DBcherry

Introduction

This page illustrates the functionality of DBcherry and provides various code snippets. More extensive information is available as well. At the moment this is very much a work in progress, so some links might not work (yet).

DBcherry Basics

Once you have created one or more classes that derive from DBobject and DBcherry, all functionality is accessible once you start Cherrypy. (Here's an example ).

Functions

Browsing all Items

The startpage of your CherryPy application shows a list of all items in root class. Similar list for other classes are accessible via the menubar at the top. You can scroll forward or backward by clicking Previous or Next. To add a new item click Add. It is also possible to delete or edit a specific item from the list by clicking the appropriate button in the first column.

Clicking on an item in the second column gives a full view of that item. The last column(s) show(s) attributes from items that are related. Clicking them gives a full view of that item.

Clicking on an item in the second column gives a full view of that item. The last column(s) show(s) attributes from items that are related. Clicking them gives a full view of that item.

Viewing a single item

Clicking on the 2nd column in the overview gives a full view of the item.

The full view not only shows all attributes of an item but also gives access to the add, edit and delete windows.

Searching

Each overview has a Search button. This button gives access to a dialog where search criteria can be entered.

Adding an item

Both the overview window and the view window provide an Add button. If the Add button is clicked, the user is presented a simple dialog with a fill-in field for every attribute. Depending on the data type this field may have additional utility buttons, like a calendar for dates or a file browse button for uploading pictures.

Editing an item

Both the overview and the view windows provide an Edit button. If the Edit button is clicked, the user is presented a simple dialog with a fill-in field for every attribute. The fields have the current value of the attributes filled in. Depending on the data type these fields may have additional utility buttons, like a calendar for dates or a file browse button for uploading pictures.

Deleting an item

Both the overview window and the view window provide an Delete button. If the Delete button is clicked, the user is presented a dialog asking for confirmation. If an item has associated items, these associations are deleted as well, but not the associated items themselves.

Linking items

Unlinking items

Data types

The aim of DBcherry is to support all MySQL datatypes in a way that is transparent to the user. However, to aid in adding or editing a value, some datatypes receive special attention.

Text and Numbers

Text and numbers are not (yet) treated in any special way.

Dates

Dates are displayed as YYYY-MM-DD and should be entered that way as well. To make it easier for users to enter dates in the add- and editwindows, date fields are provided with a calendar widget.

Blobs/Images

Presently all blobs are treated as images. They are presented as thumbnails in the overview window and full size in the view window. In the add and edit windows the button.

Enumerated lists

Changing Behaviour & Appearance

Although DBcherry is designed to provide all functionalidy out-of-the-box, quite a few characteristics can be customized.

Hiding and Showing Columns

Any column that shouldn't be displayed in the overview window should be added to the class variable invisible . Colums marked as invisible are shown in the view window. 

    class Item(DBobject,DBcherry):
    	cols=dict(cola='text',colb='text')
    	invisible=['colb']

Changing the Order of Columns

By default the order in which colums are displayed is random. This may be influenced however by adding to the class variable colseq . Any column not in colseq is displayed followiny the ones in colseq but in an unspecified order. 

    class Item(DBobject,DBcherry):
    	cols=dict(cola='text',colb='text')
    	colseq=['colb','cola']

Sorting

By default items in the overview window are not sorted. This can be changed by specifying a sort order in the class variable order . 

    class Item(DBobject,DBcherry):
    	cols=dict(cola='text',colb='text')
    	order=dict(colb='asc')

CSS Stylesheet

Almost every aspect of the user interface can be changed via a css stylesheet. By default the application uses the file static/style.css . This file is provided in the distribution and may be used as an example.

Sections

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