php w/mysql backend. Getting a layout to work with the db selected info

[Adam]

Ok, I am sorry if I can not express this in the proper terminology, but I am completely and utterly new to this.

I have a seperate php file just for the template of the site. Any specific page information (title, keywords, content) is an echo of $title, $keyword, $content, etc.

However, I am having some problems. How do I set the information stored in my db to these?

I have tried it previously in a example similar to the following:

Main page is set up like this -

call db
select info, etc. from table
include template file
close db


The problem with this is that it prints the information above the template. I really do not want to split the template up into seperate files. Is there any way to get this to work without having to make a header and footer template system like so many sites say?

I am sorry if I am a little confusing. If there is anything that seems odd, please ask and I will try to better phrase and elaborate on.

Thank you for any help that can be given!