Are there JavaScript bindings for MySQL?

Javascript can access MySQL...but generally only on the server. I've done it with Rhino, a java based javascript interpreter. Just included the MySQL driver, and its available. I imagine you could probably do this with an applet as well.

using Rhino, it would be something like this:

var DATABASE = {

    database: 'blog_development',
    host: 'localhost',
    username: 'dbuser',
    password: 'dbpass'

};

function ArticleModel(properties) {
  for (var p in properties) {
    this[p] = properties[p];
  }
}

ArticleModel.findAll = function() {
    var results = [];

    var jsConnectionObj = new Packages.MysqlConnection();
    c = jsConnectionObj.open(DATABASE.host,
                             DATABASE.database,
                             DATABASE.username,
                             DATABASE.password);

    if (c) {
      var s = c.createStatement();
      s.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM articles;");
      var rs = s.getResultSet();
      while (rs.next()) {
          results.push(new ArticleModel({
            id: rs.getInt("id"),
            title: rs.getString("title"),
            body: rs.getString("body")
          }));
      }
      rs.close();
      c.close();  
      return results;
    }

    throw new Error('could not connect to database');      
};

Unfortunately you need a server. Or if you know how to and are ready to be platform/browser locked, you could write a plug-in for your browser of choice (as far as I know there is no DLL for Internet Explorer so you'll need to write one yourself).

You might want to look into a small server that requires no setup. I modified Lua's Xavante server, for a very similar reason to yours, so it runs with no external dependencies, thus I can install/uninstall the application with a single copy/paste.

What you need is a HTTP service that exposes the data you want to fetch with JavaScript.

A small AJAX oriented server side script (PHP, Perl, Ruby, whatever) that takes a few parameters and does the MySQL query, sending the data to the client in an HTTP-and-JavaScript friendly manner (for example as image/jpeg or JSON).

You won't be able to set up anything useful (a working, cross-browser solution) that makes MySQL available to JavaScript. JavaScript can do HTTP, and that's about it. Adapt on the server side.

Interesting question. But you sure lift a lot of barriers, selecting a language/environment with lot of voluntary limitations to limit access to the underlying system...

I like Robert's suggestion, Xavante is really lightweight.

Otherwise, I think a viable solution could be to use a Java applet with JDBC access. I think you would need to sign the applet, which shouldn't be a problem.

I searched java applet jdbc in Google and saw lot of promising titles, IBM gives the source code of such applet (for DB2 access but it should be easily adaptable).

[EDIT] There is another way, to wrap mysqllib.dll with an XPCOM DLL, as explained in Native code in javascript. No idea how to really do it, but perhaps it can get you started.

Surely if javascript can make a call to a server it can make a call to the local ip address (192.168.x.x) and it can be handled using a program that listens on a specific port? All the program would have to do then is interact with the database, find the information and pass it back to the javascript?

I can't give you complete answer, but here are the general idea how you can do it with just MySQL + Internet Explorer + JavaScript (untested):

In JavaScript you can call a Windows application by using

var myshell = new ActiveXObject( "WScript.shell" );
myshell.run( program names );

So the idea is to call mysql.exe with the SQL statements stored in an SQL file, then capture and parse the output:

mysql.exe -h localhost -u root dbo < script.sql > output.txt

This idea doesn't come without challenges:

• you need to modify the SQL file before calling mysql.exe
• you need to open and parse the output file

As I mentioned above I haven't tested anything, so this whole idea may not even work ...

If you use node.js, I think you might want to take a look at this. http://nodejsdb.org/

I know this is an old thread, but I think it's still a relevant.

I've used backbone.js as a client lib in the browser. This simplifies (almost trivialises) data access from within the browser.

It depends on RESTful services on the server, and these can easily be provided. By way of example you could use node.js, phpwebsockets or socket.io

HTH