I understand that this is a very broad question and could get flagged but I need inputs from experienced programmers and will ask it anyway. If there is another forum where I can post this question, please let me know.
Currently we manage all our application information in an Excel spreadsheet. At a high level it contains an app id, the server names that it is hosted on and the name of the environment. The Excel spreadsheet has become too large and I am looking to build a simple application for it.
Ideally, I would like to write this app on Windows as everyone uses Windows but dont know how to go about it in Windows. I then thought of using MySQL and PHP or Perl (CGI) to build this but thought of exploring something new. I read about Joomla and a few other CMS products which make it very easy to build websites but am not sure whether these allows me to pull information from a database.
I am seeking inputs on what would be a good way to way to build this application.
Use Joomla! CMS is a good choice and to pull data from database you may use webservice calls. So, you will able to create a CMS website using joomla and will able to pull data easily from database with the help of webservice.
You can get webservice support in joomla by installing component redCORE in joomla.
Component: https://github.com/redCOMPONENT-COM/redCORE
Wiki: http://redcomponent-com.github.io/redCORE/?chapters/webservices/overview.md
Other videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzJkC7f9fJE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NRT5jh3Ewc
Joomla dev group discussion https://groups.google.com/d/msg/joomla-dev-cms/3OctbkIZlQw/5d_1MLrzbgYJ
You can also post questions in Joomla forum http://forum.joomla.org/
I think Joomla is a great option to handle big loads of information. If you already know PHP and don't need to reinvent the wheel, it's cool. The way of handling data in Joomla is using Components.
If you want to try, it would be as easy as installing a local copy of Joomla, building the field structure on component-creator.com installing it and importing the data inside the component using phpmyadmin.
I have a client with a content-heavy site built in CMS Made Simple. The redesign requires a mostly AJAX interface, and I think a frontend framework like Backbone or Angular would be the way to go.
I want to avoid moving off CMS Made Simple, though (client is used to that interface, it will be annoying to migrate all the data).
I think if I could find or create a RESTful api for CMS Made Simple, I'd solve my problem. But after searching around online, I only found CGSocialApp module, which seems to provide a limited API for things like user management. I've also looked into other AJAX solutions for CMS Made Simple, and there don't seem to be good modules for it.
If there is no ready-made solution for me, how complex would building a RESTful API module be? I haven't built a RESTFUL api in a PHP framework before.
Thanks for any guidance!
So, there is no easy answer for this question, as the CMSMS doesn't have a build-in RESTful API.
I would go for one of the two solutions:
1. Output the content as hand made json.
In CMSMS, you really have a lot of control on the templates. You could change the default templates to output json content instead of HTML content. The only issue is that the CMSMS will still send an http content-type header, that you can try to ignore in the JS part.
To access the menu, just remove it from the main template and create an empty page who output the {menu}with a custom template that also build json content.
That's the quick and dirty solution, but it should be very accessible in terms of doing it.
2. Create a dedicated module.
As far as I know, there are no modules that expose the CMSMS in RESTFul format, but a module is really very easy to build. Well, you can try to build it yourself, with the help of the community. It don't really solve the current problem, but it's a hint.
I hope it shed some light on the problem.
I wish to create a drag and drop feature for adding profile picture using CakePHP. Are there any samples which I can follow or a step by step guide?
I sourced many samples online but none of them cater for CakePHP.
I basically need a simple drag n drop for users to drag their profile image and the URL of the image is reflected in the database. The user will be able to edit another profile image. What approach should I use for this?
what you want to do is mostly about front-end, the back-end is generic server handling (in this case, PHP upload handling) and has little to do with Cake. That's why you don't see a specific cake tutorial for this. So, look up jquery drag drop and ajax upload. You'll also need to understand Cake rather well (well enough to adapt those online sample code to your Cake app).
I recommend you to use jQuery UI's draggable and droppable interactions.
Integrating them in CakePHP is quite easy, just follow the manual instructions to include Javascript files in a CakePHP application.
Finally, updating the database to reflect the URL of the image can be easily done with jQuery as well, using the AJAX related methods (e.g. post).
I am currently working on a CakePHP application that includes among other things a photo album that will be mainly maintained by an administrator.
I have now started to develop the Photo Album section of the site and was wondering about he following:
I know I have still to research into Windows Live Photo Gallery API
I am planning on using CakePHP Media Plugin to process my uploads and place each pictures in its corresponding folder.
However, what is the best approach to tackle this?
Should I create a Model/Controller with functions to handles this. For examples wluploads.php for the model and wluploads_controller.php. The model would then actsAs the Media Plugin.
Within the controller I would have actions like function upload(){, etc, to handle automatically/looped file uploads.
Is this a good approach. Can someone shed some light into some better approach?
Thank you very much!
You may find it easier (if you're comfortable with cakephp) just to create your own models/controllers and write the corresponding actions than using a plugin.
Should I create a Model/Controller with functions to handles this. For examples wluploads.php for the model and wluploads_controller.php. The model would then actsAs the
Media Plugin.
Within the controller I would have actions like function upload(){, etc, to handle automatically/looped file uploads.
Is this a good approach. Can someone shed some light into some better approach?
That is pretty much how I would do it - make a mode/controller with the relevant actions (upload_image etc) and post to the WL Photo Gallery API.
I want to create my own form that are submitted and values of that form will be stored in joomla database. How can i used the Joomla connection code to interacte with the joomla database.
If you just want to get your work done, there are some components already avaiable in Joomla Extension's website to your form's needs. CkForms is a good one, you can create simple forms with it that are automatically saved in the database (supports upload of files too).
If you want to learn how to write extensions in Joomla, you should read Joomla Official Documentation website.
Extensions in Joomla are divided in "Components", "Modules" and "Plugins". More informations about these differences can be found here and here.
What you're trying to achieve sounds a "component" to me. Downloading the CkForms and reading it's source code should get you started to Joomla's way of writing components.
EDIT: Joomla has a huge API with a lot of features. It has a database module of it's own, with insert methods and such. Reading Joomla's API website before implementing your component it's a good idea to avoid "reinventing the wheel" and it's a good practice since those methods are extensively tested by all Joomla users.
The JForm class helps you build forms.
Documentation can be found here:
joomla CMS: http://docs.joomla.org/API16:JForm
joomla API: http://api.joomla.org/11.4/Joomla-Platform/Form/JForm.html
This class provides you with ready to use form elements and form loading and/or processing methods
This class includes validation methods, date picker control, color picker, etc.
Of course, as another mentioned above, if you are building a module, component, or application, you will need to learn how to to develop a module, component or application. Of these three, the module is the easiest to implement.
The application gives you much freedom b/c you are not constrained to the CMS paradigm, front and back end complexities. However, there is little documentation about how to develop applications with Joomla framework b/c joomla as a framework is relatively new
This tutorial gets you started understanding how to use JForm to create a form in Joomla: http://www.ostraining.com/blog/how-tos/development/getting-started-with-jform/
Or you could just create add a html module to any position and then write the form in html i.e.
<form method="post" action="mycreatedpage.php"> <input type="text"/> <input type="submit">
Now just create a page that handles the code by emailing or inserting into db. I havent tried it but i think it should work.
Looks like everyone already told you almost everything I know except for the component creator. Very easy to use, and it follows Joomla standards. Will get you up and running within minutes.
I have got good working experience with Joomla RSForm Pro. It has got options for
validation
user email/admin emails on submit
file uploads
and many more
Good tutorials too. Get started with http://www.rsjoomla.com/support/documentation/view-knowledgebase/21-rsform-pro.html
Good luck!
Create View.
Create Model.
Create Table.
Create Controller ( if Needed ).
Create Form xml file.
Go here for more information:
http://docs.joomla.org/Standard_form_field_types
Take a look at the Chronoforms extension - does more than you want.
You have two options:
Use an already built custom form extension
Create your own custom form extension (or outsource it)
Now if you only want to modify the user registration form, then you can do some PHP customization to accomplish your goal.
Making forms in Joomla can be done in a couple of ways.
If you just wanted a contact us, you can just create a page with a menu item for the User contact form. This gives you a page with a Members address and contact form. So all you would need to do was add the user as the company of the websites home address and email. But the form is very basic, name, title, textarea for message.
Next up from that you could just make a Custom HTML module add add a form to it in plain HTML like +Sean said above this, you would need to code in PHP your own form process script. You would not get error in form data checking unless you also wrote it.
Next you might rather look on the Joomla Extension Directory JED for one of the good extensions for 3 and 2.5 Joomla RSForms!Pro is good, and can do all we have needed. This lets you add fields one by one and move your form around. Then can auto generate or custom the html of the form.
You can easily create your own forms with Fabrik
Chronoforms are now a days a very popular solution for custom forms in joomla. Chornoforms support twitter bootstrap also. In simple 5 steps you can create a contact form with unlimited fields and also embed various function like DB save, Email, Thanks Message, Redirection on any page. There is events and events will have particular events.
Also possibility of extension of Normal joomla registeration. It will not extend the core registration but at the time of registration you can take various information from users.
I would use Chrono Forms, they work really well and are easy to use.
Download here
Here is a full tutorial on the new Chronoforms 5 to help you get started quickly and understand most of the features available.
CLICK HERE
You can use plugin to insert external php form in content. It is easy and you don't need to make plugin etc. Please use this.
I suggest you to use breezingforms: http://crosstec.de/en/extensions/joomla-forms-download.html
It's one of the best solutions for custom form creation in joomla.