In this article I am going to walk you through the process of creating a form in order to enter data into the database you created with the help of the original article. To do this you will have to go back to that database. If you no longer have that database, follow the steps in the article to create a new one and then come back here.

Open the database

Figure 1

First open up OpenOffice Base which will land on the Database Wizard. What you want to do is click “Open an existing database file” and then select the database from the drop-down. Once you have the database selected click the Finish button which will open up the database to the Forms window (see Figure 1).

From within this window you want to click the “Use Wizard to create form” link in the upper left pane. When you do this two windows will open. The first window will be an empty OpenOffice window which will be followed by the wizard window (see Figure 2).

Figure 2

In the smaller of the two windows (the second to open) you will begin the process of creating your form. Use caution: Once this window is open you will have trouble giving focus to any other window on your screen (I use the Compiz <Alt>Tab ring switcher to get out if I need).

The first step in the Wizard is to select the fields you want to include. If you initially created your database exactly as you want it you most likely can just click the “>>” button to move all fields in to the “Fields in the form” box. If you do not want to include all of the fields just select the fields you do want to click the “>” button to add them.

Click Next to continue on.

The next section is for subforms. In order to add a subform you have to have another database to relate to. If you do not have another database, or do not need a subform just click Next to continue on.

Figure 3

The controls section is next. This is where you select the way you form will be arranged. This, of course, is user preference. Click the type of form you want from the available choices (See Figure 3):

• Columnar – labels left
• Columnar – labels on top
• Datasheet
• In blocks – labels above

Make your selection and click Next.

The next screen allows you to decide what data is shown when the form is used. You can either use the form to ONLY enter new data (which will not show previously entered data), or you can have the form show all previously entered data. If you choose to show previous data you can select to also not allow the form to modify or delete existing data.  Make your select(s) and click Next.

Figure 4

The next screen’s purpose is to set the color theme for the form. Make your choice and click Next. Finally you have to give your form a name and tell Base if you want to either work with the form immediately or modify the form. Do so and click Finish. Your form is complete and ready for data entry. Figure 4 shows a complete employee record form ready for work. Enter your data and click the Next Record button (single right-pointing arrow near the bottom) to go to a blank form. When you are done entering your data click the Save Record button.

When you are done you can close out the Base application.

Final thoughts

Creating a database was never so easy. And now, entering data into that database is even easier. Thanks to the OpenOffice Base form Wizard, you can have your database filled with data in no time.

Related posts

• The Internet Movie Script Database IMSDb (0)
• SoundUnwound, New Music Database (7)
• Set up MySQL database replication (1)
• Install Wikipedia Locally (4)
• Install phpmyadmin for easy MySQL administration (6)

OpenOffice Base is a database management system capable of creating its own databases or connecting to a database created by the more powerful MySQL database server. But for the average user, creating a stand alone database is enough power. And OpenOffice Base handles this task easily.

Is it installed?

First and foremost you have to make sure the application is there. If you look in your Office sub-menu of the Applications menu you should see an entry titled “OpenOffice.org Base” (or a variation on that theme). If you do not then you are going to have to fire up your Add/Remove Software utility, search for “openoffice” (no quotes), mark OpenOffice.org Base for installation, and click Apply to install.

After Base is installed go back to the menu and see if the entry is there. If so, click it.

Running the application

Figure 1

When you first fire up OpenOffice Base the Database Wizard will start (see Figure 1). The first step is to decide what you want to do. You can:

• Create a new database.
• Open an existing database.
• Connect to an existing database (such as MySQL, Oracle, JDBC, etc)

For our purposes we are going to create a new database, so select that entry and click Next.

The next step in the wizard asks if you want to:

• Register the database: Allow the other applications in OpenOffice to have access to the data in the database.
• Open the database upon creation: Do you want to open this database up for use upon creation?
• Create tables using table wizard: Create your database tables with the easy to use wizard.

For the above I almost always:

• Register the database.
• Open the database upon completion.
• Use the table wizard to create tables.

Make your selections and click Finish. When you click Finish you will be asked to save your database with a name. Save this database in a directory you will remember, otherwise you’ll wind up hunting for it later.

If you selected to create your tables with the Wizard, when you click Finish the Tables Wizard will open.

Table Wizard

Figure 2

The Table Wizard is simple to use (see Figure 2). The first task is to select the Category of database (Business or Personal). The difference between the categories is that Business tables are geared toward SMB and enterprise work and Personal is geared toward home use.

After you select your Category choose from the Sample tables drop down. This sample table will give you a selection of table types to choose from. Once you select your type you then move fields from the left column to the right. Make sure you choose your fields carefully because adding or removing them later is not easy.

You can also move fields up and down in the right column by selecting a field and clicking the up or down arrow. The order in which your fields are in this column will be reflected in your database, so make sure you have them in the exact order you want.

Once you have all of your fields in place click the Next button.

Figure 3

In the next window you can modify the field type and format. What you are able to modify will directly depend upon both the fields you have chosen as well as your needs. Figure 3 illustrates what you can modify in a sample Employee field listing. Here you will see the details of the FirstName field.

If you need to make any modifications to your fields do so at this point and click Next when you are finished.

The next window allows you to set a primary key. You need this otherwise you will not be able to enter data. Since primary keys are often ID numbers I tend to check off the Auto Value checkbox so I don’t have to enter a key for each record. If you do not use a field like Employee ID you can select to use a field (or combination of fields) as your keys. You can use, for example, employee first and last name as your key. Once you have configured this click Next to move on.

The final step is to name your table and select what to do next. Your options for what to do next are:

• Insert data immediately.
• Modify the table design.
• Create a form based on the table.

You have officially created your database!

Final thoughts

OpenOffice Base makes creating databases fairly simple. In an upcoming article I will show you how to create a form to make filling out data for you database as easy as it was to create the database itself.

Related posts

• The Internet Movie Script Database IMSDb (0)
• SoundUnwound, New Music Database (7)
• Set up MySQL database replication (1)
• Install Wikipedia Locally (4)
• Install phpmyadmin for easy MySQL administration (6)

We have dealt with several services in the past including the network monitoring software Open Monitor or the online service Livewatch.

The database monitoring software dv2rss is different from these solutions. The main difference is that it can – as the title implies – monitor databases but also because it can only be run from the command line or a script. That’s not as bad as it sounds and it could be welcome in certain situations where no graphical user interface is needed or wanted.

Db2rss supports MySQL, Interbase and Blackfish SQL databases at the moment and can monitor them in a computer network or on the Internet. It comes with several command line parameters that define important information such as the database’s host name, the username and password. There are quite a few additional parameter that include running an SQL command on the database, comparing the results to a local copy and defining templates and title of the resulting RSS feed. The RSS feed is another aspect of this database monitoring software that is usually not found in other monitoring software programs.

It is then possible to subscribe to the RSS feed to receive the database monitoring information after the script’s execution. The software developer suggests to use the Windows task scheduler to run the database monitoring software regularly.

Related posts

• Backup MySQL Databases In Linux Regularly (11)
• Set up MySQL database replication (1)
• Install phpmyadmin for easy MySQL administration (6)
• Have WordPress back-ups emailed (3)
• Website Monitoring Software (6)

It is possible to search the database or browse the lists either in alphabetical order or by genre. A click on a movie title will open the page of that movie with basic information including the writer and genre of the movie. The link to the movie script is located on the very same page as are user comments about the movie.

Each movie script is displayed on an extra page resembling a plain text document which makes it easy to copy paste them or download them as html to the computer system. The movie script database contains a long list of popular movie scripts from Ingenious Bastards and Braveheart to Basic Instinct and American Pie.

IMSDb is a great resource for movie fans and writers who think about writing a movie script. The design could be better and it would be nice if movie script export or download options were available though.

Related posts

• IMDb Finally Adds Movies (2)
• 12 IMDB Userscripts (13)
• x Ways To Manipulate Websites In Firefox (6)
• SoundUnwound, New Music Database (7)
• Set up MySQL database replication (1)

Database replication will require the use of two machines. The reason you want to use two machines is to ensure you will always have a working copy of your database (should one machine die). When using replication you think of your machines as Master and Slave. The Master is the machine that holds the original database. The Slave is the machine that holds the replicated database (the backup per say.) Both machines must have a working MySQL installation and must be networked together. You will need root access as well as access to the database administrator on both machines.

Setting up the Master

For purpose of example our database to replicate will be called “sample_database”.? The first thing you need to do is open up the /etc/mysql/my.conf file for editing. You need to search for the lines:

#skip-networking
#bind-address = 127.0.0.1

Uncomment out these lines (remove the “#” character). If these lines do not exist, add them. Now we have to inform mysql which database we plan on replicating. For this you will add the following lines:
log-bin = /var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log
binlog-do-db=sample_database
server-id=1

The above lines do the following:

Line 1: Instruct mysql what log file to use.

Line 2: Instruct mysql which database to replicate

Line 3: Instruct mysql that this machine is the master.

Restart mysql on this machine with the following command:

/etc/init.d/mysql restart

The next step is to log into the mysql terminal and create a user that has replication privileges. To do this issue the command:

mysql -u root -p

You will prompted for the mysql admin password. Now we have to make some mysql magic. From the mysql prompt issue the following:

GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO 'USER'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '';

Where NEW_PASSWORD is the actual password and USER is the actual username that will have replication privileges.

Now issue the command:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

You’re not done with mysql yet. Now issue the command:

USE sample_database;

And now the command:

FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK;

And now you need to make sure mysql is seeing the Master and can show the status of the master with the command:

SHOW MASTER STATUS;

When you issue the above command you should see a listing printed out for your sample_database. Write this information down (you will see a Position number that you will need later).
Now you need to get tables and data from the sample_database. The method I will show you requires that the database on the Master be locked momentarily. To that end the database will be unavailable until the database is unlocked. Keep this in mind when setting this up.

Now you’re ready to set up the Slave. Move over to the machine that will serve as the slave.

The first thing to do on the Slave is to create the database the Master will write to. On the slave open up the mysql shell with:

mysql -u root -p

You will be prompted for the password. Now enter the following command to create the database:

CREATE DATABASE sample_database;

And quit mysql with the “quit” command.

Now to configure MySQL to know it is the slave and open up the /etc/mysql/my.conf file for editing. Add the following lines:
server-id=2
master-host=IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER
master-user=USER
master-password=USER_PASSWORD
master-connect-retry=60
replicate-do-db=sample_database

Where IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER is the actual IP address of the master server, USER is the user created on the master for replication, and USER_PASSWORD is the password given to the replication user on the Master.

Save that file and restart mysql on the slave with the command:

/etc/init.d/mysql restart

Now we have to load the data from the Master into the Slave. This is when the database will be locked. Here are the commands to load the data:

mysql -u root -p

Enter the mysql admin password. Now from the mysql prompt enter the following command:

LOAD DATA FROM MASTER;

Now exit the mysql prompt with the command quit.

The next step is to stop the slave so you can finish up the Slave configuration. Issue the following:

mysql -u root -p

You will prompted for the root password.

now enter the command:

SLAVE STOP;

Now the next command is a bit lengthy:

CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER', MASTER_USER='USER', MASTER_PASSWORD='USER_PASSWORD', MASTER_LOG_FILE='mysql-bin.007', MASTER_LOG_POS=NUMBER;

Where:
IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER is the actual IP address of the Master server.
USER is the actual user you created on the Master.
USER_PASSWORD is the actual password you gave the user on the Master.
mysql-bin.007 is the File name from the output of the SHOW MASTER STATUS command from above.
MASTER_LOG_POS is the Position given in the output of the SHOW MASTER STATUS command from above.

Finally issue the command:

SLAVE START;

and then quit the mysql prompt with the command “quit”.

You’re done. If you have phpmyadmin installed you can check the status of the databases as they updated. You now have database replication up and running. Congratulations.

Related posts

• Install phpmyadmin for easy MySQL administration (6)
• Backup MySQL Databases In Linux Regularly (11)
• Have WordPress back-ups emailed (3)
• Database Monitoring Software Db2rss (1)
• Yoggie PICO Personal Mobile Security Computer (3)

We start by creating the bash script first and continue with the cron job after the bash script has been tested to work as intended. All commands in the following paragraphs are executed from the command line.

vi backup.sh

This will create an empty text file in the vi editor. This will be the script that will be executed by the cron job on a daily basis.

bin/sh
/usr/bin/mysqldump -A -u [Username] -p[Password] | gzip > /backups/mysqldump`date +%m_%d_%y`.gz


Press i to enter insert mode and copy and paste the two lines above in the editor. What the script does is to use the mysqldump function to create a mysql backup and store it gzipped in the backups directory using mysqldumpDate.gz as the name with data being the day the backup was created.

The two variables [Username] and [Password] have to be edited and the username and password of a user with sufficient rights entered. It might also be necessary to change the location of the backup folder.

Press ESC to enter command mode and :x to save the file.

./backup.sh

Execute the script to see if it is working correctly. It should create the dump of the MySQL database in the defined directory. It might be necessary to change the permission level of the backup.sh file if you get a permission error during execution.

chmod 755 backup.sh

If the script is working as intended it can be added as a cron job. The following command will open the user crontab list.

crontab -e

If you are in the vi editor you press i to enter insert mode again and add the following line

0 7 * * * /path/to/backup.sh

Please refer to the tutorial for a detailed instruction on how to set the cron job up to suite your needs. This one will execute the script every day on 7am.

It is a good idea to check back after the next execution to verify that everything is working as intended.

Related posts

• Set up MySQL database replication (1)
• Install phpmyadmin for easy MySQL administration (6)
• Database Monitoring Software Db2rss (1)
• Using Cron to Automate Linux Tasks (7)
• Have WordPress back-ups emailed (3)

In this article you will learn how to install and configure the phpMyAdmin MySQL tool.

The first step is to download phpMyAdmin. You can get this tool from the phpMyAdmin download page. Once you have this downloaded you will need to move the file into the document root of your web server (you will need to have root or sudo access to do this and the setup) Most likely this will be either /var/www/html or /var/www. Once you have this file in the proper locaton it is time to take care of business.

The first thing to do is to unpack the file. The unpacking command will depend upon what file format you download. Let’s use the .gz file for an example. With the file phpMyAdmin-3.1.1-english.tar.gz in place issue the command:

tar xvzf phpMyAdmin-3.11-english.tar.gz

The resulting directory will be phpMyAdmin. I highly recommend changing the name of that directory to something easier to navigate and remember. I generally just change the directory with the command mv phpMyAdmin phpmyadmin.

Now that the directory is correct move into the directory. There is one file in particular you must have which is the config.inc.php file. You will notice there is a file called config.sample.inc.php. Some documentation instructs to change the name of config.sample.inc.php to config.inc.php and make your changes from within that file. It is my opinion that method can become confusing with all of the extra options included. Instead create the new config file with the following contents (depending upon your setup):

<?php
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ''; /* YOU MUST FILL IN THIS FOR COOKIE AUTH! */
/*
* Servers configuration
*/
$i = 0;
/*
* First server
*/
$i++;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = 'ROOT_PASSWORD';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['verbose'] = '';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'localhost';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['port'] = '';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['socket'] = '';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type'] = 'tcp';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension'] = 'mysqli';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPasswordRoot'] = true;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['nopassword'] = true;
?>


There are a few pieces to note. First make sure you use the actual root mysql password where you see ROOT_PASSWORD. Also, if you want to prompted each time for your login information change ‘config’ to ‘cookie’ in the ‘auth_type’ line.

Once you have that configuration file in place you should be able to log into your phpmyadmin system. To do this you will enter http://ADDRESS_TO_SERVER/phpmyadmin/ in your browser (where ADDRESS_TO_SERVER is the IP Address or URL that points to the server.

If, for some reason, this configuration file does not work for you give the web-based setup script a try. To run this point your browser to http://ADDRESS_TO_SERVER/phpmyadmin/setup to start the graphical setup process.

After you are logged in it should be pretty obvious how to create a new database. You simple enter thename you want to give the database and click the Create button.

You’re done! You now have a phpmyadmin install ready to serve you.

Related posts

• Set up MySQL database replication (1)
• Install Drupal on a LAMP Server (2)
• Backup MySQL Databases In Linux Regularly (11)
• PHP – what it does and what it doesn’t (4)
• How to: Install a LAMP server (6)

Backing up seems somewhat of a chore and whilst a cron job can be set up, a WordPress plug-in makes backing up a blog’s mySQL database absolutely hassle free.

WordPress Database Backup allows database backups to be emailed, saved to a hard disk or saved to a server.

Having the back-up emailed may be favourable, especially if you use a service like Gmail with large amounts of storage and reliable hosting.

A useful trick is to set up a Gmail filter to separate backups so quick access is available. Different tables can be backed up, so spam and statistics can be excluded.

Databases can be gzipped, and the SQL file inside the archive can then just be imported should the weblog to be hacked.

Naturally, WordPress Database Backup does not back up files, so images, templates and plugins must be backed up separately.

Related posts

• Set up MySQL database replication (1)
• Lifestream Backup: Free 1 Year Accounts For Ghacks Readers (5)
• Install phpmyadmin for easy MySQL administration (6)
• Database Monitoring Software Db2rss (1)
• Backup MySQL Databases In Linux Regularly (11)

Amazon also shows associated artists which are useful because once you start following links you can be on there all day discovering new artists.

Wikipedia is great for finding out the background and biography of bands and Last.Fm is sometimes useful as well. I know it should be the most useful of all, but for me personally it rarely recommends anything that I a) either haven’t heard before or b) like.

This week Amazon and IMBD joined forces and launched the oh-so catchy SoundUnwound online database for music (trying typing that in the address bar fast). Oh and it’s a beta, but that’s a given right?

What I like about it is the fact it’s dedicated music database, it’s hardly original but it differentiates itself from Wikipedia somewhat. It’s still editable by anyone and includes a number of other interactive and fairly cool features such as the discography timelines for artists below.

The sit also has the safeguard in place of all edits made by users first being approved by Amazon employees. I think this is a good idea as long as it’s prompt.

From having a bit of look around however there isn’t a huge amount here not already available on other sites like AMG or Amazon’s main site itself. In fact the best thing about Amazon was even included on UnwoundSound – the user reviews.

I have absolutely 0% interest in reading someone’s “shout-out” to the Beatles, but I would like to read their review of them.

Incidentally someone needs to invent some ‘genre-standards’ for music. Frankly as they are right now they’re useless, if we could decide on a specific set of genres and then use them across all music software and databases perhaps they could actually be useful.

Related posts

• MySpace Music Venture (2)
• YouScrobble A Last.FM And Youtube Mashup Service (1)
• Windows Media Player Import for Winamp (1)
• Winamp iPod Plugin (5)
• Winamp Auto Tagger (8)

The only disadvantage that I can think of is that you will not use the latest version on their website and that you have to update the database to keep up to date. The English database file has a size of more than 3 Gigabytes – packed that is – and it can take some time to download it depending on your Internet connection.

I did use a download manager to make sure that the download does not get interrupted and I have to start over again. Here is the list of files that you do need, I walk you through the installation afterwards:

• Wikipedia Database Snapshot – the file needed is currently called enwiki-latest-pages-articles.xml.bz2
• An Apache server. I did use the free XAMPP to install it on my Windows system.
• Wikifilter – the script that makes Wikipedia available in the Apache server.

I suggest you start by downloading the files needed. The Wikipedia database download will naturally take longer than the other two downloads which is excellent for our purpose. Once XAMPP has been downloaded install it. You are asked if you want to add services to your system during installation, this is not needed. Make sure you start the XAMPP control panel afterwards.

Keep this open and wait for the downloads to finish. Now unpack the file that contains the Wikipedia articles and wait for it to finish. The unpacked file has a size of more than 13 Gigabytes so make sure you have enough free hard drive space on that drive.
Now add the date of the release in the format YYYYMMDD to the file name. I added it at the end before the .xml.

Now run WikiIndex.exe and drag and drop the XML file in the program window. It starts indexing the database file which should take a while as well (5 minutes on my system). We are almost done now.

You need to locate the httpd.conf file in the XAMPP directory and add an entry to it. The file is located in xampp\apache\conf. Just open it with a normal text editor and add the following line at the end:

LoadModule WikiFilter_module “C:/Program Files/WikiFilter/WikiFilter.so”

Please replace the path to the WikiFilter.so file with the path on your system. You should also note that the file path uses “/” instead of the usual “\” to separate directories.

Start Apache using the XAMPP control panel and point your browser to the url http://localhost/wiki/.

Related posts

• WikiTaxi Takes Wikipedia Offline (7)
• Visual Wikipedia (3)
• Schools Wikipedia CD and DVD image (1)
• Read Deleted Wikipedia Pages On Deletionpedia (2)
• Download Wikipedia With Okawix To Access The Data Locally (11)