companies, the majority of projects I've done we're either served locally on my box or configured by someone else.

-Mike

[jollyfactory]

Originally posted by mdo4
Is this a service the hosting company has to support or do I simply place some sort of file containing my db into a folder like any other website asset?
It's a service from your hosting company. You should get a mysql username, password and host type (usually localhost) to access the database stored on your host (it's not the same as uploading files).

Originally posted by mdo4
Does a mySQL database condense into a file like an Access db does (.mdb)?

You can convert the database into an sql file to execute later.

Hope this help.