Re: DB_MetaReport - Metadata reporting libraries for PEAR

Please do bear in mind that, in order of priority, ease of use, performance, and being lightweight were the fundamental goals. I also tried to limit dependencies to make installation easier. When I reviewed packages for use like HTML_Table and Pager it seemed much faster/easier to output my own instead of including a fairly large toolkit. Eventually I can make them optional and only include if specified by the user. Thank you for the very thorough feedback. 'njoy, Mark --- Bertrand Mansion <bmansion@mamasam.com> wrote: > Mark Cotner wrote: > > >Hi all, > >I was hoping to get some early feedback for a draft > >library I just posted to PEAR. > > > >I know some of the variable names don't conform to > CS > >just yet, but I'm working on that. > > > >Here's some background: > >This is a rewrite of the reporting libraries that > >helped us win runner up for MySQL application of > the > >year this year(2004) for submission into PEAR. We > came > >in second behind Saabre's airline reservation > system. > >If you're gonna lose, might as well lose to someone > >like Saabre right? The rewrite should make them > easier > >to use and we hope this PHP community can benefit > from > >this work. Metadata reporting systems are nothing > new, > >but generally they are reserved for commercial > >applications. This should represent a significant > >improvement for PEAR/PHP for data warehousing and > >reporting applications. Feedback is welcome. Please > >send feedback/comments to me at mcotner@yahoo.com. > > This looks lighter than Structure_Datagrid which > might not be a bad thing but > there is IMO a lot to do in order to make it clean. > > But you should be using HTML_Table for your table > generation. Give access to the > table (->&getTable()). Not sure why. Been creating tables a loong time, not so difficult I need a library to do so. > > Use CSS and class, not <font>, in your HTML. > I'll make it a property so that the user can specify tags they prefer. That way they can better match existing site CSS if they like. > Use strpos, not eregi. Guessing you mean stripos . . . good feedback, willdo. > > Use str_replace, not ereg_replace. Again, good feedback. Willdo. > > If you generate HTML, make it XHTML (use quotes in > img tag, end the img tag with > /> ). Doh, missed that. Thank you. > > Do not redefine PEAR_Log constants. > Again, good feedback. I use PEAR::Log quite a bit for other things, but didn't want to include it just for the constants. Had intended to search and replace with my own later and hadn't done it yet. Again, good feedback . . . willdo. > Use a Pager package for your pager. Give access to > the pager (->&getPager()). I had intended to give users the option to use pager if they wanted to, but the Pager, Common, and either Jumping or Sliding files combined represent more lines of code than DB_Meta and DB_MetaReport combined. Seemed a bit heavy for just a pager. > > Integrate support for different renderers. > XML and CSV are planned in the very near term and templates(likely Smarty) shortly thereafter. > At the moment, this does not look as much featured > as Structure_DataGrid. Did > you have a look at this package already ? I hadn't until tonight. Didn't occur to me to look in Structure for a reporting package. I think the metadata concept is the major differentiator, with ease of use being the other. > > BTW, links to working online examples would be nice. > Surely. http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example2.php http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example3.php http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example4.php http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example5.php http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example1.php > Bertrand Mansion > Mamasam >