Using R with MySQL #rstats

A brief tutorial to working with R and MySQL. MySQL belongs to Oracle is one of the most widely used databases now.

1. Download mySQL from
http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/ or (http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mirror.php?id=403831)
Click Install -use default options, remember to note down the password=XX

2.Download the ODBC connector from http://www.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/5.1.htmlThe Data Sources (ODBC) can be located from the Control Panel in Windows7

Install ODBC Connector by double clicking the .msi file downloaded in Step 2-
Check this screenshot in ODBC Connectors to verify-
Note this is the Drivers tab in ODBC Data Source Administrator

Click the System DSN and Configure MySQL using the add button

Use the configuration options shown exactly here. The user is root, the TCP/IP Server is local host, use the same password in Step 1 and the Database is MySQL
Test the connection

Click OK to finish this step.
Click the User DSN tab (and repeating the step immediately above -Add, and Configure the connection using options The user is root, the TCP/IP Server is local host, use the same password in Step 1 and the Database is MySQL , Test the connection and OK to add the connection

3. Download the MySQL workbench from http://www.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/

This is very helpful to configuring the database
http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mirror.php?id=403983#mirrors

Create a new table using the options in the screenshots below

Open Connection

You can create a new table using the options as below,
Once created you can also add new variables (using the Columns Tab)

MySQL allows you create new columns very easily
The SQL commands are automatically generated.
Click Apply to execute the changes to the Database.

Now we start R
Type the commands in the screenshot below to create a connection to the Database in MySQL
> library(RODBC)
> odbcDataSources()
> ajay=odbcConnect(“MySQL”,uid=”root”,pwd=”XX”)
> ajay
> sqlTables(ajay)
>tested=sqlFetch(ajay,”host”)

Note- this is a brief tutorial for beginners without getting into too many complexities of database administration and management, to start using R and MySQL.