In what situations is it advisable to switch from a file-based solution to a database-based solution in PHP, especially when dealing with data visualization?

When dealing with large amounts of data or complex data relationships, it is advisable to switch from a file-based solution to a database-based solution in PHP for better performance, scalability, and data management. Databases provide efficient ways to store, retrieve, and manipulate data, making it easier to create data visualizations and reports. 

// Switching from file-based solution to database-based solution in PHP

// File-based solution
$data = file_get_contents('data.txt');
$data_array = unserialize($data);

// Database-based solution
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database_name";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

$sql = "SELECT * FROM data_table";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
    // output data of each row
    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        // process data for visualization
    }
} else {
    echo "0 results";
}

$conn->close();

Keywords

file-based solution database-based solution data visualization PHP scalability

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