This plugin is designed to help users of plugins that require them to create new tables in the database.

Some plugins need to create additional tables in the Textpattern database. Some of them (like this one) care to create and remove their own tables, however, some plugins give the user one or more text files with the commands required for MySQL to create the tables needed.

In these cases, the user is forced to use the mysql command line or the phpmyadmin tool in order to create the tables.

This plugin, although somehow still raw, is (hopefully) a simpler way to create tables for this kind of plugin.

Idea and development: Marcelo Vázquez
Tutoring: Mariano Absatz

Instituto de Tecnología ORT – Seminario de Tecnología y Aplicaciones

Usage

Install the plugin and activate it as usual. You will notice a new tab named Plugin Tables under the Extensions tab.

The first time you access it you’ll notice there’s only a message with a link:

The table ort_plugintables is required by this plugin. Click here to create this table.

Click on the link and you’ll see a list of the plugins installed (similar to the one in the Plugins tab). This list, however, has new columns:

• Tables
• Manage

The first one shows the number of tables a plugin has associated (by means of this plugin). The second one has two or three links:

• ADD
• SEL
• DEL

ADD will present you a textbox where you must paste the SQL command you were asked to run in MySQL to add a table. Press the Run Script button and the table will be added and associated to the plugin.

You must put only ONE CREATE command at a time. The current version of the plugin can’t handle multiple CREATE in one shot.

SEL allows you to associate an already created table (with this plugin) to a new plugin. This selection doesn’t take the table away from the original plugin. The table stays associated to both plugins.

DEL detaches the table from the plugin… if the table is no longer associated with any plugin, it gets deleted (dropped).

You can also click on the name of the plugin to see all the tables associated to it.

Warning

Every time you add/select/delete a table from a plugin, the plugin is disabled (you can re-activate it from this plugin’s tab).

Deleting plugins

If you delete (uninstall) a plugin that had tables associated to it, the plugin will still be visible in the Plugin Tables tab, but the only action possible will be deleting the tables from it.

Uninstalling ort_admintables

However since you don’t see this plugin’s table, you should delete the ort_plugintables table before deleting this plugin. This can be done with the link at the top of the Plugin Tables tab.

WARNING

This plugin has only been tested within a small environment. It lacks error checking when creating the tables so it might not work in all cases (although it probably won’t brake anything, but we can’t assure you of this).