((generated))¶

What does it do?¶

DB App Builder (DAB) makes it is possible to create DB applications in Typo3 without the need to write extensions in PHP or greatly reduces the needs for PHP programming. It is designed as a RAD tool that makes the default DB coding trivial and fast. DB App Builder extents the Extension Kick starter with extra an extra section where it is possible to define FE data views that are rendered with the FE content element Data View (a part of this extension).

Features in DAB

• DB grids and lists with master/slave relations to other grids and input forms on the same page or other pages.
• Ajax support where master/slave relations are handled without page reload.
• Graceful degradation in browsers that do not support Javascript and Ajax, all most all functionality is retained but with page reload.
• Support all features that are possible to define in TCA.
• Support for FE access control.
• FE editing, as forms or directly in DB grids.
• Support for events like onSelect and onCreate where SQL statements and PHP code may be executed.
• The created DB applications are possible to upload to TER for sharing with the Typo3 community.
• Extensive support for CSS.

Example of a small DAB application

Requirements¶

Before you are able to use DAB you must install the extension Extesnion Kickstarter and learn how to define tables and relations. There exists several videos about the kickstarter on typo3.org but Extension Kickstarter episode III is the most important.

Overview of the process¶

1. Define the tables

With DAB you start as normal in the Extension Kickstarter by defining the tables.

2. Define the data views

After tables and relations are created you move on to define the data views in the Data view section. A data view is a set of definitions that specify how tables should be presented in the front end. In a data view you specify the fields that should be visible, sort order and master/slave relations between data views.

3. Render the Data views in front end

Each data view is rendered in the front end with the plug-in Data view (a part of this extension). By placing all views on one or more pages you are making the actual implementation of your DAB application.

What is going on¶

What DAB does behind the scene when rendering the data views in the front end is basically to create the SQL query that fetch the data from the table specified in the data view. The construction of the SQL query is based on the table definitions as they are stored in TCA and the settings of a data view. The constructed SQL query is executed and the result set is applied to a HTML template.

Defining the tables¶

When creating a DAB application the tables and relations are defined as normal in the extension kick starter.

Defining Data Views¶

The next step is to create the data views of each table. Data views are defined in the Data view section click on the plus next to the section title and the settings for a single data view of one table could be created.

Front end rendering¶

To display a data view you should use the FE plug-in Data view (a part of this extension).

Upgrading from versions previous to version 1.0.0¶

If you have installed an older version of DAB you may need to perform several steps when upgrading to version 1.0.0.

First of all you have to run the Update tool in the extension manager in order to convert old DAB plugin content elements to the new Data viewer content element.

Next you will have to go thru all views defined in the kickstarter to set new options and check that master views ect. Are converted correctly.

Finally you have to go thru all views on FE pages to set new functionality there.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but these changes where needed in order to gain the benefit of ease of use.

Master/slave relations between grids and records¶

Master/slave relations between grids and records are setup in the Data view section in the kickstarter. When rendered in the front end DAB depends on the evaluation order of the components on a page to generate the master slave relations.

This means that a master must be evaluated before a slave when a page is generated. In other words master grids should generally be on top of a slave. If Templa voila is used as pages templating system a pages is generated by the order of fields in the template DS.

Styling the views¶

The default template that comes with the extension is based on CSS styling. The DAB components are designed so they can share styles but also allows you to style each component individually. The default template is located in EXT:aux_dataviewer/res/template.tmpl and the default style sheet is located in EXT:aux_dataviewer/static/setup.

To allow for flexiable styling each row, button field etc. has several css class names. As an example a record field in a grid may have the following classes: dvGridRow dvField dvType_#TYPE# dvField_#NAME# dvEven

Where #TYPE# is substituted with the field type and #NAME# is substituted with the name of the field.

Use FireFox and FireBug to examine the active styles.

Static extension template TS properties¶

Support for multiple languages¶

DAB supports the language features in the extension kickstarter. If you specify different table field labels for each language in the kickstarter and set the config.language in the setup part of your (main) ts-template, then DAB automatically fetches the field labels for the selected language.

Extending your application with Typo Script in DAB views¶

It is possible to let DAB build more advanced SQL queries by adding Typo Script to a Data View in the Extension Kick starter.

Notice You can not specify any of these typo script values to normal Template extensions. The typoscript that is described below is only valid in the TS section of the data view in the Extension kick starter

extraFields {
        artistlink{
                label=Artist web site
                type=select
                foreignTable=tt_auxcdcollection_artist
                foreignField=website
                keyField=artist
                visible=true
        }
}

events{
        onNew{
                10{
                        function=setField
                        field=feuser
                        value=###feuser###
                }

        }
}

Extend TCA for your tables¶

Normal practice is to define all additional TCA settings in the file tca.php in your extension. Because the extension kickstarter rewrites tca.php you may loose these extra settings. If you need to add extra TCA information use the file dab_tca.php in the ext:dab/user/dab_tca.php this file is saved from rewriting in the kickstarter.

Example of how to add extra TCA information:

$TCA["tx_auxproductsupport_prodversion"]["ctrl"]["label_alt"] = 'version';

$TCA["tx_auxproductsupport_prodversion"]["ctrl"]['label_alt_force' ]=true;

Extending your DAB application with PHP¶

DAB supports PHP by automatically creating a class for each data view that is created in the Extension Kickstarter. These classes are located under EXT:your_extension/DAB/user/views. The methods in these classes are called as events and currently DAB supports the following events: onBeforeInsert, onAfterInsert, onBeforeUpdate, onAfterUpdate, onSelect onDelete and onGetText.

Parameters and return values are described in the PHP class files.

IMPORTANT

DAB is a RAD tool and kindly saves your modified PHP view class files from being deleted if you want to define new tables and data views in the Extension kick starter.

General information¶

Fill in the name of the extension, author etc.

Very important is to enter that this extension depends on DAB the extension key for DAB is auxdataviewer. If you don't and uploads this extension to TER other Typo3 users may come in troubles if they have not installed DAB.

Defining tables¶

The next step is to define the tables that should be used in our DAB application. This is done as normal in the tables section. In our application we need the tables artist, cd and category.

Artist table

Category Table

Define the music category table

CD Table

Defining the views¶

The next step is to create the views that is done in the DataView section in the Kickstarter menu.

Artist View

CD view

In the picture above the masterview is created by selection the name of the master view in the “Add new view master” and then click add:

The next step is to match the fields that makes up the releation

After that select the default settings for the view

CD info view

Notice above the external field website. It is defined selecting the view and enter a name

Next match the relation by selecting artist in the Master field and website in Label field

Next fill in the default settings notice that the external field now appears in the field list.

All tables and views are defined the next step is to create the extension and install it.

Click on the button View Result

Click write to create the extension.

Install the extension.

Creating page structure¶

Before we are able to view any thing in FE we need to create a page to show in FE and a sys folder to hold the records.

In the DAB data folder you should create some records for category, artist and cd. In the example below i have only created CD records for U2.

On the FE page you should insert the content element Data view in order to see the data views defined in the extension kickstarter.

The artist view

The CD view

the Cd detail view

In templavoila it should look something like that

And in the front end it should look like this.

Thats all it takes to make a DAB application.