Gidday,

I am currently in a position to suggest a replacement website management system and a membership database management system for the non-profit educational organization I work for. We have obtained quotes for various database builds, and also a few proprietary, systems that are web browser enabled for both members and administrators. I have also been directed to revamp our website. My question is, can Joomla be used as a relational database with a web front end and back end. I understand that the platform uses mysql, php and runs on Apache so my gut feeling is yes. However, I am still uncertain about its abilities to replace a membership database (relational database) as it has been originally designed to management web content. For example can one build in business rules and complex relationships between objects?

I hope that all makes sense!

Thanks for you help.
Andrew

Hi Andrew

To me, this is a complex question (and I've integrated a few databases now with Joomla!) and will depend on the actual details of your required database - the component that I use to bridge mysql databases to joomla is not strong on business logic - that's not to say we haven't worked around a lot of things.

There are some membership components already available - such as community builder; jomsocial; & business directories also. Try the Joomla! extensions directory extensions.joomla.org/ and have a hunt and see if you can find what you are looking for.

Otherwise, I'd be happy to discuss your project and the specifics and the possibilities - or send me an url.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Perhaps I am being optimistic and trying to find an all in one solution. I still believe it’s a great option for our website management.

Cheers,
Andrew

It would perhaps be useful to share some of your business rules and complex relationships here, because this is the bit that will define your solution? We might be able to direct you better then, although I second JLJ's response.

Hi Dex,

I work for a medical training College and we need to find options for replacing or upgrading our membership database. So the business rules and object relationships are those found in such relational databases. An example of the business rules would be rules that allow for fields in the database tables to be automatically populated from other fields and/or rules that alert administrators that a particular field has been populated. Strong query tools would also be necessary. The real life scenario would be the ability to track trainees through a training program. Either the trainee, as a user, would populate fields through a browser and/or an administrator would do the same. They would also be able to query single trainees or whole sets of trainees. Object relationships, either one too many or many to one would be required also. An example of this would be a training hospital would have many trainees but a trainee would have only one hospital.

Thanks for your input.

Andrew

Hi Andrew thanks for providing more detail.

The short answer, is yes, I think so - but definitely, I think you will need to consult with someone to run through all your needs.

However, I wouldn't look at this as using Joomla! as a relationship database.

I'd look at it in this way:

- Joomla is a website package
- Various programs can be added into Joomla to do various tasks
- Databases (ideally mysql databases), other than the core Joomla database, can be accessed through various programs that hook into Joomla

So essentially - Joomla would provide you a web interface to a database. Joomla isn't replacing your database - it is making it accessible online.

The relational database you describe is a set of tables with relationships. These relationships are intrinsic to the database - and are defined at the field or, at most, at the table level. (So, the relationships are not really related to Joomla! just to building the database.)

Queries then need to be written and need to run between the database and the Joomla! website - a program that hooks nicely into Joomla to do that is : Logos Query Manager. [http://www.gmitc.biz/products/lqm/] It may have some limitations - but not many.

If you already have a database, it may be possible to just write some queries to access it - it depends on the type of database you already have set up.

If you are building a new database (whether Joomla-ing or not) , keep in mind using something accessible at the database level with forward & broad compatibility & usability. So it will be able to both keep up with your needs and be easily access from a variety of programs should the need arise.

On the other hand there may be a program out there already that does what you need - but it sounds like you need a customised database with tailored queries.

I'll be interested to hear any other ideas.

(Hmm and as an aside - should this thread be moved to the general j! qn section)

Hi JLJ,

Thank you for your excellent response, its very heplful and makes it clearer in my mind as to the realtionship between Joomla and a database. We currently run a postgresql database and I understand Joomla may interact with postgre in the future. That development will be interesting to follow. I think for now I'll suggest we migrate our website management to Joomla and run a pilot study for a smaller database with Joomla as the front end. Thanks very much for your input and advise.

Cheers,
Andrew

You're welcome - I guess I should have added that Joomla's php / mysql structure makes it particularly good for database integration.

PS: There are tools that help conversion from postgre to mysql - if you want to play around - just back up your database first, etc.

Good luck!

BTW Joomla are looking for someone to hook up Joomla to Postgres for them, but they've been looking a while now and no takers...