Good (CMS-based?) platform for simple database apps_问答_开发者

I need to implement yet another database website. Let's say roughly 5 tables, 25 columns, and (eventually) thousands to tens of thousands of rows. Easy data entry and maintenance are more important than presentation of the data to non-privileged users. It's a niche site, so performance is not a concern. We'll have no trouble finding somewhere to host it.

So: what's a good platform for this? Intituitively I feel that there ought to be some platform that al开发者_C百科lows this to be done with no code written - some web version of MS Access. Obviously I'm happy to code business rules, and special logic that distinguishes this from every other database app.

I've looked at Drupal (with Views) and it looks possible, but with quite a bit of effort. Will look at Al Fresco next. A CMS-y platform helps because then you can nicely integrate static content, you get nice styling, plugins, etc etc.

Really good data entry (tracking changes, logging, ability to roll back, mass imports...) would be great. If authorised users could do arbitrary SQL queries (yes, I know...) that would be a big bonus. Image management support a small bonus.

Django is what you are looking for. In fact, you could probably set up what you ask without much coding at all, just configuration.

Once complete, authorised users can add 'rows' with a nice but simple GUI, or, of course, you can batch import via database commands.

I'm a Python newbie, and I've already created 2 Django-based sites. I have created more than a dozen Drupal-based sites, and Django is easier and produces significantly faster sites.

Your need somewhat sits between two chairs : bespoke application and CMS-based. I'd advocate for the CMS approach, if and only if you feel the need for content structure customization will grow in the future, slowly removing the need for direct SQL queries.

I am biased since working with eZ Publish for many years now, but it satisfies the requirements you expressed natively :

Really good data entry (tracking changes, logging, ability to roll back, mass imports...) [...] Image management support a small bonus.

An idea of the content edition feel can be watched here: http://ez.no/Demos-Videos/eZ-Publish-Administration-Interface-Video-Tutorial

and you can download and test-drive eZ Publish Community Edition there : http://share.ez.no/latest

It is a PHP-based solution, strong professional community (http://share.ez.no), over 1100 add-ons available on http://projects.ez.no. The underlying libs are mostly relying on Apache Zeta Components, high-quality, robust set of PHP5 libraries.

Last note : the content model is abstracted, meaning you'd not have to create a new table everytime a new type of content should be stored : a simple content class definition from the administration interface, and the rest is taken care of, including the edition interface for the new content type. Might remove the need for hardcore SQL queries ?

Hope it helped,

Drupal can do most of what you need (I don't know of a module that will let you enter arbitrary SQL queries), but you will end up with some overhead of tables and modules you don't really need. It's up to you to decide if that's a problem or not. I don't think the overhead would hurt performance in your case.

The advantages of using Drupal would be the large community, the stability of the platform and the flexibility to add more functionality when needed. Also, the large user base ensures that most code has been tested rather well.

I highly recommend Drupal. It is very simple (also internally codebase is small and clean) it has dosens of possibilities and tremendous support. Once you start with Drupal you will never go to anything else.

Note that I'm not connected with Drupal staff, I've just created dosens of Drupas sites and many of them in just a minutes. My last one took me 2 hrs, see it here http://iPadDevZone.com

UPDATE #1:

It really depends on your DB schema complexity. The best case is that you just use CCK module (part of core now) and create your node type. Node is Drupal name for content. All you do is just web admin your node type fields (text, image, numbers, dates, custom, etc). Then, if user creates content with this node type he/she can enter all the fields which are stored in separate db table fields. This is however hidden for you - if you wish not to know about it - it is just a web gui. Then you choose how the node is presented, which properties as shown and where.

Watch videos in CCK resources section in the bottom of this page: http://drupal.org/project/cck

If you need to do some programming then it is also very easy to use so called PHP code sniplets which are entered as part of your content (node) and executed when the page is displayed.

Drupal has node revisions built in the core. You can see all the versions and roll back if you wish.

You can set the permissions in quite granular level so you can control what your users may or may not.

I would take a look at Symphony. I havn't been using it myself, but it seems like it's really easy to use and to customize!

http://symphony-cms.com/

Seems to me an online database system would be better than a CMS system.

So in addition to what's been posted above:

www.quickbase.com (by Intuit) - think around $150/mo

www.rollbase.com - check on price, full featured

www.rhythmdata.com - easy to set up, but don't think it's got the advanced features you're looking for.

Good luck!

I appreciate these answers, but most of them are really platforms that are much better at something else (eg, Drupal really is a CMS, and has some support for custom fields - but it's not at all easy). Since this is a brand new site from scratch, it doesn't really make sense to start with something that does custom database fields as an afterthought, I think.

The closest I've found is Zoho Creator. It really is like "MS Access for Web 2.0" - and even supports importing from Access. The pricing could get expensive though. It feels like it might eventually be quite constraining. I'm still evaluating.

Are there any other products like Zoho Creator?