I'm not sure how much help you'll be able to get here. I don't think anyone answering questions has done anything with MS databases and PHP, I could be wrong. I assume that this is MS SQL?? There is a set of functions tailored for MS SQL specifically.
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mssql.php
I just noticed a new *experimental* Dot NET extension to PHP that allows access to .NET objects from PHP.
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.dotnet.php
I've not delved much into .NET, so I dunno if that would be helpful at all. There's some interesting information in the notes there that would probably be of interest for someone coming from a .NET background... just an FYI.
If I were given this project I'd approach it using DB abstraction, in the event the boss should decide another RDBMS is better suited. That said, have a look at PEAR DB. This OOP package is suited for completely abstracting the DB, so that pure SQL can be used to run queries and such, it provides an interface to nearly every type of DB imaginable, including all the top ones, MySQL, MS SQL, ODBC, Oracle, PostgreSQL.
http://pear.php.net/DB
I also assume that this is *two* different machines?? You shuold be able to connect to the SQL server using that machine's IP and the port SQL server is configured to listen on, using either the built-in MS SQL functions or the PEAR DB package (which just wraps those functions).
Don't forget to read the user notes on the MSSQL page.. chances are someone else has already done what you're trying to do and have been kind enough to tell you how to do it.
HTH! Good luck!
Regards,
Rich
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The Spicy Peanut Project
http://www.spicypeanut.net
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PHP and SQL (NOT MYSQL)
