Dreamweaver CC can't connect to my local XAMPP testing server via PHP
<p>I'm a newbie at PHP, and coding in general, however I'm attempting to set up a simple user login/registration page using a MySQL database via phpmyadmin. After hours of trawling through forums etc, I could only find outdated information with no relevance to my specific issue.</p>

<p>My set up is as follows:</p>

<p><strong>XAMPP v3.2.2</strong>, <strong>phpMyAdmin</strong> (<em>Apache/2.4.18 (Win32) Open SSL/1.0.2e, PHP/7.0.3 with mysqli PHP extension/ Maria DB Server Type</em>) &amp; <strong>Dreamweaver CC</strong>. </p>

<p>I have set up a new site &amp; a new server (following various online tutorials that show the same method) but when I attempt to define a connection via recordset, it displays the error message:</p>

<p><strong>"Your PHP server doesn't have the MySQL module loaded or you can't use the mysql_(p)connect functions."</strong></p>

<p>I have the MySQL module loaded and it's working fine as I am able to connect to phpmyadmin. Apache module is loaded and it's working fine as I am able to connect to my localhost in the web browser. Details for testing server have been set up in C:\xampp\htdocs\mysite and changed to PHP/MySQL server model.
The database and tables have been created in phpmyadmin and ready to go, however I just can't connect to them through Dreamweaver CC.</p>

<p>I've tried changing information in config.inc.php, tried changing extension_dir path to mysqli.dll in php.ini (which is in C:\xampp\php\ext) and also uninstalled and reinstalled XAMPP twice. </p>

<p>I believe that my phpmyadmin and XAMPP server are working fine, however I just can't seem to have any success linking it to my php pages in Dreamweaver CC.</p>

<p>Am I missing anything obvious?
Any help/clarity would be greatly appreciated as I'm currently losing all hope! <em>Thank you!</em></p>