File: README

MySQL Table Abstraction Class (MTAC)

MTAC is a small class that provides consistent methods and encapsulates data
for MySQL tables.

Essentially MTAC defines an associative array from a database row without
having to worry about fetching the data.

For a data to be encapsulated it needs, at a bare minimum, two common table
columns, name and id.

Suppose, for example, that we have a table containing information about a
user. We can instantiate the user data with the following snippet:

$user = new mtac($db,"user","Frank Jones");

This will create a user object with the following properties:

     	  class mtac {
    	  	var $table;
		var $db;
		var $d;
	  }


$table is the stored table name passed on instantiation. $db is the handle
to a MySQL connection. $d is an associative array of the data returned by
the MySQL server. 

Other than Id and Name the table can have any number of columns and those
data are stored in the associative array $mtac->d.

If I add more tables -- the code still works. The only stipulation is that
each table must have two properties in common: Name and Id. The code figures
out which table and column to select in the database based on the two
parameters passed on initialization (table,id).

This is a simple means for retriving data without worrying about the details
of the transaction with the MySQL server.

This software is Copyright (C) 2005 Nic Stevens, Seattle, WA, US. This
software is licensed for use under the Gnu Public License (Please see the
enclosed gpl.txt)