Re: Web-based PSQL?

Hello Stan,

On 29-Mar-00 06:33:32, you wrote:

>I know this has a standard SQL interface, but I was wondering if there was
>an existing web app that let you show schemas, create tables, edit data,
>and all of that from one simple interface.  Does PHP provide this?  Sorry
>for my confusing question. :-)

PHP is a language that provides native interface with many DBMS including
PostgreSQL.  PHP is also very suitable for Web applications, as a matter of
fact it's its most proeminent use.

I think there is a phpPostgreSQLAdmin program somewhere similar to
phpMyAdmin for MySQL that does what you need.

Personally I don't use such programs, not because they are not good, but
because like most Web developers I have a development environment in my
development machine and a production environment in online.

When I develop I often need to change database schemas, like
adding/removing/renaming tables/fields/indexes/sequences etc..  So, when I
move to the production environment the just tested development code that
uses an eventually upgraded database schema, I need to have the production
database schema updated to work with that new code.

To solve these and other development problems I developed a PHP package
named Metabase that is available here:

http://phpclasses.UpperDesign.com/browse.html/package/20


Metabase is DBMS independent package to access and manage SQL based
database servers using PHP.  You may think of it as a DBI-DBD like package
for PHP but in fact it is much more than that.

It comes with parser class that is able to process DBMS independent
descriptions of database schemas (tables, fields, indexes, sequences)
defined in a custom XML format.  There is a manager class that it is able
to process the data returned by the parser class and install the described
schemas using the interface class.  The interface class provides a single
API that uses DBMS specific driver classes to provide DBMS independency.

The really cool part of the manager class is that it is able to take two
versions of a database schema, the currently installed and the one you want
to upgrade to, and extract the list of differences between them
(added/removed/renamed tables/fields/indexes/sequences).  With that list it
is able to apply the changes in the installed database without disturbing the
data that was stored in the database since it was installed for the first
time or since it was updated for the last time.

The good part is that Metabase is available for free with several DBMS
specific driver classes including PostgreSQL which is in a very solid
state.  There are other drivers in a solid state like MySQL and Oracle and
some other in development which will be made available soon.  I developed
this package but other developers may contribute with drivers for other
DBMS.

Metabase provides many other interesting abstracted services, like
selecting the range of rows that will are returned by SELECT queries like
using the LIMIT keyword but in a way that works with any capable DBMS, and
also the ability to move data between distinct DBMS, eventually of
different vendors, without loosing data.

There are many other features that are documented in the user manual that
is available in the page listed above.  In this page you will also find a
tutorial document to get you started quickly with Metabase and well all the
drivers and other package classes.


Enjoy,
Manuel Lemos

Web Programming Components using PHP Classes.
Look at: http://phpclasses.UpperDesign.com/?user=mlemos@acm.org
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