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.