Begin with the connection between php and mysql.

It has a template that loads all the friends of userID 666.
It uses a connect.php and a friendship.php

website/queries/connect.php

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<?php
+
+$dbconf = simplexml_load_file("/var/mysql_config.xml");
+if ($dbconf === FALSE) {
+    die("Error parsing XML file");
+}
+else {
+    $db = new PDO("mysql:host=$dbconf->mysql_host;dbname=$dbconf->mysql_database;charset=utf8",
+        "$dbconf->mysql_username", "$dbconf->mysql_password")
+    or die('Error connecting to mysql server');
+}
+
+?>