Linking External Tables

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Category: 1.0

Published on Friday, 10 June 2011 20:23

Written by Craig Phillips

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In the same way that you can display data from tables you've imported from CSV/TAB files EasyTable Pro can link to any standard Joomla! database table that it has access to (with a few restrictions). Please note linked tables may not work as with EasyTable Pro! if they use multiple or compound index keys or use foriegn keys.

For security purposes EasyTable Pro won't link to any table with "_core_acl" or "_session" in their name.

When you link an external table with EasyTable Pro there are a few restrictions that are mostly to protect the data in those tables.

EasyTable Pro will let you:

• show all fields in the linked table (except ones called 'id' )
• set the display order
• set the appearance on fields in the list/detail views
• use field options to affect the display of field data
• enable front end searching of nominated fields

To link EasyTable Pro to a table Joomla! can access you must be logged in as either a "Super Administrator" or a level that you have given permission too through the Settings view.

Step 1

If you have permission to link external tables to EasyTable Pro you will see the link icon ( shown to the right ) in Joomla's Toolbar when you open the EasyTable Pro component. Click on the button to open the Table Linking Popup.

Step 2

Select the table you want to link to from the pop-up menu and click the 'Use Table' button.

Step 3

After clicking the 'Use Table' you are taken to the EasyTable Table Editor — as you will notice in the screenshot below some features are missing when compared to a standard table you've created in EasyTable Pro.

1. The table and field alias' can't be modified.
2. The table structure can't be modified so the UI elements aren't displayed at all.
3. Other functions work as expected and the table info panel provides details of the table that is linked to.

Remember linking to other tables in your database should be done with care and consideration for any security,
private or personal information that could potentially be revealed.
If you are unsure in anyway about linking to a table in your database we recommend that it not be done.