Definition of database fields

bussard · 2008-04-14 12:29:47

Hello from Germany,

I’m new here. Thanks for having me on this forum.

I’m leaving Wordpress and I would love to like Textpattern, but the one thing I cannot figure out is where to turn to in order to find a description of the database fields. There are many fields in the various databases and the function of many fields are evident from their respective names, but what does the field lft in txp-category stand for; how does Title-html function in the main textpattern database; what is nonce in the users database; etc.

Is there a description of the various databases and definition of fields?

I’m using Navicat and I’m comfortable with phpMyAdmin, so I’m not looking for a mere listing of the fields.

Many thanks,
Robert

ruud · 2008-04-14 14:22:45

lft and rgt are used for sorting the categories in tree-view.
nonce is used in the authentication cookie.
title_html isn’t used, I think.

Mostly you can deduce the function of the column by looking at TXP source code (or ask here).

bussard · 2008-04-14 15:26:39

Thanks, that helped.

However, I was hoping for an actual list of definitions. Like when I Google for {wordpress “database description”} I get a link to a page in the Wordpress Codex which gives a description of the various fields in the various databases. The funny thing is when I substitute ‘textpattern’ for ‘wordpress’ in that Google search this yields in 4 results, but all pointing to pages that refer to Wordpress documentation. ;-(

Anyway, I’ve come across your name a lot in these forums so I gather that if you don’t know of comprehensive documentation in this respect, it probably does not exist.

Thanks again for your kind response,
Robert

Gocom · 2008-04-14 16:15:50

Also phpxref.com can help But where do you even need those descriptions about database?

Last edited by Gocom (2008-04-14 16:16:11)

els · 2008-04-14 16:35:06

How about a Database Reference :) (though descriptions are scarce…)

ruud · 2008-04-14 16:42:34

That database reference is the same thing that PHPmyAdmin shows.

bussard · 2008-04-14 21:22:28

@Els: Thanks, that’s the sort of reference format I was looking for, except that there are no descriptions given so it’s indeed, as Ruud observes, the same thing that phpMyAdmin shows.

@Gocom: I’m looking for a way to link categories to sections. I gather the txp approach is to create different template files and call a specific template depending on the section, thus defining the categories to be shown for that section, but this approach requires a decent knowledge of txp speak. From my initial observations, I think I would have preferred the section table to have just one more field: section_description and for the txp_category table to have the extra: section_name.

I understand that in the textpattern table, the fields Category1 and 2 are linked to the field name in txp_category. That’s good. It was what Wordpress had before version 2.3, allowing each article to be related to a category which I think is essential for any kind of CMS or even blogging app where content is deemed important enough to merit searching for it by category rather than by date.

I had hoped that textpattern would allow a similar relation between section and categories.

My question was aimed at trying to figure out which fields in the various database tables are not presently used so maybe I could ‘create’ a link between categories and sections.

The alternative approach is to simply add a few more fields. To the txp_category table, for instance, I could add section_name. Then it’s just a matter of using phpMyAdmin to enter the names of the various sections in the category table and from then on one template would suffice for all sections. The main reason for not immediately going this route is it makes upgrading Textpattern more difficult, especially if a new version would introduce changes to the database structure.

Anyway, darkness has descended over the fields and woods over here so I’d better sleep on it a while. Maybe someone has any thoughts on this issue?

Thanks for your suggestions.
Robert

els · 2008-04-14 21:54:23

I don’t know what you want to do exactly, but you can do a lot with conditional tags. You could also create parent categories with the same name as the section they should belong to and then use the parent attribute like this parent="<txp:section />" (you’d need asy_wondertag).

Anyway, I’m not elaborating because I don’t know what it is you need, but I’m reasonably sure that a lot more can be done with tags than you can think of at the moment :)

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#1 2008-04-14 12:29:47

Definition of database fields

#2 2008-04-14 14:22:45

Re: Definition of database fields

#3 2008-04-14 15:26:39

Re: Definition of database fields

#4 2008-04-14 16:15:50

Re: Definition of database fields

#5 2008-04-14 16:35:06

Re: Definition of database fields

#6 2008-04-14 16:42:34

Re: Definition of database fields

#7 2008-04-14 21:22:28

Re: Definition of database fields

#8 2008-04-14 21:54:23

Re: Definition of database fields

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