[bug] Fabrik confused when default connection is non-joomla db (deleting lists)

[batonac]

I'm trying to keep my Fabrik tables in a separate database from my Joomla tables. I really like this configuration since I have quite a few tables I'm building my Fabrik app with, and this keeps everything neat, clean, and segregated. Setting up multiple connections in Fabrik, and marking a default connection is icing on the cake for me. Thanks devs!

Unfortunately, there seem to be some quirks when setting the default connection to a non-joomla database.

When I try to delete a list from my non-joomla/fabrik-default database, I get the following error:

 1146 Table 'app_db.wk9ai_fabrik_formgroup' doesn't exist SQL=SELECT group_id FROM wk9ai_fabrik_formgroup WHERE form_id IN (6)

Obviously it's running a query on the wrong table, since 'app_db' is my non-joomla/fabrik-default database, and 'joomla_db' is where the 'wk9ai_fabrik_formgroup' table lies...

I know I've run into multiple errors in multiple places related to this problem, but I wasn't keeping track of them, so I'll try to the forum updated as I find them. Unless of course there is a way to quickly fix this everywhere...

 

[batonac]

I just noticed that you guys use the issue tracker in github. Should I be reporting bugs there instead? I'm trying to be as useful as possible, so please let me know.

 

[p38]

hi batonac,

I had major problems with cross site/cross table connections in Fabrik3.0.8 and J2.5, and spent a lot of hours debugging with the guys to solve many of these problems you will encounter. I often ended up hitting wall where I needed to do something, but could not due to this.

I strongly suggest try and keep your tables in the same connection, it will make your life much easier, I used specific prefixes to the tables so I could differentiate. I eventually took all my cross site tables and moved to the current site as I was wasting too much time.

Granted, I have been using Fabrikar quite extensively with lots of custom PHP/JS and non-normal situations

Paul

 

[batonac]

Thanks for your advice Paul. I too will be using Fabrik for extensive custom development. If this current buggy situation has no change on the horizon, I suppose there's nothing else to be done but settle with the prefix solution. It makes things more challenging to import my database structure from MySQL workbench, but that's life...

I do question whether or not Fabrik should advertise itself as multi-database though if that feature is ridden with bugs that will not be fixed in the near future...

 

[p38]

In defense of Fabrik, their support is absolutely brilliant, so if I ever did pick up problems, it would eventually be resolved in one way or another. I think Fabrik3.0.8 is more stable than the new Fabrik3.1 which is still in beta.

However, I dont think Fabrik is as strong on cross site connections, which is where I used it extensively. If you are patient in resolving with rob and the guys, it will eventually get done, but sometimes in a high dev environment, I cannot wait 2 or 3 days to get it resolved, so i found the easiest was using prefixes, simply to save time.

I use navicat instead of SQLWorkbench, and is a brilliant piece of mySQL software which gives me total control over my tables.

Sometimes, to speed up adding say 100 fields to a table, I would use navicat to add them in with copy and paste, then work further in Fabrik/joomla.

Cheers

Paul

 

[batonac]

Sorry for sounding critical. I love fabrik and I do think the support is stellar. I've run into multi-database problems multiple places in both version 3.0 and 3.1 so it seems like something that will require some major scrubbing of the core to get it in good working condition.

If Rob recommends that I try the multi-database and report bugs as they arise, then I will, cause I'd love to debug it, but if the dev resources are spread too thin for quick repairs of these bugs, then I'll just use the prefix method and let the multi-database features alone.

Thanks for your suggestions! I'll definitely keep navicat in mind

 

[cheesegrits]

Unless you really, really want to have your tables on a separate connection for reasons other than just "seems like the right thing to do", I'd recommend keeping them on the default (main J! site) connection.

Especially if you intend to use any 'user' elements, as we don't support cross-connection joining, so the 'user' element becomes very restricted if your data tables are on another connection. Similaraly if you intend to do much integration at the table level with anything else in J!.

-- hugh

 

[cheesegrits]

Oh, I totally second the recommendation for Navicat. I use it. It's the only piece of software I have which I use on a daily basis that I paid real actual spending money for. It may have gone up, I think it cost me about $100, but is worth every penny, if you do a lot of work at the database level.

-- hugh

 

[batonac]

Unless you really, really want to have your tables on a separate connection for reasons other than just "seems like the right thing to do", I'd recommend keeping them on the default (main J! site) connection.

Especially if you intend to use any 'user' elements, as we don't support cross-connection joining, so the 'user' element becomes very restricted if your data tables are on another connection. Similaraly if you intend to do much integration at the table level with anything else in J!.

-- hugh

This sounds like the solid advice I was looking for.

As an alternative to the prefix solution, I've created a fresh joomla install with a table prefix that starts with 'z', thereby keeping all joomla tables at the end of the list in fabrik and out of the way...

Thanks guys!