Re: Is Pear RADy ?

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 02:36:13 +0200, Olivier Guilyardi <ml@xung.org> wrote: > Justin Patrin wrote: > > > >>What about using HTML_Menu to improve the tables menu you've set up ? > >>Possibly with some nested levels (a tree like thingy). > > > > Good idea, but how do you nest them? Tables can be linked any which > > way. I ended up just showing the link-to tables beneath every table. > > I guess this feature would require one more .ini file. > > >>In addition, the formbuilder lacks support for sql enumerations (ex : > >>status ENUM ('customer', 'prospect')) ; it should generate a drop > >>down > >>list (<select>) in those cases. > > > > Yes, this would be good, but I don't think that DB_DataObject even > > supports enumerations... You could create a table that the field links > > to and it can create a select element for you. > > That's better this way, actually. A linked table is easier to maintain > than an enumeration. > > >>There also could be some interesting feature making use of foreign keys. > >>It may be somewhat tricky, though. Say you want to create a new Bill > >>object, the form could present you with the list of all Contacts, since > >> the 'bill' table contains a field like : contact_no integer REFERENCES > >>contact (contact_no). > > > > Have you looked into the links.ini in the DB_DataObject? FormBuilder > > already supports select generation for foreign keys (links), you just > > have to set it up in DB_DataObject. In addition, you should set > > display fields for the tables (see selectDisplayFields in the docs). > > Check here for some docs work-in-progress: > > > > > > http://opensource.21st.de/tiki-index.php?page=DB_DataObject_FormBuilder > > No I did not see links.ini. That seems efficient and simple ; I did not > yet give it a try though. > > I've been browsing a bit about RAD tools : I couldn't get phplens > (http://phplens.com/lens/) to work properly, despite its price this > software seems buggy to me. I've seen some other thingy, but couldn't > find anything better than phpCodeGenie > (http://phpcodegenie.sourceforge.net). > > If you know of any such database-centric RAD tool around, please let me > know. > > About phpCodeGenie : this is simple and straight-forward, it generates > some code for the usual task of editing tables, which code actually is a > base on which you can start building the real application. In my case - > developping an ERP/CRM intra(extra)net/extranet - this is a good tool, > because there are _many_ tables linked in _many_ various manner. > > Now, phpCodeGenie does not make use of PEAR, and second it's quite > limited. The whole project seems to involve a relatively basic knowledge > of php, but the idea is good, and it works(tm). > > So here comes my question : wouldn't the features FormBuilder/Frontend > attempt to provide better fit in a such code-generation application ? > More generally, what about a graphical/semi-graphical (web/gtk/etc...) > RAD tool specifically designed for PEAR ? > > pearBuilder ? > DB_DataObject does code generation, but it can also be updated whenever you want without breaking your additions (That's what the AUTOCODE tags are for). FormBuilder is better because everything can be created dynamically and just because it's all OO. That genie thing is very......basic. If you use my Frontend package, all you have to do is run createTables.php on your database, set up your DataObject.ini and db.links.ini, set up your display fields for linked tables, and you have a DB browser and data editor. Ok, so that's a lot of steps. Yes, it would be nice to have it all done in a GUI....but then again, it's not that hard to just write the code yourself. If you'd like to work on a Graphical configuration script, I'm sure we'd all welcome it. -- DB_DataObject_FormBuilder - The database at your fingertips http://pear.php.net/package/DB_DataObject_FormBuilder paperCrane --Justin Patrin--