Test and Deploy

The final steps in the creative process are to test your code and then put it into production. When you are
finished thoroughly testing your code, give it to someone else. You can bet that 9 times out of 10 he or she
will find something that you missed. Programmers, as a rule, don't make very good testers. We know how
our product is supposed to work, so that's how we test it. We don't try the unexpected. Users will. Test your
scripts well before you deploy them. Also test your Web pages (or the output of your scripts) using Internet
Explorer as well as Netscape Navigator. You may be surprised at how well things turn out in one browser
and look terrible in another. Finally, test your output using various screen resolutions. The user's screen
resolution greatly affects how your Web page looks.

The final step is deployment. This is where you take your system and put it into production—your

ultimate goal. The hard work and hours of design are all for this crowning moment. There should be no

surprises at this point. You should know before your product ever reaches this point whether it will be a

success or a failure. If you followed the creative process, along with the database design process, you

can almost be guaranteed your system will be successful.

Summary

Today, you learned about the creative process and the steps that are involved. You saw how the database
design process meshed with the creative process to help you reach your goal. You also learned the
importance of design; with proper planning, it is an easy transition from an idea to a working system.

You also reviewed the key events that took place on your three-week journey. You reviewed how to

create a database, as well as the supporting tables and columns. You saw how to import data from an

existing database, and you also went over security and how to implement it. Finally, you created a

series of Web pages and Perl scripts that took your design and made it reality.

Q&A

Q:

The Products table had a picture column in it. How are images stored

in MySQL?

A:

MySQL can store images as BLOB types. They first must be escaped before

they can be stored. There has been much debate in the newsgroups as to

whether it is better to store images in the database or to store a link to a

directory where the file is located instead. The argument is that BLOB types

are inefficient. They take up too much space and cannot be OPTIMIZEd.

However, the file system is probably the best place to store files. Your best

bet is to store images in a directory outside your database.

Q: How often should I OPTIMIZE my database?

A:

You should OPTIMIZE your database regularly, especially when your

database is young. The OPTIMIZE command is needed when a large

number of records have been either deleted or inserted into your database.

Exercises

1. There are two scripts that you did not create on the flow chart—the script to display
   items from the Products table and a script to create an order. Create these scripts
   using Perl and the DBI/DBD.


2. The same task as the first exercise, but this time use ADO and ODBC.

Week 3 In Review

You have finished your third and final week of learning MySQL. You started the week with a look at a highly-
used interface. In the middle of the week, you covered a lot of database administration tasks. You ended the
week with a full review of what you have learned by building a Web site using MySQL from the ground up.
You now possess the basic knowledge to go out and fully deploy MySQL in real-life situations.

Appendix A: ASQL Syntax and Commands