Linking to an existing database

[healingsites]

I have two existing databases (Nursing Homes and Senior Day Care) that I want to query and provide results . I just want people to be able to search the database by city, state, etc (fields defined as columns in the MySQL table). I want the results presented to them - but I don't want them to be able to modify the databases. These can be two separate searches - I'm not even trying to combine them.

This sounds like it would be simple to do with Fabrik - but I am lost. I paid the $40 to get a subscription, but the documentation doesn't really help with this either - other than to state that it can be done.

Can someone provide me with a step-by-step for this?

I imagine that it is simple - but the documentation is not geared for this type of application yet.

Thanks! :-\

[echologic]

Hi Leonard,

First, download and install version 1.0.2 - it has many bug fixes.

After this has been done, go to your Joomla admin and select Components/Fabrik/Connections to set up and test the connections to your desired databases.

Now select Components/Fabrik/Table and select the "new" button. Fill out the appropriate form info and proceed to the data tab, select the dropdown for "Database Connection to use" and choose the database you want to work with first. Next, select the dropdown list for "Database Table to link to" and choose the table you want to work with, then select the "apply" button. In the data tab you will now see "Primary Key" as a dropdown list, this should be preset with the appropriate key and you should not need to change it. Now you should make sure your published and then go to your "access" tab. In the access area set your access levels to something like this:
"View Table" - to either public or registerd.
"View Detailed Record" - to either public or registerd.
"Edit records" to super administrator.
"Add records" to super administrator.
"Delete Records" to super administrator.

Create a menu link and save.
This will create your table, form, group and all the elements in the MySql table.

You should now be able to see data showing up in your front end table view, but it will show all the elements in the table, and if you have many elements it will likey be a little messy. To resolve this go to your Joomla admin and choose Components/Fabrik/Elements and select the appropriate group from the dropdown filter (this will isolate all the elements in the group for the table you want to deal with - very usefull if you have many groups). Remove any elements from the table view that won't be absolutly needed with the knowledge that they will be viewable in the detail/form view. You can also set up elements to to be used with a search filter in this section - please refure to your manual to find out how this is done.

Repeat this process for any additional tables and or databases.

We hope this helps and thank you for choosing Fabrik.

-Graylan King

[healingsites]

Thanks, Graylan.

I'll try that as soon as the 1.02 release is available. The link goes to SourceForge, but the page there is still empty - "no release found"

[echologic]

Hi Leonard,

Go ahead and try it in 1.0.1. We took 1.0.2 teporarily ofline at SourceForge, cuz a few bugs slipped past us and we did not want our users to have to deal with a slew of patches. We will repost it as soon as these have been corrected. In the meantime go ahead and run with 1.0.1.

Cheers,
-Graylan King

[healingsites]

Thanks for the help!!

I got it working with the smaller database:

http://seniorcenters.com/index.php?option=com_fabrik&Itemid=64

But not with the larger one:

http://seniorcenters.com/index.php?option=com_fabrik&Itemid=66

This one has 51,313 records and I can browse it in phpMyAdmin, but not in Fabrik. I get an error message from both the backend and the frontend:


Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[echologic]

Hi Leonard,

As this seems to be a server side error there is not much we can do with the information. Can you give us your setup info i.e..

PHP built On:
Database Version:
PHP Version:
Web Server:
Joomla! Version:

Thanks,
-Graylan

[echologic]

Hi Leonard,

We are looking into this for you.

-Graylan King