Creating/updating database tables needed by a mod

[John Line]

Background:

I'm working on a phpBB3 mod which will integrate our (University of Cambridge) local web single sign-on facility and our local directory service into phpBB. The authentication side is largely complete, though it needed rather a lot of small changes scattered around the core phpBB code (unavoidably, I believe, though I'll skip the details). For the directory integration, I need to add some database tables, and potentially also update the structure of those tables in future. Hence the questions below.

That would be easy if I only needed to do it for a single phpBB installation that I was running, but the modifications are being made available more widely - though only locally since they'd be no use outside the context of our authentication and directory services.

Additionally, because of the extensive changes needed to core phpBB code (several hundred lines of +/-/! lines in unified context diff, not counting totally new files), I'm not currently using the MODX format for distribution. It would be far too time-consuming and error-prone requiring people to make all those changes by hand, initially or after each upgrade to a new release of phpBB. For now, I'm distributing kits comprising edited copies of the files that are changed by the modifications (to copy in place of the original versions), necessarily with distinct kits for each phpBB release. If/when an automated MODX installer is available, that would become the preferred option. I don't know if that would simplify things in relation to the questions below, but for now it's not an option.

If anyone has suggestions for a better approach now (i.e. without a MODX installer) than simply providing modified copies of complete files, I'd certainly be interested.

The questions:

(1) I've seen the suggestion at [url]http://phpbbmodders.net/board/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1984&p=12932&hilit=create_schema_files.php&sid=8f29bbe82d1b7e3a7a7b3b797abb0d3c#p12932[/url] to use the create_schema_files.php in the /develop folder from the CVS. But that prompts more new questions than it answers.

That suggestion was apparently in the context of adding tables during phpBB installation, but I really need solutions that will work when installing or upgrading the modifications when phpBB has already been installed.

Is that script still relevant for my rather different situation?

It's unclear how the schema files it generates would actually be used "standalone", without the phpBB installation scripts to select the right set of definitions for the database being used and do whatever was necessary to create or modify the extra tables. I'd prefer not to have to give people lengthy/confusing instructions for how to identify the right schema file and process it "by hand", rather than "run this script" and/or "access this URL" to do what's needed.

(2) While I was able to obtain a copy of create_schema_files.php from the phpBB 3.0 CVS at [url]http://area51.phpbb.com/cvs/[/url], and ran it successfully (without making any changes), the resulting schema files did not match the versions included in the phpBB 3.0.2 kit - and although I had a look around, I could not find a corresponding version of that script for phpBB 3.0.2.

That may be irrelevant if all I need is to generate schema files for the extra tables that I needed (and that may depend on how they'd actually be used to create/update the tables) - but it would certainly be important if the easiest way to get the relevant generated schema file used would involve a processing script that would expect to be dealing with definitions for all the standard phpBB tables as well as an extra ones. Where should I be looking for copies of create_schema_files.php that match the database structure for a particular phpBB release?

Those are the important questions that spring to mind at present, though maybe they are the wrong questions and I should be looking in a totally different direction for the best way to handle adding/updating tables when installing a modification, in a way that can be done by "anyone" who's running phpBB, not necessarily a PHP, phpBB, or database expert.

Any suggestions?

John

[momentum]

[Lord Le Brand]

The create_schema_files.php is in the SVN on http://code.phpbb.com/repositories/show/5, for phpBB 3 it's in the /branches/phpBB-3_0_0/phpBB/develop/ folder. It would most certainly be appropriate for your table creation queries. For installing them, I have based the installation script for my MOD, [url=http://phpbbmodders.net/board/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2675]phpBB Project[/url], on phpBB's script.
Also, for installing MODX, there's Blinky: http://code.phpbb.com/repositories/show/6

[igorw]

You may want to take a look at these two articles i've written: [url=http://phpbbmodders.net/articles/3.0/create_table/]create a new table[/url] and [url=http://phpbbmodders.net/articles/3.0/dbal/]dbal[/url] (db tools). They may answer some of your questions.

[John Line]

Sorry for the delay replying, but thank you all for those suggestions - very helpful!

John

[leviatan21]

[igorw]

If a query fails it will display an error automatically.

[leviatan21]

[igorw]

Yes.

[leviatan21]