MBG Scaffolder: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted in a PHP Scaffolding Package
The MBG Scaffolder package is an open source PHP scaffolding utility designed and modeled (loosely) after the Ruby On Rails scaffolding concept. Born out of necessity, MBG Scaffolder provided a front-end web interface for quickly manipulating data within MySQL databases. The first iteration covered the basics, allowing record creation, retrieval, updating and deletion. It also allowed for automatic table joins using referential rules within the database. But it was still pretty limited.
About a month ago, MBG Scaffolder underwent a major revamp, gaining a whole lot of additional features in the process. Effectively reborn, the second iteration of this package exists entirely in a single, mini-fied file of less than 200 kilobytes. Using MBG Scaffolder is as easy as placing the file in any web-accessible directory and loading the page from a web browser. The package is written using PHP and Javascript so the web server must have built-in support for PHP (version 5.x or higher) and the client must have Javascript enabled. Other than that, there are virtually no other dependencies.
For those who are new to the MBG Scaffolder package, consider the following:
Have you ever wanted to join a field containing comma-separated values (record ids) to the records that correspond to those values in a lookup table? Known as a CSV field type, the option to join lookup tables with comma-separated values is now available, but only using MBG Scaffolder. Want the ability to control input based on a pre-established list of values from an Enum field type? New drop list options for all lookup tables, as well as Enum and Set field types are now available, providing users with a friendly list of pre-validated options. Need to test database performance on a large scale but lack the necessary data? The new Bulk Insert feature gives developers the ability to insert anywhere from 5 to 10,000 random and data-type specific records in mere seconds. Tired of filling out the same form field information for dozens of records? Using the MBG Scaffolder’s Insert Plus One option means you only fill the form out one time for as many records as you need. Check out the complete list of new features (below) for more details.
In case you missed it, the MBG Scaffolder package also includes built-in help documentation. I tried to make using the class as intuitive as possible, but I also realize that there may be questions regarding specific features. If you run into any problems, feel free to leave me feedback using the Comment form, or check for answers within the help docs themselves. And don’t forget that a good number of the front-end features, such as field labels, buttons, and even some of the more commonly seen errors, offer built-in help links to assist users in getting started. So if you’re dumbstruck by a particular feature, try looking for a helpful link nearby.
The MBG Scaffolder package is now fully available for download here. You can also test out a live demo of the most recent version using the credentials that follow. Tables without a primary or unique key are now fully accessible in a read-only format. The Blogs and Comments tables are fully modifiable so feel free to add, update and remove records. The Bulk Insert feature makes it really easy to add records back in for testing. The remaining tables are locked down since they are the referential tables used to feed the primary tables. Also, just for the record, I’m not trying to recreate PHPMyAdmin so there are currently no plans for database structure (tables, fields, etc) manipulation at the moment. This tool is designed strictly with CRUD in mind.
The demo requires the following info:
Username: scaffold
Password: scaffold
The server name field supports fully-qualified domain names, so you can conceivably connect up with any DNS-registered MySQL server and play around. Just be aware that there is no SSL or SSH option yet. So it works similar to PHPMyAdmin in that respect (credentials are passed unencrypted). I hope to add an option for SSH some time in the future but this will increase the file footprint dramatically so it’s on hold for now. Also, the regular expression matching for SQL terms in both queries and records is still in need of tweaking but I’m getting there. Most everything else should be relatively bug-free. Please let me know if you come across any issues or have any suggestions for features, etc.
| Active Record Highlighting | Visually identifies the last record modified by a user |
|---|---|
| API Interface | Easy class instantiation makes for quick access to all public variables and functions |
| Auto-Generated Form Fields | Builds complete entry forms based on database specifications and field types |
| Auto-Generated Select Lists | Converts all reference tables, enums, sets, and boolean field types to user-friendly drop lists |
| Auto-Join Disabler | Provides users with the ability to enable / disable individual auto-join policies based on field type |
| Bulk-Insert Option | Allows developers to test database or front-end performance using randomly generated type-consistent values |
| Client-Side Validation | Enforces data type matching and non-null field types - alerts and highlights any form fields with errors |
| Controlled Access | Uses built-in MySQL permissions to control access to databases and tables |
| CSV Field Type Support | Provides users with the ability to automatically join a character field with comma-separated-values to corresponding records within a lookup table |
| Data Exporting | Capture all records from a table based on specific query criteria and save them to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for further analysis. |
| Data Type Matching | Ensures that values entered are correct based on the field type selected |
| Date Time Calendar | Eliminates formatting errors during date time field insertion and modification |
| Error Reporting | Tracks and reports on any internal object errors as well as MySQL errors and warnings |
| Extensive Field Types | Supports bigint, bit, bool, boolean, char, datetime, decimal, double, enum, float, int, longtext, mediumint, numeric, set, smallint, text, timestamp, tinyint, tinytext, and varchar |
| File Upload Support | Allows users to upload one or more files within a single database table while capturing all the standard file data such as path, name, type, size, and file extension. |
| Flexible and Intuitive | Works "auto-magically" out-of-the-box with most standard MySQL configurations. |
| Friendly GUI | Simple 3-tab interface makes option selection quick and easy |
| Full Paging and Sorting | Allows users to more easily work within larger tables and find the records they need |
| Help Docs | Helpful documentation is automatically compiled into the tool to help acclimate new users |
| HTML Tag Stripper | Allows or denies HTML tag support within field values during record inserts and updates |
| Individual Field Selection | Gives users the ability to individually select one or more specific fields from a table |
| Javascript Independent | Minimal Javascript requirements means no dependency on additional Javascript frameworks or libraries |
| Location Independent | Capable of accessing any local MySQL server with "localhost" or any remote server with a fully qualified domain name |
| Minimized Data Option | Enforces min/max row height in record display to assist users in accessing individual records and data |
| Multi-Referential Lookup Support | Allows multiple fields within a primary table to point to the same lookup table |
| No AJAX Complications | Relies on standard HTML form submissions to reduce complexity and file footprint required |
| Query Generator | Dynamic SQL queries based on user selections |
| Query Viewer | Allows users to view the final SQL output |
| Record Duplication | Duplicate an existing record in mere seconds using this feature. |
| Record Row Resizer | Allows users to expand or contract records displayed through the web interface to more easily view the data within. |
| Records Per Page Option | Allows users to select anywhere from 10 to 100 records at a time |
| Server-Side Validation | Provides a fall-back with default null, blank or numeric values, in the event of client-side validation failure |
| Single File Format | Releasable version is compiled and minified to reduce file size and make for easy deployment |
| Small Footprint | Total disk space usage of less than 150 kilobytes |
| Software Update Notification | Automatically checks for the latest version of the software and notifies developers when a newer version is available |
| Syntax Highlighting | Color-coded SQL syntax makes it easier to distinguish reserved words within queries and field data |
| Table and Field List Generator | Automatically provides users with a list of available resources on the server based on database permissions |
| User-Friendly Labels | Converts upper case, lower case, camel case and underscores to human readable headers and select options |
| Where Clause Generator | Allows users to specify an unlimited number of SQL query conditions using pre-validated values for all lookup tables, enum, set and datetime field types |