uploading database

[jonnih]

I am sure this topic may have been covered many times, but I haven't had much luck finding a clear answer, so I am asking you generous people who help so many. If anyone could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated. I have been researching solutions, but with a dial-up connection I haven't gotten far.

 

To cut to the chase my host (fatcow) will not let me upload a database from my computer to their server (according to their tech support).

 

I have a web site partially finished on my computer using oscommerce. I have uploaded all of the files to my webspace except for the database. I am wondering if there is any way to copy the files from the database on my hard drive to the database that I created on my host's server. I am so sorry if this is a very vague question that is unanswerable, I am so unfamiliar with this all.

 

Is my only other to build and test the site on the host's server instead of a local server?

 

If I have left out any information please let me know.

 

Thanks for your time.

 

John

[Jan Zonjee]

Is my only other to build and test the site on the host's server instead of a local server?

No, you can make a backup of your MySQL database locally (you could use the built-in utility see admin->Tools->Database Backup or whatever program you have available to make "dumps" of your database).

Then either import the backup with the database management tool your hosting provider has for you (often phpMyAdmin) or ftp the backup (which is a regular text file you can open with a text editor) to admin/backups and restore (import) it in admin->Tools->Database Backup of the hosted site.

[jonnih]

No, you can make a backup of your MySQL database locally (you could use the built-in utility see admin->Tools->Database Backup or whatever program you have available to make "dumps" of your database).

Then either import the backup with the database management tool your hosting provider has for you (often phpMyAdmin) or ftp the backup (which is a regular text file you can open with a text editor) to admin/backups and restore (import) it in admin->Tools->Database Backup of the hosted site.

 

Bless your soul!

 

You gave me the missing information I was looking for. For any who are not familiar with getting their database to their web site I will briefly document this easy process.

 

To get my database from my hard drive to my webhost's server I:

 

opened PhpMyAdmin

 

opened the database I am using for my web site

 

clicked on the export tab (up top)

 

exported the tables (or dump I suppose it would be termed) *remember what character encoding you use

 

copied the text into notepad and saved it as <pickaname>.sql

 

log on to PhpMyAdmin on your web host's site (or whichever program your host uses)

 

If you have not created a database here you must do so first. Open your database and click the import tab (up top).

 

Locate your "dump" sql file that you just created and choose the character encoding that you used to dump it

 

you should have all of your tables loaded into your database! Oh thank heavens! What a beautiful sight that was.

 

 

 

 

 

I am sorry for getting so emotional here but I spent hours and hours looking for this oh so simple process to upload my database information. I was trying to use the import function to import each table, obviously that didn't work. I hope this information can help others who don't exactly know what's going on :)