v1.8.8 and other things

Back a few months ago when I created phpLiteAdmin (formerly SQLite3Admin), it was meant for personal use so I could easily manage my SQLite3 databases on the web since there weren't any existing tools at the time. After turning it into an open source project and several months of continuous improvements, it has become a popular tool for developers all over the world. I never imagined this kind of scope.

Still, even after countless new features and becoming almost identical in breadth to phpMyAdmin, the source code for phpLiteAdmin is contained within a single file. Its ease of installation makes it an attractive option to most developers who want to quickly manage their SQLite databases without the hassle of dealing with lengthy wizards, deep directory hierarchies, and other problems of unnecessary complexity. If you have been using phpLiteAdmin, you know how convenient it is - wherever there is an SQLite database, you simply drop phpliteadmin.php alongside, and full management of that database becomes possible!

Anyway, v1.8.8 has just been released and is available for download. It has bug fixes - same old, same old... but 1.8.9 is where I anticipate some great new things happening...

I see the next major release as having the ability to support multiple users. An SQLite manager on the web should take advantage of the fact that it's public to anyone with a browser and internet connection. Account creation and management would allow a group of people to simultaneous manage SQLite databases without worrying about accidental deletions by unqualified individuals with too many privileges.

I know that this blog is pretty dead. After all, it's a blog dedicated to the development of a pretty obscure piece of software used by a small percentage of a small percentage of developers, who as a group, are a small percentage of people in the world! But if you have any input on the future of phpLiteAdmin or anything interesting to say, let the words flow.

v1.8.5 released and v1.8.6 on the way

It's been awhile, but v1.8.5 has finally been released. There are some major bug fixes and a new feature allowing you to specify a directory to scan for databases. This is in contrast to the old way of manually specifying the path of each database and putting them in an array at the top of the file. Both ways are now possible in v1.8.5.

More exciting however, is the upcoming v1.8.6, which will allow you to view your records in graphs and charts instead of boring lists. How would you like to see a line chart showing the varying values of certain table fields? Or a pie chart showing male vs. female users in your user table? This will all be possible very soon.

v1.8.3 released and upcoming rounded corners!

v1.8.3 has been released. It includes bug fixes and better navigation control when browsing records.

More importantly, however, is the upcoming rounded corners in v1.8.4. Using the new border-radius CSS property, every boring rectangle in the UI will be transformed into a sleek rounded rectangle.

Staring at smooth, rounded corners is much more soothing than staring at sharp, jagged corners. This may not seem like a big deal, but you will change your mind once you begin managing your SQLite databases and notice that your mood and overall happiness have improved - all due to the pleasing effects of rounded corners.

Take a look at this magnificent feat on the demo.

phpLiteAdmin v1.8.2 released

It was only a few days ago that v1.8.1 was released, but v1.8.2 is ready for download.

No security fixes are included in this update, so it is completely optional (though, as always, recommended).

Two bugs were fixed in this version:

• There was an issue with tables that had long columns, causing the data to be cut off, this is now fixed as a scroll bar will appear under such circumstances (fixing issue #5).
• Logging in did not work in Internet Explorer unless the user explicitly hit the "Log in" button, otherwise when using the Enter button, the log in request would not be processed. This was fixed by adding a hidden field (fixing issue #7).

There is a minor feature addition in v1.8.2, which allows you to change the name of the cookie which contains the user password, which can be changed by modifying the $cookie_name variable near the top of phpliteadmin.php.

Thank you for all those that reported these issues to the development team, we appreciate it, and so does everyone who uses phpLiteAdmin.

If you encounter any issues with phpLiteAdmin, please feel free to create a new issue in the issue tracker.

phpLiteAdmin v1.8.1 released, please update immediately

A security issue was exposed today when investigating an issue with changing the default password (from "admin") for phpLiteAdmin, which has now been fixed in v1.8.1. It is highly recommended you update your phpliteadmin.php file immediately as all previous versions are vulnerable. A minor bug was also fixed in this version causing a warning about an undefined index.

We apologize for the inconvience this may have caused.

You can download phpLiteAdmin v1.8.1 here: http://code.google.com/p/phpliteadmin/downloads/detail?name=phpliteadmin_v1-8.1.zip

Index Management

In the next version (v1.8), it will be possible to manage indexes. Just as it is done in phpMyAdmin, the "Structure" tab on the table view will show all of that table's indexes and the ability to delete them and create new ones. This feature has already been implemented and can be tested in the demo.

Export Almost Done

The export feature for phpLiteAdmin is almost complete. It is now in the testing phase. Currently, it is possible to export tables, including their CREATE TABLE queries, as well as their data in the form of INSERT INTO queries. The functionality is, as always, similar to that of phpMyAdmin. The dump is in the form of a .sql file that can eventually be imported in the same manner. This is all implemented in v1.8, and since v1.8 is not released yet, it can be fetched via SVN. Most of the code has been borrowed from the merged project, phpLiterAdmin, which already has import and export implemented. Many thanks.

Over a Thousand Downloads!

I just wanted to make an announcement that phpLiteAdmin, with less than a month of being released, has over 1000 downloads! This kind of growth shows how important this tool is to developers, and how much potential there is to make it even better. Thanks to all the phpLiteAdmin users out there!

Looking for Contributors

We are currently looking for developers to contribute to the phpLiteAdmin project. If you are well-versed in PHP, SQL, SQLite, HTML, or CSS and have some time to spare, you are eligible. Also, you need to be able to use subversion and make sure to consistently "svn update" since the source of phpLiteAdmin consists of a single file, and with multiple people working on it, conflicts are more prone to occur.

New Features

The remaining important features not implemented yet are as follows:

• Ability to edit multiple records at the same time by checking checkboxes next to the records in the "Browse" tab, selecting "Edit" from the drop down menu, and clicking the "Go" button. After this, the user should be brought to a page similar to the edit page for a single record except multiple records would be displayed vertically with a "Save Changes" button for each. Clicking any of these buttons should save every field for every record regardless of which button is clicked, and the user should be brought back to the "Browse" tab showing the updated records. Update: This feature has been implemented as of v1.5
• Ability to edit multiple columns at the same time similar to the above feature.
• Ability to import/export databases, tables, and records similar to how phpMyAdmin does for MySQL. I presume that the formats we should initially allow would be SQL and CSV. There would be two new tabs for both the database view and table view - "Import" and "Export". Also, in the "Browse" tab for a table, an "Export" option should be added to the drop down menu so that records' checkboxes can be checked and exported all at once.
• A "Search" tab for both the database view and table view similar to phpMyAdmin's search feature where the database can be searched based on values for certain fields. Update: This feature has been implemented as of v1.6

As you can probably tell, those features have not been implemented because they seem either tricky, time consuming, or tedious. However, those descriptors are just guesses and may not be entirely accurate. Your help will be very well appreciated, and I guarantee you'll have fun doing it. Also, getting involved with an open source project looks great on your resume or portfolio.

Theme Design

Another aspect of the project is theme design. phpLiteAdmin allows for modification of the look and feel through CSS. There is a stylesheet embedded in the source file that can be edited by users. However, we are trying to create a compilation of pre-made themes that users can copy and paste into the source file, replacing the default stylesheet. If you like designing, have an affinity for aesthetics, and have experience with CSS, theme design is another important part of the project that needs contributors. There is a wiki page with the available themes at http://code.google.com/p/phpliteadmin/wiki/Themes. As a theme designer, you would add your themes to this page with screenshots showing how it looks in action.

Testing and User Experience

One of the things lacking right now in the project is adequate testing for bugs and making sure everything is intuitive and easy to use. Testers would simply test phpLiteAdmin as if they were actually using it - creating, editing, deleting tables, records, and columns; writing and executing custom queries in the query editor; managing databases of different SQLite versions (2 and 3); messing around with file permissions for database files, etc... the aim of a tester is to try to break things by pushing the tool to its limits and attempting things not normally done by a normal user. Also, a tester would comment on whether the tool is easy to use and how the interface could be improved.

How to Become a Contributor

If you are interested in contributing to the project, reply to this post or contact me at daneiracleous@gmail.com. You will be made a developer for the project at phpliteadmin.googlecode.com able to commit changes to the SVN repository, edit the project wiki, and fix/respond to outstanding bugs/issues. There is no deadline for anything, and you are not obligated to complete whatever you decide to work on. This is just a fun project for people who enjoy programming and the gratification of creating useful software used by many people every day.

phpLiteAdmin and phpLiterAdmin merging into one project

phpLiterAdmin has always been a one person project, and the same goes for phpLiteAdmin.

Two separate projects with the same goals seemed rather pointless, and Dane (the developer of phpLiteAdmin) contacted me (Ian, developer of phpLiterAdmin) to see if we would like to merge the projects together and work on phpLiteAdmin.

Currently the clear leader for PHP-based MySQL management is phpMyAdmin, but there is none for PHP-based SQLite management, and by joining together we hope to create a single comprehensive SQLite manager with as many features as possible.

We will be working on adding features that do not exist in phpLiteAdmin that currently exist in phpLiterAdmin.

Stay tuned for any further announcements.