how to input data

[patrickyoung]

We’ve recently launched a website that has a database search function. Users can search our database to find company details etc. Short of having to input each and every companies details in by hand, is there any other way to populate a database with content? Obviously a database is more useful the more data it has. But to input the names and contact details of thousands of companies could take quite a while. Is there a faster way of doing this? Perhaps some software that we can use? Help!

 

[conor]

hmm.... If you can find a way of getting it into an excel database then you could import that file into phpmyadmin and it will convert it to mysql for you.

I'm not sure if that helps... I'm kind of shooting in the dark here!

 

[jnjc]

It all depends on were the information is coming from, I am sure there are databases where you can buy that information. Another way would be to write something that would suck the information from one of the government website that list company details.

You could also get people to register their own details. Run a competition or something that were you can win a i-pod nano or something similar for registering your details.

HTH,
JC