I needed a free program to generate PHP pages for managing a MySQL database. When I first saw this program, I was ecstatic. However, trouble was on the way. I downloaded it only to see a JAR file, called “install.jar”, inside the archive. This file is a JAVA class’s package. It can be run by using a command like “H:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_08\bin\java.exe -jar H:\PhpDatabaseWizard\install.jar”. Then a cute user interface appeared, allowing me to install the program. There are other ways of running JAR files, just search Google if you don’t understand what I’ve said.

After the installation was complete, a shortcut to the program (another JAR) was placed in my Windows Start menu. When I started the program a dialog appeared, asking me the username and the password I use to connect to MySQL. After this, the program displays its main window, which lists all the accessible databases and tables. You can choose any of these tables and add it to your project.

It’s now time, to select the output directory and the number of records per page that you wish to see on your HTML pages. This is done by clicking the settings button on the program’s toolbar. Now everything should be set up. You should press the big green play button on the toolbar to generate the PHP pages, which you can use to manage the database table. These pages should be copied to a working web server that supports PHP.