A piece of code that tries to connect to a database server with ADOdb library for PHP. If the database does not exist, the script tries to create it:

// example configuration:
$db_type = ‘mysql’;
$db_server = ‘localhost’;
$db_username = ‘root’;
$db_password = NULL;
$db_database = ‘very_new_database’;

$db_create = TRUE; // this variable sets

// This is needed to turn fatal errors to warnings when connecting.
// We use Connect for database checks, so this is really needed.
define(‘ADODB_ERROR_HANDLER_TYPE’, E_USER_WARNING); 

// include ADOdb class files:
require_once(‘adodb/adodb-errorhandler.inc.php’);
require_once(‘adodb/adodb.inc.php’);

// create connection object:
$db = ADONewConnection($db_type);
$db->debug = FALSE;

// first try to connect to the exact database on server
$ok = $db->Connect($db_server,
                   $db_username,
                   $db_password,
                   $db_database);

// if failed to connect to database check if we should create it:
if (!$ok && $db_create)
{
    // failed db connection has to be constructed from start:
    $db = ADONewConnection($db_type);
    $db->debug = FALSE;

    // try connecting without database parameter:
    $ok = $db->Connect($db_server,
                       $db_username,
                       $db_password);

    if ($ok) // if connected without database param:
    {
        // get SQL to create database:
        $dict = NewDataDictionary($db);
        $sql = $dict->CreateDatabase($db_database);

        // try creating database:
        // “2″ is status returned by ExecuteSQLArray()
        if (!$ok = (2 == $dict->ExecuteSQLArray($sql)))
        {
            // try to connect after creating:
            $ok = $db->Connect($db_server,
                               $db_username,
                               $db_password,
                               $db_database);
        }

        else
        {
            echo ‘<p>Failed to create database “‘.$db_database.‘”.
                  The database server returned an error:
                  <em>’.$db->ErrorMsg().‘</em>.</p>’;
        }
    }
}

// Check status:
if ($ok)
    echo ‘<p>Connected successfully.</p>’;
else
    echo ‘<p>Database error: <em>’.$db->ErrorMsg().‘</em></p>’;