Components Database

A MySQL/PHP Electronics Component Database.

This page is dedicated to a program which appeared in the August, 2007 (#205) issue of Circuit Cellar. The article describes how the program works and how the free software behind it (Apache, MySQL and PHP) can be installed on your own system.

The program itself is a basic Electronic Components Database, where the important characteristics (package type, pin count, value, description, part number, quantity in stock etc.) can be stored and flexibly retreived.

I have received one bug notification (thanks, Brock Russell). There is a wrong variable in the auth_sql() function in the pl_functions.php file. The fix is available below (version 1.1). One of those things that worked fine in the test environment but not once “released to the wilds”.

Downloads & Links:

• Download the published source code from here.
• Download version 1.1 code from here. (See above for description of problem.)
• Apache's home is: http://www.apache.org/.
• PHP's home is: http://www.php.net/.
• MySQL's home is: http://www.mysql.com/.
• The XAMPP installer, which comes highly recommended (thanks to Circuit Cellar reader Kurt Stevens), is at http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html. The X stands for any of Linux, Windows, Mac OS and Solaris. The PP stands for both PHP and Perl. The installation of this package proved to get rid of the one known little bug that I had when I installed the separate components “by hand” on my Vista system.

A slightly modified sample output:

This was the result of a search for all the 10-pin ICs that I have in stock. The styles have not been fully included, and the form actions have been removed, so it can exist in the context of this page.