Documentation
Introduction – Beta Version 0.1.1
TurboDbAdmin is a single-page
AJAX solution for exploring and editing databases from a browser. This is the first public beta release, version 0.1. Feature additions and improvements are planned for upcoming release so please check back at
TurboAjax.com regularly. We greatly appreciate your feedback and welcome your contribution to our
discussion forums. This release supports:
- navigating to and browsing table data
- viewing table schema
- editing of table data, including add and delete records
TurboDbAdmin is published by the
TurboAjax Group and was constructed using
TurboWidgets, a suite suite of professional Javascript / AJAX enabled user interface controls.
TurboDbAdmin has been tested on Firefox, Mozilla, and Internet Explorer 5 or higher. We are working on expanding browser support. Other browsers may be compatible; results will vary.
- Access to a web server, for example Apache or Microsoft IIS with the ability to upload files. See the Apache web site for information about installing the Apache web server.
- PHP 4 or higher installed on your web server. See the PHP web site for information about installing PHP.
- MySql 3 or higher accessible by your web server. See the MySql web site for information about installing MySql.
- Your database server name, user name, and password.
- Although not required, you should have the ability to password protect a folder on your web server. See the Security section. (Optional but strongly recommended.)
Installation Instructions
To use TurboDbAdmin, it must uploaded and installed on a web server.The following instructions assume that you have downloaded TurboDbAdmin from
TurboAjax.com and explain how to upload and configure the application to run from a web server. TurboDbAdmin may be installed and run on a web server running on your local machine or a remote web server.
- Make sure you satisfy the Requirements before attempting to install TurboDbAdmin:
- Decompress the contents of the installation file to a folder of your choice on your local machine.
Option: If you prefer, upload the installation file to your web server and decompress it on the server using your shell access. Decompress to a folder of your choice (for example <web-root>/turbodbadmin), and then skip step 4 below.
- Navigate to the file /php/config.php, edit it a text editor, and insert the values for your database server name, username, and password. Then save and close the file.
- Upload the contents of the TurboDbAdmin folder to a location of your choice on your web server, for example <web-root>/turbodbadmin.
- You may choose to password protect the directory in which you have uploaded TurboDbAdmin. See http://www.ssi-developer.net/htaccess/htaccess_protection_simple.shtml for a tutorial on .htaccess password protection. See the Security section. (Optional but strongly recommended.)
- Open the url <www.your-host.com>/<your-install-dir>/ in your web browser. If you installed TurboDbAdmin on your local machine, the url will most likely be localhost/<your-install-dir>/.
TurboDbAdmin does not secure the data in your database in any special way. It is your responsibility to maintain the integrity of your data. We recommend you do this by password protecting access to the folder containing TurboDbAdmin on your server and thus controlling access to the application. Strictly speaking, this is optional; however, it is strongly recommended since if you do not protect the directory in which TurboDbAdmin resides, anyone browsing TurboDbAdmin on your server will be able to edit your data.
Browsing table and schema data
Click on a table in the database server tree at the left of the page. The data in the table will be displayed in the grid. To navigate within a table, scroll down the grid or click and drag the page slider to display the desired records.
Click on a column header to sort by that column. To switch between viewing table data and the table schema, click the Data and Schema tabs.
Editing table data
Editing is locked by default to preserve data integrity. Click the Lock button to lock or unlock data editing. Then click in a cell and modify the value.
Edits are saved by row when you move between rows or when you click the Apply Edit button. The Cancel Edit button cancels all edits made to cells in the row being edited. You can move between cells by pressing the TAB key, cancel a cell edit by pressing ESC, and accept a cell edit by pressing ENTER.
Click the Add Row button on the toolbar to add a record. Click the Delete Row button to delete the selected record(s). To select more than one row to delete, hold down the Shift or CTRL keys while clicking on rows.
Please note that clicking the Refresh, Back, or Foward buttons on your browser while in the process of editing a row will abort any edits you've made.
Errors during editing
If an error occurs when edits are being saved to the database server, edits are aborted and table data is refreshed from the server. Any edits made to the row will have to be redone.
Errors can occur when entered values are restricted by the database server.
For example, if multiple cells are edited in a row including a duplicate value in the primary key cell, an error will occur. The table will be refreshed and edits will be lost. It is then necessary to redo the desired edits and enter an allowable value in the primary key field.
When an error occurs, a prompt showing available error information is displayed. The error is also logged to the message window at the bottom of the browser page.
- 0.1.1: Fixed PHP5 support. Corrected remote procedure call library to reflect PHP 5 object passing conventions.
- On Firefox, mousewheel scrolling does not update the fixed column in the data-grid because of a known bug in Firefox.