PHP & MySQL® Web Development All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies®

2.8. Troubleshooting

This section describes some common problems encountered with the installation of PHP.

Figure 2-4. MySQL settings.

2.8.1. Unable to change PHP settings

If you change settings in your php.ini file but the changes don't seem to have the expected effect on PHP operations, one of two things is probably the cause:

• You didn't restart the Web server. If that's the case, just restart the Web server so that the changes will go into effect.

• You might not be editing the php.ini file in the location where PHP is reading it. You can check which php.ini file PHP is reading. You might have more than one php.ini file or you might have it stored in the wrong location. When you test PHP using the phpinfo() statement, as shown in the "Testing PHP" section, PHP outputs many variable values and settings. One of the settings close to the top is Configuration File Path, which shows the path to the location where PHP is looking for the configuration file. If the path ends in a filename, that's the file PHP is using for its configurations. If the path ends in a directory name, PHP is looking in the directory for the configuration file but can't find it, so PHP is using its default configurations.

2.8.2. Displays error message: Undefined function

You might see an error message stating that you called an undefined function. This message means that you're calling a function that PHP ...