SQL Dump Import for views / table structure

[TerryHarker]

Is there a way to start the admin views or the component somehow from a MySQL dump (i.e. from CREATE TABLE statements)? This would be very useful for people who work with an existing EER diagram. Of course, the admin views and fields would have to be reviewed and adapted / completed afterwards, but starting from an EER diagram for me as a visual person is much easier to oversee.

[Llewellynvdm]

Yes, there is indeed a feature in JCB that addresses this use case.

If you create a new component in JCB, you’ll notice a tab labeled “Dynamic Build” within the component view. This feature allows you to dynamically generate the backend admin views and fields based on a MySQL SQL dump.

The process works as follows:

1. First, create the basic structure of your component in JCB, no need to link any tables or fields manually at this stage.
2. Save the component at least once to initialize it.
3. Then, navigate to the Dynamic Build tab within the component view.
4. Paste your SQL dump into the provided field.

JCB will analyze the SQL structure and generate the relevant admin views, fields, and configurations accordingly.

To improve the accuracy of the generated fields (e.g., field types, labels), you can follow a convention where additional metadata is embedded in the SQL column comments. This helps JCB determine more specific field types instead of defaulting to generic text fields.

While this feature may not be fully comprehensive yet, it already provides a powerful and time-saving way to scaffold components based on an existing database schema. We've successfully migrated several large extensions into JCB using this method, especially when working from an EER diagram or legacy schema.

Of course, the generated views and fields should still be reviewed and refined, but this is a solid starting point for rapidly bringing an existing database structure into a JCB-managed Joomla component.

Hope this helps!

[TerryHarker]

Thank you lots, I‘ll check this right away! Kind regards, Terry Harker

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[TerryHarker]

Thank you, I see that works as in: it creates fields and it creates admin views from my MySQL dump. What it doesn't do is:

• link field types to fields - as you mentioned it would help if I add the right comments to the columns of my dump. I tried the ones in the dynamic build section (JSON format) and it didn't work. The generated fields have no type.
• add a name for the field - can I use some commenting here as well?
• link fields to admin views - this seems to work in a way that I do see some fields in the admin view but only linked by their ID and no information available about the field.
• link admin views to component - what can I do in terms of naming here?

It would obviously be userful to have a tutorial, but I didn't find any.