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I'm very new to Drupal and was getting a bit of mixed information about views so I wanted to see if anyone can set me on the right path.
Here's my situation. I have a separate database (on the same Drupal database server), that has a lot of data that's maintained by another team. We want to publish that data to the web and after getting some suggestions it looks like Drupal views is the way to go.
The problem is, I'm not sure where to go from there. I read the documentation and just watched the views tutorial on Lullabot, but my data isn't in the fields columns at all.
I read one document that said I had to "describe" my external database to Drupal but wasn't sure how to do it. I found a few tools on drupal.org (services, etc..) that said they can analyize my database and report the structure back to Drupal but I can't figure it out.
Basically the end result I want is two things. First is to simply display the data as is from my external database onto a Drupal node (the only catch is, each page is specific to a database entity so although the data format/display is standard, the data itself will change with the links, for exmaple, www.example.com/ibm should only provide our data on ibm and as the company name changes so does the data that's displayed) and later I might want to run some calculations on the data before it shows up.
Anyone have any suggestions of how to do this or any tutorials?
If it helps, I'm using Drupal 7.
On a side note, if it's not possible to do this in Drupal or even if it is, would it be better to create this in PHP and then somehow wrap it in Drupal? I'm debating this because I think I know how to do this in PHP and it might give me more control on the result (but i'm being a bit lazy because I'm thinking maybe Drupal can do it for me :-)
Update: Okay, now I'm even more confused. I have looked into views and still can't get it to integrate with my database. I have looked at schemas, and feeds as a way of either describing the database or getting it to replicate with Drupal. I'm not sure if I'm going the right direction (or what the right direction is) because so far everything I am trying seems to be a dead end. Can someone suggest a tutorial? Or relate their experiences getting this done? I simply want to display content from another database onto a page (when users select a specific stock ticker), I may want to allow users to customize it later(which is why I think views are needed).
As far as connecting to the database, in settings.php you can add additional database connections and use the db_set_active('connection_name') function in code to switch your active db connection to that source. Building plugins for views - that's a big subject far beyond the scope of a single answer. All I can say is Google it and good luck, and come back with specifics :)
Module Forena can be used to query (not update) all sorts of databases, such as a MySQL database, and to establish database connections to the external databases. And it comes with various hooks to use Forena from within another module.
For more details about Forena, 2 types of documentation are available:
Community documentation.
Documentation that comes with Forena, which you can access right after install and enable of the module. Checkout the demo site for an online example of the current:
Forena documentation - use the link 'Reporting documentation' or visit relative link /reports/help.
Forena samples - use the link 'Reporting samples' or visit relative link /reports/samples (these samples are fully functional, so make sure to experiment a bit with it, such as the drill downs available on the SVG Graph sample).
The newest 7.x-4.x version also includes an amazing (I think) UI for either creating your reports (the WYSIWYG report editor) and/or for creating your SQL queries (the Query Builder).
Here are some variations of the mysql database part:
Using a SQLite instead of MySQL database: the Forena samples actually get shipped including a (Tiny) SQLite database. Go check it out in the demo site: the data shown there are data contained in the sampledb, which is in SQLite format.
Forena comes with a full suite of Supported database connections ... such as MS SQL, Oracle, Postgress or any PDO compliant variation.
Enough reasons for considering giving Forena a try? While doing so, use it's issue queue for any type of support/docu requests you may have.
Be aware: I'm a co-maintainer of Forena.
Related
I am new to website building and want to create a site which have following features:
People should be able to post new questions.
Should be able to comment on the already provided questions (Providing Answer is equal to providing comments.)
Should be able to categorize various questions.
I am planning to go on Open source side: Using PHP/APACHE/MYSQL/LINUX.
I am not sure what all things i should read Like CMS (Drupal/Joomla etc.)
Can anyone help me?
It's impossible to answer all your questions in one answer.
If you're really new to php, I doub't you should dive in a CMS.
I recomend you to split-up your questions in to smaller ones and start googling and coding.
People should ble able to post
Choosing a database?
Adding entries to a table?
Registering users?
Commenting
Again, adding to database
Retreiving from database
Displaying results
Categories
Database architecture
Normalazing database
Again, adding and retreivieng from database
..and so on.
This would be ok if you're doing it for practice, not for real life product.
If you're looking for a quality product, you should go for a cms.
There are several open-source packages you could use. Or you could go over to http://area51.stackexchange.com/ and see if any of the 566 sites in development would do what you want.
Some open-source question-and-answer packages:
OSQA - http://www.osqa.net/ (Django / Python)
AskBot - http://askbot.org/ (Django / Python)
Shapado - http://shapado.com/ (Ruby/Rails)
Question2Answer - (see that dot org)- (PHP)
OSQA is open source stackoverflow.com clone, running on Django and Python
http://www.osqa.net/
(just replace one P in your LAMP stack with another P :)
If you are just trying to have a forum in PHP for question/answer, I recommend you take a look at phpBB. You may also take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software_(PHP)
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Perhaps, using the word CRM is a bit of a misnomer, essentially, I'm looking for a fast and easy way to create a front-end so that others in my organization can utilize a MySQL database that I've created that manages lists of respondents to marketing research surveys.
I would need to do the following through the proposed front-end:
Update/Add/Remove contact information
Add notes to a contact's "file"
Import/Export data from/to csv
My experience with PHP is not extensive so I would like something that is simple and straightforward (read: I'm not looking for something that tries to do everything or is over complicated).
An answer to this question will be accepted if you can outline the reason(s) for your recommendation.
Database Schema:
Table 1: Contact Information
ID,
Name, address, email, etc...
Table 2: Surveys
Table 1 ID,
Field 1,2,3,4,5 (Logicals 0/1)
Table 3: Notes
Table 1 ID,
Date, Note, etc...
Table 4: Select Survey Data Storage (Demos for easy survey sampling)
Table 1 ID,
Q1,Q2,Q3,Q4...etc
One small framework comes to mind that will help make simple and secure user access and helps you update created database data without much hassel, it is called flourishlib, I've often used and seen used with the small routing controller Moor.
This helps you with:
Simple and safe user access. Supports ACL.
CRUD.
It has an ORM implementation, so you don't need to do much work in the data layer.
Simple page templating.
Posting and updating a record is as simple as $record->populate automatically taking values from a submitted form and populating values.
Great dir and file handling. Reading a CSV.
Check out the how do I page for a quick look on how flourishlib solves common problems.
Update: I'm unsure how the ORM of flourishlib will match your database scheme without any configuration. If you have problems the support for flourish by the lead developer at the forums is great. Anyway you don't have to use the ORM. You could use flourishes fDatabase. Or you could use an other ORM entirely. Two I find interesting is:
Repose
Outlet
Are you sure that you need framework? Your task is very simple and it can be easilly done without framework. Just organise files/folders layout, add some needed classes and you are good to go.
You can always try SugarCRM
It lacks a bit on documentation (mostly in the programming areas), but I think it will accomplish your goals.
In the end I actually went with Django. It's ridiculously easy to create database management edit/update/search tools using their ORM framework.
I think you should give a try to Lime survey.
It an open source application written in PHP with mySql as backend for survey development and managing samples.
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I know ASP.NET C# very well. I make a lot of stuff like surveys and custom web applications.
I'm having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around Drupal and figuring out how to do 'special' programmatic things, like searching a list of clients, or creating a web application.
1 - I've been reading books and drupal API but I'm still having a lot of trouble getting started with anything at all. Where does custom code go in respect to pages, modules, snippets...? How do I replicate form X that I did in ASP.NET into a new page in drupal? Etc. It is super hard to wrap my head around Drupal, it seems so large and easy and extensible yet also like it is difficult for me to code. What can you recommend for an ASP.NET application programmer to learn to work with/in Drupal?
2 - Sometimes we write complete ASP.NET applications for clients, and these applications are not indended for clients to go editing them. For example, we will have our entire website in drupal, but inside of that website we will have a place for users to use a special search for database information. We don't want simple website editors and content providers trying to edit this specially coded page(s). How do I handle not wanting clients to edit anything in a Drupal application? Is it handled via page/user permissions? Is the best thing to develop and host an application completely outside of drupal? Is the drupal application it's own drupal instance inside of a drupal website (nested drupals?) ?
3 - Lastly, how do I handle databases? I understand Drupal and PHP are set to work best with MySQL. We have MS SQL databases that are used by multiple applications and would like to use them for new applications as we start using Drupal. For example, we have a Staff directory that feeds ASP.NET reporting application, ASP.NET Staff Listing application, and want to make a new Drupal PHP application that also uses (and perhaps inserts/updates more information into) that database. What is the best/easiest way to handle MS SQL databases and/or MySQL databases being used and updated by multiple Drupal and ASP.NET applications? Would it be easier to have all the applications use the MS SQL databases, or maybe to replicate the databases on MySQL for the Drupal/PHP apps and somehow sync the two databases?
I hope it is alright if I ask multiple related questions in a single post.
I'm afraid that I don't have any experience with Drupal so I can't offer any insights into your first or second questions, but on the third question:
What is the best/easiest way to handle
MS SQL databases and/or MySQL
databases being used and updated by
multiple Drupal and ASP.NET
applications?
If you are going to perform CRUD operations from both your ASP.NET applications and your PHP/Drupal applications, then I would recommend against trying to sync data back and forth between MySQL and MSSQL since this will cause latency problems plus you'll then have to deal with the differences between the two database management systems.
Instead, I would recommend that you look at using stored procedures to control all database accesses. This way you can ensure that all of your database CRUD operations conform to same rules and logic.
Using MSSQL in both ASP.NET and PHP shouldn't be a problem, especially not with the very excellent PDO library that provides a standard interface for accessing a number of popular database management systems. It should allow you to quickly and easily connect with and begin using your MSSQL databases within your PHP applications.
It is some good questions you ask. I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability. I haven't any experience with c# of APS.NET, so I don't know exactly where you are coming from. I myself learned Drupal as an inexperienced python/django developer. So in some ways I can understand some of the troubles you are going through trying to learn Drupal. Some of these things will simply require time/experience/experimenting before it will go away.
To really understand Drupal and the Drupal API you will first need a good understanding of PHP. Sometimes Drupal do some complex PHP things, so if you don't understand the syntax or the PHP functions etc, you can easy get lost.
Where do code live?
Drupal is built as a moduler system. Drupal itself is a set of modules, some of which are required for Drupal to work properly. If you want make some custom code, that is you want to do something, that you can't use a module for. There are about 5000 modules developed for Drupal. Often even when being a skilled programmer, the best choice is to find a module that will do what you need or can get you where close. So what you do, it to create a module of your own.
Make a folder with the name of the module
Create a modulename.info inside it which holds some info about the module formatted in a special way. Drupal will need it to fx display the module on the module list page where you activate modules.
Lastly create a modulename.module file where the core of your code for the module will be.
Another thing that is important to understand with Drupal, is that it uses a hook based system. Hooks are like events that fire once certain things happen that you want to hook into and either alter the flow, or do some things of your own. Fx you could record every time a specific form was displayed, or you could alter the form, adding/removing fields.
Forms
Drupal has a FAIP or Form API, that is uses to generate form, this is something that has it's own page in the documentation. The idea is that you create an associative PHP array which holds information about each element of the form, and Drupal will use that to create the form.
Books
There are a lot of good books for Drupal that you can learn from. The book I myself have learned the most from is Pro Drupal Development
First of all, Drupal has a very fine grained role based permission system, that will allow you to setup exactly what your clients are allowed to do. You can create different roles, like moderator, content creator, admin, sysadmin ect, and give different permissions to each role. This is pretty easy and is setup within the Drupal AI. However, you will need to know the permissions as some are super permissions that will give access to a lot of things. Now for integrating your applications, that is something that you probably want to write a custom module for. I don't know exactly how you want to do this. But I think the best result would be gotten by letting Drupal create the pages, forms etc from your application and just send data back and forth. That way the theme = layout of the site would be consistent. That way users wouldn't get the feeling that they left the site, but this simply was yet another feature the site offered.
Drupal is not just set to handle MYSQL best, You will actually need either MYSQL or PSQL as your drupal database backend. The reason is the way Drupal handles queries, that allow you to write non specific queries that will work, no matter on which of the two types you use, or if your tables has a prefix. So for all of the Drupal internals you will need one of the two. PHP can connect to MSSQL and run queries against that database, so you could without much problems write custom code that run queries to your other application's databases and either fetch or update data. Depending on the data, you might want to create a table in your database that you can read and write to, and then sync the databases when needed. It depends a bit on your use case. I have done the latter, in the case where I didn't need to write to the database, but only needed to fetch some product information form a legacy database that was still being used by other systems.
First of all, I think what's important to understand Drupal's limitations, there are things it's not really made for. It's sort of a web application framework but if you're doing a lot of custom work with your own custom datamodelling and stuff, Drupal might not be the most flexible or easily implementable solution to your kinds of problems. A more general framework like for instance Zend Framework might be more suited.
An important lesson in learning Drupal is: don't hack core or other modules. This will make upgrading core or modules very time-consuming. Instead "do like Drupal" and override using hooks. In theming you can also override with hooks, but also in other ways. Overriding is powerful so understand that concept well.
I'd say, pick a way of learning that is your style, screencasts, IRC, hacking, user meetups IRL, books, articles or any combination and look for material on Drupal. Just start mucking around and get a feeling and understanding of how Drupal works. Understanding the jargon is an important part, so what are: nodes, blocks, regions, hooks, modules, themes.
Drupal has a very flexible permission system, and it's probably the best choice to use that instead of making your own. You can write your own modules that add to or alter the behavior of Drupal. So if you want to write a new application that works with Drupal you can write a module performing the functionality the application has to have and make use of all the facilities Drupal offers, including users, the permission system, etc, etc. I don't really understand the last part of your second question "Is the drupal application it's own drupal instance inside of a drupal website (nested drupals?) ?". Drupal is a collection of PHP files on a server that, together with a slew of tables in a database serves request made to it. Multiple Drupal websites (so different PHP files) can reference the same database or parts of it (for example the user table). There's not really an "instance" of a Drupal site, as there's not really an "application". I could of course be too unfamiliar with these terms but I don't think PHP works with "instances" of "applications".
That's a hard problem, afaik Drupal doesn't work with MS SQL, so any connections in that direction you might have to make yourself. I'd also ask around the Drupal forums or on IRC.
Good luck!
rlb,
I've done quite a bit of Drupal and have strong ASP.NET experience. You really need to read up to get your mindset straight. They use layers in an MVC-like fashion that is very foreign to WebForms & ASP.NET MVC developers ... and quite frankly at first seems odd.
Here's a list of things I did to get really, really good quickly:
Get a host like at hostgator for $8 which will let you install Drupal
Get the book Pro Drupal Development for Beginners ... excellent and really covers a lot of areas http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Drupal-Development-Second-Beginning/dp/1430209895/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257545528&sr=8-2
Get on the Drupal forums
Be ready to contribute. Drupal has a lot of features, but in the end the best way is to be someone who contributes code back
There are a number of IDEs to consider, but to start a text editor should be fine.
Good luck.
Some good answers here, so I'll just fill in some brief items.
1 - Learning Drupal: Pro Drupal Development is the best book for this. Getting into the issue queues and interacting with developers is a way to get familiar with specifics. Your question about forms relates to how Drupal handles forms. The FAPI is pretty robust in Drupal, and protects you from security gaffes. Also api dot Drupal dot org is where the code is documented, though there are docs elsewhere. Google is your friend. (On the Drupal site itself, use the native search to get faceted results.)
2 - This is a user permissions issue. You can limit creation and editing permissions based on content type. For access control (read), you will want to use one of the many modules for access control. It really depends upon your use case.
3 - Drupal has the most community support for MySQL, but people run Drupal on MS SQL as well. In Drupal 7, you will likely see much more support for non-MySQL as this release introduces database abstraction.
Probably the worst thing to do is hack around the margins. It really pays to learn the ins and outs of the Drupal basics -- administration and coding -- so that you can truly leverage the power Drupal brings to the table.
And if you're hunting for modules, http://drupalmodules.com is your friend. ;)
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The system that I am working on is an Intranet System only accessible within the company network to our staff. This is a primary system for storing data of all our customers. The system is entirely web based. There is a lot of data to be captured and held for each customer. At the moment opening up a customer record brings up all the information is input boxes, etc so that users can change them and click on the save button to update. There are about 40 to 50 pages organised with fields all over the page. There is a single top level navigation bar with a side navigation bar as well.
We have decided to work on the design and layout of the pages. The first step will be to create a Detail View and an Edit View. At the moment there is no Detail View, everything is shown within the same Edit fields.
Do you have any good ideas on improving usability on an intranet database system (web based)
It's a big question. The approach you mentioned is very much focused on the details when you might be better served figuring out the high-level design first. It sounds like you have a lot of data and might be overloading your users.
I would recommend that you do the following:
Ask your users. They live right down the hall, so this is easier for you. Ask them what kinds of things they go to the intranet for right now. (You can ask them to talk about hypothetical situations, but that's a different technique, and yields speculative data.) Ask if you can watch them use the intranet.
Aggregate their feedback and try to see patterns in it. Can you group data according to some logical classification? Is it better for you to provide a database-style search interface? What about both -- they're not mutually exclusive?
Look for examples. Look at websites that work for you: Stack Overflow? Amazon? Netflix? Whatever it is. What can you learn from how they organize and present information?
Mock up a simple prototype. And when I say 'simple' it could just be markers and sticky notes on a whiteboard. Use this low-fidelity prototype with a few users and see if they can figure it out. Don't "help", see what they make of it -- see if they can find what they're looking for.
Iterate. Do steps 1-4 over and over as you approach a design.
Good luck! This is a real challenge, but if you make a system that works well you will save your company a huge amount of wasted time; and time is money.
Well, this is really about "web user interface design" and the fact that you are on a company intranet really doesn't matter too much one way or another, except for the fact that you can assume users know certain things about your company already.
As for good interface design via a web interface, you may want to check out the other SO posts below:
Book Recommendations
User Interface Design
other search results
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I have to make some database requests with PHP on a MySQL database.
Question : What is the best (simpliest) framework to get thing done right CRUD (Create Read Update Delete)?
I also have to populate the database, what is a good tool to do that. The only one I know is SqlMyAdmin, wich does not look good. An online tool would be great.
Your experience is valuable: tell me what do you use and why ?
I have taken a look at CodeIgniter, looks nice, what do you think... overkill ?
For lots of operations (especially CRUD, which work out of the box once you've written the schema files), the ORM Framework Doctrine is really great.
If you want to go farther than just DB access, you might take a look at the PHP FRamework symfony, which provides an admin generator (there is even a screencast about that one).
(And has great documentation, such as the jobeet tutorial)
(BTW, symfony uses Doctrine as ORM ^^ )
But maybe it's a bit overkill (and requires a too big learning curve) if you need something simple...
To load data to MySQL, what about LOAD DATA INFILE, which (quote from the docs) "reads rows from a text file into a table at a very high speed".
I recommend GroceryCRUD because of the good engineering and documentation
Copy files into your web folder
Configure MySQL database
Specify MySQL table name
=> You get a paginated JqueryUI table with create/edit/delete buttons.
create/edit opens a form page based on the MySQL table schema. For example, a boolean, a varchar and a text get turned into a form with active/inactive radio buttons, a text field and a wysiwyg html editor.
Note: GroceryCRUD is built on CodeIgniter so you will have a copy living in your admin directory. You don't have to use it for building your main site.
Security Advisory: Any library can have undiscovered security vulnerabilities, so it is recommended to minimize exposure by protecting your copy of GroceryCRUD with BaseAuth and permitting SSL access only.
I'd second Pascal's comment re Symfony (I would uprate but not enough credit :-() - Symfony has a great admin generator, and once you get your head around the app->module->actions concept, it's straightforward and the documentation is fantastic, even if it is sometimes easier to search Google for it ;-)
Failing that, CakePHP is a lot better now than it used to be back in the early days, and you can get going with the minimum of fuss, particularly with their scaffolding which will help you set up a basic CRUD-style setup. Their documentation is also pretty awesome and very easy to read :-)
If solutions such as Doctrine, CAKE, CodeIgniter, etc. seem like overkill for what you're trying to do, I'd recommend a one-file PHP script I built that lets you CRUD hierarchical data in MySQL:
http://coding.pressbin.com/109/PHP-One-file-CRUD-front-end-for-hierarchical-MySQL-data/
Why do not you try to code it from scratch as CRUD is a common task of programming.
There are lots of good tutorials:
1>PHP PDO + Bootstrap Twitter: http://www.lizardgrid.com/blog/php-crud-tutorial-part-1/
2>JQuery + PHP: http://www.codeofaninja.com/2013/05/crud-with-php-jquery.html
I am currently testing JqGrid (a Jquery Table Library).
I have tried Grocery CRUD: looks nice, but its Datatables theme (which has column filtering ability) won't work with server-side processing, that's why I dropped it.
You may have a look at Cygnite Framework
It does basic code generation. Controller, model, views, layout, pagination, form component, required field validation, with bootstrap template etc. all these generate with simple command. You may alter the code based on your need.
Here is the tutorial- Generate CRUD application within 2 Min
Worth looking.
I'd say that totally depends on what you need to do.
You do know phpMyAdmin, right? You can import from a lot of formats with that tool.
Or do you want to develop an application with simple CRUD operations? Then a framework like Symfony or Zend Framework would be the right thing to be looking for.
I developed this script which reverse engineers from a MySQL database a set of stored procedures that list all the rows of a table, a single row based on the primary key, updates/inserts based on the primary key and deletes based on the primary key. It assumes that you already have your tables created with the primary keys setup per table and it generates the MySQL stored procedures for you. I have found that this is more efficient than similar types of solutions developed in PHP.
Something like http://www.notorm.com/ might be more appropriate than Symfony. Whilst I like Symfony and have used it to great effect, it is not simple.
Likewise with Codeignitor I would argue that any full stack framework (Laravel, Zend, Wii etc . . ) would not fit the remit of "simple".
A fairly straight forward and effortless crud system i found is https://github.com/usmanato360/crud360 its very easy to setup and there are loads of advanced features. It is unlike traditional crud systems that generate model classes etc.. it is just a single class that takes care of everything dynamically.