We are moving our sites to WordPress and I have a perplexing problem that I have no idea where to start.
We have a Product Information Manager all stored in SQL Server. I'm looking for a way to integrate products into the WordPress system.
There is a data access layer using entity Framework right now which we are using an asp.net solution right now to access it.
I'm thinking of asking our database developer to create REST services for product information, but I'm not sure how to go about integrating this into WordPress... if possible.
Yes it's possible.
Depending on how many models you need to expose, creating the services may also be trivial if you leverage Web API.
As far as integrating it into WordPress, that's a PHP task, adding pages or editing your theme. So you're going to need to Google some samples on reading JSON or XML in PHP, but that's pretty much the extent of it here. I see no technical limitations.
You can likely start here:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-decode.php
Cheers.
Yes you can definitely do that . Once you expose it through REST services or any other SOAP based web service. You can consume thrm from your Wordpress . There are plugins available that might help you.
Take a look here
You can also create your own plugin if you want . I will agree with #MisterJames for other Php stuff and integration that you need to do.
Related
I've designed my database diagram(11 entites) for my prototype application. I need to have an REST API on top of this that will allow me to build a prototype android tablet application that talks to it.
Considering this is only for prototype purposes. What would be the quickest way to get a API up and running that would allow me to get, put, delete etc..
Security at this point isn't an issue so even if all add edit delete were open that would be fine.
My initial idea is to build this with PHP and MySQL maybe using the Yii framework to help but I feel there might be something that might be faster for my purpose.
Any thoughts or recommendations or advice?
It is worth looking into API rapid-prototyping tools like Apify (tutorial) since you're starting from scratch. If you're planning to have both an API and a Web site accessing the same data, consider using one framework for both as it helps prevent duplicating logic. CakePHP and Yii are good examples of multipurpose frameworks that are suited for this type of development.
If Python is an option, it is trivial to use a light-weight http framework to build a REST API that accesses a database.
Here's a snippet for a fully functioning http server using the itty framework: https://github.com/toastdriven/itty/blob/master/examples/web_service.py and https://github.com/toastdriven/itty/blob/master/examples/posting_data.py
Look at this project which allows you to create an API REST in seconds.
https://github.com/GeekyTheory/Automatic-API-REST
Features
Creation a powerful API REST of your MySQL Data Base in Seconds.
Management of the API in situ, it is not neccesary an extra data base.
Private tables and fields.
Custom queries.
Installation
Clone the repo.
git clone https://github.com/GeekyTheory/Automatic-API-REST/
Place it in your web folder /var/www/YourWebPage/
Open the file config.php and complete all the fields with the server credencials.
Go to domain.com/AutomaticaApiRest
I'm working on a web application in Codeigniter. I'd like to integrate the functionality of my application with a CMS so that site admins can easily update the site (about pages, blog, etc). Is this easily done with PyroCMS or another Codeigniter-based CMS? Will I need to drastically restructure my existing app?
From my own experience integrating an app inside Expression Engine I can say that a CMS changes the way you usually work with CI. So be prepared to make some adjustments. Every CMS will come with it's perks and differences. It shouldn't be a big problem though.
If you want to use PyroCms take a look at this doc first:
http://www.pyrocms.com/docs/2.0/developers/creating-custom-modules
If you're looking for alternatives, there are a lot. It seems almost everyone working with CI has made it's own.
Here are a few:
http://www.ionizecms.com/
http://www.halogy.com/
http://codefight.org/
http://www.getfuelcms.com/
Also make sure you check out CI Bonfire, it's not a CMS but does help you when you start up a new project with a basic admin wrapper, which is sometimes more useful than a CMS:
http://cibonfire.com/
This was answered a year ago and answered well, but my support guy has forwarded me a few emails from users asking about this page.
When people talk about Content Management Systems they often suddenly get the idea of rigid backends where you applications have to follow specific rules. While PyroCMS certainly has a few conventions you are free to build your modules just like they are a CodeIgniter application, on the frontend or the backend.
If you want to use Models, Controllers, Views, REST API's, SOAP, whatever the hell, then you can do that.
But, we also offer some awesome tools to make building modules CRAZY-fast. Hate writing CRUD? Well don't bother. Using the Streams API you can leverage the build in "Custom Data" system we use to rock out chunks of interface for you.
Using PyroCMS for your application is certainly not "hacking it into a CMS", this is the exact use-case it was built for.
If you have an existing application, while you can't "put PyroCMS into your app" you can certainly convert your application to a module easy enough.
The simplest way of doing it is to write your models around the CMS' database. Host the CMS at a subdomain with authentication for your admins. (admin.mysite.com) or something and then use the same database to power your front-end for your site.
Is it the best approach? Probably not.
Will it work? Yes.
You will probably find it hard to expand vertically & add new features if you're relying on a 3rd party CMS for data entry & backend.
I'm looking around for an open source form building package for PHP, and figured the hive-mob-mind of StackOverflow might be able to tilt me in the right direction.
Specifically, I'm looking for a form/survey builder application. I want something that lets an end user use a web based GUI to create and configure/surveys and web-based forms.
What are the de-facto standard tools/packages that people use for this kind of thing these days. I'm interested in software packages, not in hosted services.
php-form-builder-class is an open-source project hosted on Google's Project Hosting service - http://code.google.com/p/php-form-builder-class/. There are many examples included to get you started quickly. I don't believe there is currently a GUI provided for end users to build forms though. I use this in my development and would recommend.
Hey you should check the jquery.formbuilder by botskonet on github in URL:
jquery.formbuilder
I don't know of a stand-alone package, but I know some CMS solutions have this. Maybe you could look into their code base and if it's modulare use it in your project.
One I know of that uses it is WebSiteBaker. Don't know if the code is any good thoug.
I think you want something with a GUI that your users can use to make forms...
Try this..
http://blog.sonuku.com/2009/04/11/php-formbuilder/
-FT
Apponitro pForm is the only thing I've ever seen with a GUI. You still have to paste the code into your page (and write the handler). They have a paid version MachForm with more features. I've never used them so I can't make any recommendations.
I'm about to start a new PHP project and I'm going to need to make use of 3rd party forum software.
What's the best way to tackle integration of the forum into my code? Things like user authentication, having the user only have to login once, etc.
I'll be using the CodeIgniter framework if that is of any help. I found the article on integrating Vanilla with CL Auth & CodeIgniter but it wasn't to my liking at all.
Does anyone have any specific recommendations on PHP forum software? I'm open to any suggestions or pointers/help.
In my experience Simple Machines Forums is relatively easy to integrate into existing code.
What comes to authentication, it may be easiest for you to use the forum's authentication in your application, rather than attempting to use your application's authentication in the forum. It doesn't matter which forum you choose to use - this is usually the esiest way, since forums tend to have complex code related to auth and access, which can be tricky to modify to use some other system.
I'm not real familiar with any particular forum software, but my advice when using and integrating 3rd party software is to try and abstract out the specifics as much as possible from your main code base.
Wrap your forum library calls for things such as authentication, etc so that if you need to later change your forum software, you can limit the scope of the changes.
I'd have thought this would be a native feature (seeing as joomla allows you to connect contacts with user accounts) but we can't find any way to do this!
Does anyone know of any extensions/modules that would allow this?
I'm not so hot on PHP so i'd really love to not have to code this by hand!
This is an old thread, but since it is still opened maybe you haven't found a solution yet. I faced the same problem myself and I think having the ability to manage contacts from the frontend is an essential feature for Joomla! to become more usable as a simple webapp creation tool.
Anyway, there are a couple of extensions that might help you out. However, both are commercial and don't support Joomla! 1.6. Here they are:
Front-edit address book: simple
interface. Note, however, that there
might be a security issue with
it. Google "front-edit address book exploits" and you shall find it (sorry, stackoverflow lets me post a max of 2 links per thread since I'm a new user). I emailed the developer and he assured me that the problem was already fixed, though.
Grumpy contacts: on the demo site (there's a link at the page I pointed you to), it looked a little messy to my taste. In the Joomla! Extensions Directory, however, it has good reviews.
I never used any of those since all my projects are already migrated to Joomla! 1.6.
If you found another alternative in the meantime or even developed something yourself, please let me know.
Do you try in the user menu?
Another option would be install Community Builder.
Good luck!
Contacts in Joomla are handled by the builtin com_contacts compoment which provides basic functionality for adding contacts and some basic info from the back-end.
QContacts is a wonderful extension which gives you some more control over the data you can provide, but still no front-end support.
Unfortunately I am tackling this issue as well and it turns out there are no real out-of-the-box options for supporting front-end editing of contact details.