Record Tracking
Posted:
Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:47 pmby ADobkin
What is the correct procedure to track the creator and creation time of a record, as well as the last updated time? Specifically, what field names and data types should be defined in the database, and what other settings (i.e. fields.ini, etc.) are necessary to make this information display properly in the record view?
Thanks,
Alan
Posted:
Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:52 amby shannah
1. Tracking creator.
- Code: Select all
function beforeInsert(&$record){
$auth =& Dataface_AuthenticationTool::getInstance();
$username =& $auth->getLoggedInUsername();
$record->setValue('creator', $username);
}
This assumes that you have a field called 'creator' in your table.
2. Tracking creation time.
There are many ways to do this but I generally do this.
a. Create a datetime field and allow null values, let's say its name is 'date_created'.
b. In the fields.ini file:
- Code: Select all
[date_created]
widget:type=hidden
timestamp=insert
3. Tracking modification time
a. Create a datetime field and allow null values, let's say its name is 'date_modified'
b. In the fields.ini file:
- Code: Select all
[date_modified]
widget:type=hidden
timestamp=update
-Steve
Posted:
Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:37 amby ADobkin
Thanks for the info! I have a couple of follow-up questions:
1) Is it preferred to let Dataface handle the timestamps, or to use type TIMESTAMP fields in MySQL and have them updated automatically by the database (on the back-end)?
2) If I have other datetime or timestamp fields in the table, how do I ensure that Dataface uses the right one when showing the "Last updated" statement at the top of the current record view? I noticed the functions getCreated and getLastModified (referencing $createdField and $lastModifiedField respectively) in Record.php. Should my field names be specified to override these values, and if so, where should this be defined?
Thanks,
Alan
Posted:
Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:43 amby Guest
Is it preferred to let Dataface handle the timestamps, or to use type TIMESTAMP fields in MySQL and have them updated automatically by the database (on the back-end)?
All things being equal I would say 'yes' it is better to do it in the database. However I have personally had a lot of trouble getting mysql to track both the creation time and the modified time. You can only have one timestamp field per table, and this field can either track the modified time or the creation time, not both.
Of course, if you are using MySQL 5 you could write a trigger.
If I have other datetime or timestamp fields in the table, how do I ensure that Dataface uses the right one when showing the "Last updated" statement at the top of the current record view? I noticed the functions getCreated and getLastModified (referencing $createdField and $lastModifiedField respectively) in Record.php. Should my field names be specified to override these values, and if so, where should this be defined?
Dataface tries to guess which field is your update time based on the field name. Currently you cannot override this field name, but you can override the modified time value using the getLastModified() delegate class method.
e.g.
- Code: Select all
function getLastModified(&$record){
return strtotime( $record->strval('last_updated') );
}
Note that this method should return a unix timestamp.
-Steve
User tracking
Posted:
Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:19 amby ADobkin
I decided to try abstracting the user name by using user IDs instead from the users table. I am also keeping track of both the user who added the record and the one who last modified it, like this:
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function beforeInsert(&$record){
$auth =& Dataface_AuthenticationTool::getInstance();
$user =& $auth->getLoggedInUser();
$record->setValue('_uidAdd', $user);
}
function beforeUpdate(&$record){
$auth =& Dataface_AuthenticationTool::getInstance();
$user =& $auth->getLoggedInUser();
$record->setValue('_uidMod', $user);
}
Then, I have a definition in valuelists.ini to display the actual user name:
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[Users]
__sql__ = "SELECT _user_ID, userName FROM users ORDER BY userName"
Do you see any problems with this approach? For example, will I be losing out on certain features by not using a "creatorField" that Dataface can "guess" (since "uidMod" doesn't match the hard-coded patterns)?
Thanks,
Alan
Posted:
Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:43 amby shannah
This looks like a pretty good approach to me. Can't think of any down-sides off the top of my head.
-Steve
Possible bug with Dataface timestamp update
Posted:
Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:53 amby ADobkin
I am noticing some weird behavior with this:
[quote="shannah"]3. Tracking modification time
a. Create a datetime field and allow null values, let's say its name is 'date_modified'
b. In the fields.ini file:
- Code: Select all
[date_modified]
widget:type=hidden
timestamp=update
I've done a bit of testing, and it seems to work fine for records that are created with Dataface. Dataface apparently sets both the date created and date modified to the same values when the record is created, which is perfectly fine.
However, with a record created outside of Dataface (such as an import or manually inserted via phpMyAdmin), the date_modified field is initially set to either NULL or a "zero" date: 0000-00-00 00:00:00, which is also fine. The problem is that Dataface refuses to update this field on further edits to the record. If I change the datetime value to something non-zero, for example 0000-00-00 00:00:01, then Dataface accepts it and updates it properly.
Is this a bug in Dataface? My workaround is to now set the field to NOT NULL and use a default value such as DEFAULT '2000-01-01 00:00:00'. This appears to work well both in and out of Dataface, and for both the created and modified fields.
Thanks,
Alan