SGL_Item refactoring

Table of Contents

  1. SGL Item
  2. Item Data Types
  3. Item Types
  4. Item Structures
  5. Item Storage Containers
  6. Item View
  7. Item Caching
  8. Item Relation Management
  9. Ideas
    1. Item Data Types
      1. RDBMS
      2. Item Meta Data
    2. Other things

SGL Item

  • All item tables need the ability to be prefixed to allow for flexibility.
  • Item Types need the ability to have options (key/value pairs for things like check boxes, radio pairs, and selects)
  • Item Type Fields need the ability to specify the datatype (int, date, string, etc)
  • Item Type Fields need to be extended to support: check boxes, radio pairs/combos, selects, images, links, etc
  • All tables need to be prefixed.

Item Data Types

Using the Complex Item Structure it is possible for Item Type's to have various options.

Simple Data Types

  • Date & Time
  • Int
  • Float
  • Varchar
  • Text

Complex Data Types

  • Key/Value Pairs
    • Key - varchar
    • value - varchar
  • HTML
    • Image
      • Document ID - int
      • Label - varchar
    • Link
      • Label - varchar
      • Url - varchar
    • Form
      • Checkbox
      • Checkbox Group
        • Label
        • Options
          • Key/Value Pairs
      • Input
        • Label
        • Type
        • Value
      • Textarea
        • Label
        • Value
      • Radio
        • Label - varchar
        • Options
          • Key/Value Pair
      • Select
        • Label - varchar
        • Options
          • Key/Value Pair

Options:

  • Default Value
  • Key/Value Pairs
    • Min. Value
    • Max Value

Item Types

  • Article
    • Title - varchar
    • Body - varchar
    • Extended Body - text
  • Document
    • ID - int
    • Label - varchar
    • Description - text
    • Filename - varchar
    • No. Downloads - int
  • User
  • Permission
  • Preference
  • Faq
  • Role

Item Structures

Structures allow for the ordering of items.

  • Simple - Use order_id
  • Complex - SGL_NestedSet

Item Storage Containers

  • RDBMS - PEAR::DB, adodb, propel,
  • XML
  • LDAP
  • PEAR::Config

Item View

Provide a way to display items in various ways.

  • Detailed - Display meta and item data.
  • Summary - Display minimal data.
  • Channel (Combination of various Views)

Item Caching

We need a whole hellofalot of this.

Item Relation Management

Items need to be related to each other allowing for things like articles belong to multiple categories, prefs and perms for a specific user &/or role, documents belong to an article &/or category.

Ideas

  • Hide fields also behing objects. Store them to assoc array $item->aField with method called getDynaFields(), which may be called when item_type_id is set.
  • Access for additional fields with following methods:
  • $item->aFieldfieldname?->getField(); // returns unformatted field value
  • $item->aFieldfieldname?->setField(value); // sets value, operation may vary according to fields type.
  • Additional field accessing methods should by extending item_Field class, because those are mostly module spesific. They could be:
  • getFormattedField()
  • getHtmlInputField()
  • Overridden field class name could be provided as an attribute in Items constructor.
  • Dataobjects update method should be overridden to update also dynamic field values to DB.

Item Data Types

RDBMS

  • rename item_addition to item_field_value to make it easier for developers
  • in item_type_mapping fieldName and item_type_id should form primary key

Item Meta Data

  • meta items modification in standard Dataobject way

Other things

Something of which I have no strong opinion is should we provide an interface for relations between items. Most relations are module spesific so module developers can make their own tables parent_item_id, child_item_id. I vote not to keep core clean.

This will be addressed w/ SGL_Item_Structure for trees and SGL_Item_Relationship -- User/AjTarachanowicz 2006-02-11