I've been carefully studying all the replies to my initial post and I've come to the conclusion that I had a misconception based on following this tutorial:
http://lessons.runrev.com/m/4071/l/7003 ... l-database
This tutorial's main parts are as follows:
- -Connecting to the Database
-Getting Data from the Database
-Adding a New Record to the Database
-Editing or Deleting an Existing Record
My understanding now is that the "middleware" PHP code residing on the server must do ALL of these CRUD* functions. Consequently, I see I need to program my LiveCode app to communicate with this PHP code through POST/GET statements (or sockets) to accomplish all of the CRUD tasks.
If my current understanding is on target, that is actually a big help because I now see at last how to approach the problem. (So folks, please do not be shy in correcting me if my understanding is still off target.) I've already played around successfully with "posting" data to my database from LiveCode via PHP. However, I'm still fuzzy on how to GET data from a SQL query into my standalone LiveCode app. So, any help or suggestions with that would be appreciated.
The other take-away I've learned is that there are key advantages if I go with LiveCode Server instead of PHP. I don't think LiveCode Server is free (although I searched the RunRev site for pricing and couldn't find it - they seem to have updated their web site and this information is not readily available). Assuming that LiveCode Server is not free and given I have a budget of $0, I think I'll continue to explore PHP for middleware.
Thanks again for all the help. I think this an important topic that will continue to need a lot of explanation as the LiveCode community grows. If I get something working that I think is worth sharing, I'll come back and post a report.
Best wishes to all - Lloyd
*CRUD=Create,Read,Update,Delete