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Install Question

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Install Question
I'm installing DBMan SQL from the web interface. Could someone clarify something for me? During the setup process you have to enter the following:

SQL Server Type
SQL Hostname
SQL Database
SQL Username
SQL Password

Concerning the database above, is this a database used for internal DBMan stuff or is this your pre-existing database that you will be using DBMan to edit.

That question doesn't sound clear. Let me try this another way. I have a preexisting database with tables for news articles, events and address books. Is this the database I need to specify in the install process?
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Re: [acravens] Install Question In reply to
Quote:
SQL Server Type
SQL Hostname
SQL Database
SQL Username
SQL Password


Concerning the database above, is this a database used for internal DBMan stuff or is this your pre-existing database that you will be using DBMan to edit.

The SQL setup is for internal DBMan stuff.
When you setup DBMan SQL it installs a number of tables. (e.g Dbsql, Dbsql_EmailMailings, Dbsql_EmailTemplates, etc, Sample, Sample_Files, etc). The Dbsql ones are for DBMan to keep track of your other tables as well as handling emailings, templates, relationships, etc. The Sample ones are just that - samples and are only used as examples (you can delete them if you want).

Once you have DBMan all set up then you can add your pre-existing tables (news articles, events and address books, etc). You don't need to specify any of these in the initial setup.

Hope that help.
Simon.
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Re: [jai] Install Question In reply to
I'm having some trouble visualizing how this whole system works and the documantation doesn't help any. I've been using DBMan (the text file version) for several years and I was under the impression DBMan SQL was the same thing but for SQL instead of text files. In DBMan you set up the default.cfg (or whatever you called the database) and that defines the layout of your data entry forms. When you access the db.cgi script you simply supply the db you want to in the URL and the script loads the proper cfg file and away you go. So naturally, when I installed DBMan SQL I looked through the documentation and immediately started searching for the section that tells you how to setup the cfg file (or the new equivalent to a cfg file). It makes no sense to me at all.

I already have a database named webapps and it contains my tables for the web applications I will be using. I don't want to create any databases or create tables or modify tables etc. I just want to configure DBMan SQL so I can start using the auto generated data entry screens with the tables I already have.

When I installed DBMan SQL I installed it in a database called "dbman." I can't figure out how to access the tables in a different database, like webapps. The install asks you for a default table. The concept of a default table doesn't make sense either. I have lots of tables I want to manage data for and they're all independent of each other. As far as I can tell there is no "default" table. I will be using DBMan to edit data in my tables, a concept similar to using a word processor to edit documents. Asking for a default table is like installing a word processor and asking for a default letter upon installation. It's going to change upon each use. I'm totally missing the boat here.

Is there a document that explains the DBMan SQL archetecture? The pdf file that comes with it does not. On chapter 3 "The Admin Panel: Tables" doesn't even tell you what URL to go to to access the admin panel. This is really frustrating.
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Re: [acravens] Install Question In reply to
Go to your admin (path should be something like) -
http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/dbman/admin/admin.cgi?
Go to Paths and URLs and at set the following (if they are not already set) -

default_table: Sample
default_tpl: default
default_user_table: Sample_Users

That means that the default table will be Sample (you can set this to any table) and unless you specify another table in the url (e.g http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=tablename) the default table will be loaded. http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi? will load the Sample table.
The default template is the part that seems to be confusing you. With DBMan SQL you can set a different template for each of your tables or share the same one for multiple tables. All template sets are stored in the following directory on your server -
path_to_your_server/cgi-bin/dbman/admin/templates. So the above setup is using the default template set which is a set of html files (e.g add_form.html, modify_form.html, etc).
The default user table is the table that stores all the users for one or more different tables. As with the template set, you can have different user tables for different tables.
At this stage set your defaults as indicated above until you understand how it works.
Next, while still in your admin Click on Table. Unless you have already loaded your custom tables you will only see the preloaded tables (e.g Book, Author, Sample, etc) in the Editor drop down menu. Below that you will see the options for creating and loading tables.
Once you have created or loaded your custom tables you can set the templates, usertable, permissions, etc. by selecting the table name in the Editor list and selecting setup in the list below that and then hit Go.
At this stage, your custom tables should work using the default template set and sample users table. You can change them later when you understand how it works.
Hope that helps.
Simon.