What is DaDaBIK?

Starting from version 4.0 alpha DaDaBIK uses the ADOdb Database Abstraction Library in order to support as many DBMS as possible, at the moment it has been tested on MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle and MS SQL Server.

The strength of DaDaBIK lies in its ability to be customized. For each field of a table you can choose:

• if the field should be included or not in the search/insert/update form and results table
• its label (what will appear in the form near the input field)
• its content format (e.g. numeric, alphabetic, e-mail, url......)
• the input type (e.g. select, date, text, rich text editor, password......)
• the possible values, also driven from another table (foreign key support)
• and more...

DaDaBIK also allows you to handle multiple tables. Other features include file uploading, export to CSV, checking for possible duplication during an insert, authentication and authorization restrictions on view/update/delete, e-mail notices, table aliases.

The graphic layout of DaDaBIK is customizable to help you to embed its forms in your own site.

DaDaBIK differs from other applications like PHPMyAdmin since it doesn't enable the complete administration of a database, but rather to easily create a simple and customizable Web application that manages a group of tables by allowing search/insert/update/delete operations. DaDaBIK's target user is not the DB administrator but rather the final user.

DaDaBIK is available in Italian, English, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Croatian, Polish, Catalan, Estonian, Rumanian, Hungarian, Swedish, Slovak and Finnish.

DaDaBIK on Sourceforge

The DaDaBIK project is hosted also on Sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dadabik/, visit the Sourceforge page for old releases and statistics.

Cos'è DaDaBIK?

DaDaBIK è un'applicazione PHP free che permette di creare facilmente un front-end personalizzabile per un database, consentendo ricerca, inserimento, modifica e cancellazione di record, tutto quello che devi fare è specificare alcuni parametri di configurazione.

A partire dalla versione 4.0 alpha DaDaBIK utilizza ADOdb Database Abstraction Library in modo da supportare il maggior numero possibile di DBMS, al momento è stato testato solo con MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle e MS SQL Server.

La forza di DaDaBIK sta nel suo livello di personalizzazione, per ogni campo di una tabella puoi scegliere:

• se il campo deve essere o meno incluso nella form cerca/inserisci/aggiorna e nella tabella dei risultati
• l'etichetta (quello che verrà visualizzato nella form a fianco dell'input field)
• il contenuto del campo (es. numerico, alfabetico, e-mail, url......)
• l'input type (es. select, date, text, rich text editor, password......)
• i possibili valori che il campo può contenere, anche letti da un'altra tabella (supporto per foreign key)
• e molto altro......

E' possibile gestire più tabelle contemporaneamente; tra le altre funzioni, c'è la possibilità di effettuare l'upload di files (immagini e altro), di esportare i risultati di una ricerca su un file CSV, di controllare gli inserimenti per prevenire possibili duplicazioni, l'autenticazione e le restrizioni su visualizzazione/modifica/cancellazione, le notifiche via e-mail e gli alias per i nomi delle tabelle.

Il layout grafico di DaDaBIK è personalizzabile per consentire di inserire le form nel tuo sito.

DaDaBIK si differenzia da altre applicazioni come PHPMyAdmin, il suo scopo non è di consentire la completa amministrazione di un database ma la creazione di una Web application semplice e configurable che gestisce le operazione di ricerca/inserimento/aggiornamento/cancellazione record su un gruppo di tabelle. Il target di DaDaBIK non è quindi il DB administrator ma l'utente finale.

DaDaBIK è disponibile in italiano, inglese, olandese, tedesco, spagnolo, francese, portoghese, croato, polacco, catalano, estoniano, rumeno, ungherese, slovacco, svedese e finlandese.

What about the author?

Eugenio works as a consultant for an italian software house (www.elfo.net) and teaches information systems at the Faculty of Economics, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore at Piacenza.

What's new?

DBMS preferences

After more than 1500 votes I think I can close the poll.
Here are the results:

I generally use DaDaBIK on:

MySQL: 41.7%
Other: 39.7%
Oracle: 12.4%
pgSQL: 3.7%
MS SQL Server: 2.5%

The win of MySQL was largely expected, the same for the MS SQL Server result. It's surprising, instead, that according to the poll the number of Oracle users is more than three times larger than that of PostgreSQL users and that "Other" gets 39.7%; this last result in my opinion is not reliable, even because I didn't get any comments specifying which is the DBMS used.

"Other" guys, which DBMS do you use DaDaBIK on? :)

6 Dec 2006 by Eugenio   0 comments

My BarCamp experience

Last Saturday I had my first BarCamp and I gave my presentation about DaDaBIK (I have uploaded the slides on SlideShare if you want to see them; slides are in Italian).

Most of the talks were about the blogosphere, the speakers have explored both technical and social aspect; the technical talks about software development were just a few but it has been an interesting experience anyway.

A little bit confused the talks agenda, which has changed several time but it was one of the first BarCamp in Italy (the second one) and anyway "No pre-scheduled presentations, no tourists." is one of the BarCamp rules :)

Here is a picture of my talk (thanks to fullo).

Bye,

4 Dec 2006 by Eugenio   0 comments

DaDaBIK @ BarCamp, Torino

On Saturday December 2, 2006 I will be in Torino (Italy) at BarCamp Torino 2006 to give a
seminar about DaDaBIK and rapid database front-end development.

I will explain how to use and exploit DaDaBIK using a real life example.

If you don't know what a BarCamp is, you can start reading the related Wikipedia page.

You are all welcome to come! The event is free, it is better if you register before at the BarCamp wiki.

Bye,

Eugenio.

24 Nov 2006 by Eugenio   0 comments

New release and news management

Hi,
a new version of DaDaBIK (4.1 release candidate 1) is available.
This version fixes some bugs, in particular two bugs related to the upgrade operation.

Check the change log for the complete list of changes.

Unfortunately the script I used to manage this "What's new" section had some problems (comments disappeared and spam) so I decided to write one from scratch; here it is! It has a CAPTCHA feature too, which should prevent spam.

I have imported only the messages from the old system and not the comments.

In future I will add the RSS support too.

Let me know if everything is OK.

Bye,

14 Nov 2006 by Eugenio   0 comments

Master/details view

Hi,
I'm playing on the master/details view; this feature is useful for example if you want to display on the same page the header of an invoice and all its items.

It's not so easy to find a clean method to implement it but I feel I'm following the right way. I think I will add this feature in the next alpha or beta release (4.2?).

Your suggestions are welcome.

Bye,

28 Oct 2006 by Eugenio   0 comments