Database Plugin

Provide secure access (read and write) to data in an SQL database, with flexible results formatting.

Any database that has a DBI interface can be used.

Usage

%DATABASE_SQL{description="table_description" sql="sql"}%

This is the most general of the commands. It allows you to execute arbitrary SQL statements, and provides flexible formatting of the results.

• description - identifies the database configuration to use (required)
• sql - The SQL to execute (required)
• format - (optional) Format to display results in. if you don't give this parameter results will be ignored.
• header - (optional) The header to display on the results table.
• separator - string that separates results. Default newline.

If the SQL statement doesn't return a result (e.g. an UPDATE statement) you must not give a format parameter. The format parameter is a string describing the required format for the results, where each $colname will expand to the value of that column. See FormattedSearch for more on how format, header and separator work.

%DATABASE_SQL_TABLE{description="db1" headers="hdr1,hdr2,hdr3" command="sql command"}%

• description - identifies the database configuration to use
• headers - Table headers.
• command - Any SQL command that returns rows
• This syntax is maintained for compatibility. You are recommended to use DATABASE_SQL instead.

%DATABASE_SQL_REPEAT{description="description" command="..SQL COMMAND.." columns="col1,col2,col3"}% .... user formatting .... %DATABASE_SQL_REPEAT%

• description - identifies the database configuration to use
• columns - The columns in the table to return. Default "*"
• command - Any SQL command that returns values
• This syntax is maintained for compatibility. You are recommended to use DATABASE_SQL instead.

%DATABASE_TABLE{description="table_description" headers="hdr1,hdr2,hdr3" columns="col1,col2,col3"}%

• description - identifies the database+table configuration to use (required)
• columns - The columns in the table to return. Default "*"
• headers - Table headers
• This command requires a table to be specified in the configuration.
• This syntax is maintained for compatibility. You are recommended to use DATABASE_SQL instead.

%DATABASE_REPEAT{description="table_description" table="mytable" columns="col1,col2,col3"}% .... user formatting .... %DATABASE_REPEAT%

• description - identifies the database+table configuration to use
• columns - The columns in the table to return. Default "*"
• This command requires a table to be specified in the configuration.
• This syntax is maintained for compatibility. You are recommended to use DATABASE_SQL instead.

%DATABASE_EDIT{description="table_description" display_text="HTML link text"}%

Creates a frame and invokes an external database editor.

• description - identifies the database configuration to use
• display_text - (optional) The columns in the table to return

Examples

%DATABASE_SQL{description="mysql_user_info" format="| $User | $Select_priv |" header="| *User Name* | *Select Privs* |"}%

You will get back a table with one row for each matching database entry.

Using the format functionality, you can define how the database data is displayed wrapping it in any formatting you choose. For example, if you wanted to create a single table cell containing the information for 3 fields of the Kalendus calendar, you could use the following:

%DATABASE_SQL{description="calendar_events" sql="SELECT * from calendar" format="| $startdate $subject $body |"}%

Or let's say you wanted to display the next two upcoming scheduled events in the Kalendus calendar.

%DATABASE_SQL{description="calendar_events" command="SELECT subject,body,startdate FROM kalendus_event WHERE to_days(startdate) > to_days(now()) order by startdate limit 2" format="$startdate<br />$subject<br />$body"}%

Plugin Installation Instructions

Note for upgraders; the configuration has moved into configure now. You will have to copy the settings from your existing bin/DatabasePluginConfig.pm manually. it should be fairly obvious what you have to do.

You do not need to install anything in the browser to use this extension. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the extension on the server.

Open configure, and open the "Extensions" section. Use "Find More Extensions" to get a list of available extensions. Select "Install".

If you have any problems, or if the extension isn't available in configure, then you can still install manually from the command-line. See http://foswiki.org/Support/ManuallyInstallingExtensions for more help.

• If you are using Foswiki-1.0 or later, use configure to set up the plugin. Otherwise copy and paste the contents of lib/Foswiki/Plugins/DatabasePlugin/Config.spec into LocalSite.cfg and enter your settings manually.

Plugin Info

Change History:
02 Nov 2016	Tasks.Item14207: tell MySQL that Foswiki-2 strings are utf8 - FlorianSchlichting
16 Dec 2011	Tasks.Item10405: Fix a bug preventing the use of a remote ConfigSource - FlorianSchlichting
28 Nov 2008	Tasks.Item8018: Switch to foswiki - LarsEik
17 Sep 2007	Bugs:Item4343 Minor corrections to Config.spec - TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie
18 March 2007	Rewritten for efficiency and clarity, and added DATABASE_SQL - TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie
5 May 2003 (v1.3)	Add support for the primary DB to be in a local file instead of in a DB. It is acknowledged that this reduces security somewhat Also added support for Oracle (by adding in the concept of a SID)
20 Mar 2002 (v1.2)	Added table editing ability
18 Feb 2002 (v1.11):	Removed hard coded $debug=1;
16 Feb 2002 (v1.1):	Added the two REPEAT functions
20 Jan 2002 (v1.0):	Initial version
CPAN Dependencies:	DBI
Other Dependencies:	phpmyadmin (optional, to support DATABASE_EDIT)
Perl Version:	5.0 (tested with 5.6.1 [mysql] and 5.8.0 [Oracle and Local] )
Feedback:	http://foswiki.org/Extensions/DatabasePluginDev

Related Topics: DefaultPreferences, SitePreferences, Plugins