idbWeb ReadMe Document Version 0.2 - June 2009

Demo site (edit and delete are patched out)

Read Me

This is an application to provide an web interface to the tables and files from the iPhone/iTouch application called iDB Datamaster. I like the application and it is very handy. But trying to enter any significant amount of information via the iTouch keypad is tough with my fat fingers. In addition, there really isn't any easy way to import information from external sources to the iTouch.

BUT, the application does have a nice feature that lets you download a CSV file from the iTouch, and also upload this file (or one that has been added to) back to the iTouch.

iDbWeb is an application to import the CSV files into a mySql database, provide some basic display and edit capabilities, and then create a new CSV that can be uploaded back to the iTouch.

It does NOT 'sync' the data between the two systems. It is an import/export operation. When you load from the CSV it completely replaces and information currently in the table. When Datamaster loads the CSV to the iTouch, it completely replaces the current information. iDbWeb does allow you to import/export individual Datamaster tables from the CSV that Datamaster creates. When you create a CSV to go back to Datamaster, only the one table is written to the CSV, and Datamaster only replaces the information in that particular table.

Requirements:

• PHP 5 (I currently have 5.2.0 installed)
• MySql (I currently have 5.0.32 installed)
• PDO pdo_mysql as part of PHP
• PureMVC PHP (I have 1.0.2 installed)
• Smarty template engine (I have 2.6.21 installed)

Installation:

• I have included both PureMVC and Smarty in the distribution, just to make it easier to get started. If you move these, you will need to make some adjustments to the index.php.
• Copy idbConfigInfo.php from idbweb/iwbase/classes/ to idbweb/iwlocal/classes/ and change the settings to connect to your mysql server. The user id will need permission to create and delete tables in addition to the normal update/query/insert.
• You only need to create one table initially (idb_tables). The system creates all the individual tables for the files on the fly. The SQL to create the table is in idb_tables.sql.
• The web server needs read and write permission to the directory 'idbweb_Cache' and all of it's sub-directories. This is the only directory that it needs write permission to. All the others can be set to read only for security.
• There is conflict between PHP 5.2.8 and SMARTY 2.6.21. The work around can be found on the Smarty site. Do a search on 2.6.21 issues and 'Compilation failed'.

Security Note:

Just a reminder that the tables in iDbWeb are not encrypted. And the system does not use HTTPS. So your information goes out in the clear. I have tried to be careful to at least make it 'not easy' to hack things. But use this system at your own risk. It is primarily intended to be a means to get data into Datamaster easier, so it is really designed for a home based web server.