Programming Project: Connecting MySQL with Flask

Flask is a popular web framework for building web applications with Python. MySQL is a widely used relational database management system. In this programming project, we will explore how to connect MySQL with Flask to create a data-driven web application.

Setting up MySQL database

Before we can connect MySQL with Flask, we need to set up a MySQL database. You can use tools like phpMyAdmin or MySQL Workbench to create a new database and set up tables with the necessary fields.

Installing Flask-MySQL connector

To connect MySQL with Flask, we need to install a Flask extension called Flask-MySQL. You can install Flask-MySQL using pip:


pip install Flask-MySQL


Connecting Flask with MySQL

Once Flask-MySQL is installed, we need to configure our Flask application to connect with MySQL. We can do this by creating a new database connection in our Flask app:


from flask import Flask
from flask_mysqldb import MySQL

app = Flask(__name__)

app.config['MYSQL_HOST'] = 'localhost'
app.config['MYSQL_USER'] = 'username'
app.config['MYSQL_PASSWORD'] = 'password'
app.config['MYSQL_DB'] = 'database_name'

mysql = MySQL(app)


Executing SQL queries

With our MySQL database connected to Flask, we can now execute SQL queries to retrieve and manipulate data. Here’s an example of executing a simple SELECT query:


cur = mysql.connection.cursor()
cur.execute("SELECT * FROM users")
data = cur.fetchall()
cur.close()


Conclusion

Connecting MySQL with Flask allows us to build powerful web applications that can store and retrieve data from a MySQL database. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create a data-driven web application with Python, Flask, and MySQL.