How do I fetch a data from an external database into my wordpress homepage

Question

I have a WordPress site installed in a subfolder of my host and another php-based custom written CMS in the public_HTML. I'll like to fetch some data (a marquee text to be used on my WP theme header) from the php-based CMS to WordPress(note, the two sites have a different database). I already have a php code that fetch the data.

//test.php
<?php
include_once("admin/includes/config.php");
include_once("admin/includes/db.class.php");    
$db = new DB; $db -> open();
$strScrollingText = '';
$db -> query("select * from anouncements where status = 1 order by id desc");
if ($db -> rows() > 0)
  {
    $strScrollingText .= '<MARQUEE scrolldelay="100". direction="left">';
    while ($rs = $db -> rsset())
      $strScrollingText .= stripslashes($rs['anouncement']) . ', '; 
    $strScrollingText .= '</MARQUEE>';      
  }

When the test.php file above is placed in my public_html directory and previewed from my browser, it outputs a marquee text from the database. Then i moved the file into my themes folder (of course, I adjusted the two include file path in test.php by prefixing it with ../../../../) and tried to include the test.php using include('test.php'); in my theme's header.php, but when I refreshed my homepage, it was blank. I even copied the content of test.php into the and removed the 'echo $strScrolling text; ' and placed it where i want it to appear but still the homepage was still blank. I also used the #include directive in my Themes functions.php but this made my whole WordPress crash( I had to go and edit the file through cpanel to restore my wp). I don't know where i'm doing this wrong and it's really frustrating and I need any help I can get. I would even appreciate if i can get this done using a plugin. Thanks.

Answer 1

Thanks everyone, I have fixed the problem. The reason why there was an error was because the data was fetched as an object, not string. All I had to do is use WordPress Helpers instead. I used the $wpdb function to connect to the external database, then used the helper get_var() to fetch the text from database, then styled the output variable to give the marquee effect. Here is the complete code below.

<?php
//external_db_fetch.php
$mydb = new wpdb( 'username', 'password', 
'database_name', 'localhost' ); 

$stext = $mydb->get_var("SELECT col2 FROM 
table")
?>

Save the file above anywhere on your local host. Don't put it in header.php for security reasons. Just include it in your header with the right path include('path/to/external_db_fetch.php');

Then , encapsulate the output echo $stext; in a div class marquee to where you want the code to display(in your header).

Then edit (or create) the class marquee in your theme's stylesheet to give the desired styling. Thanks.