External Entries v2.3.4 ($25 per installation)

Fri 8 Jan ’10
10:27am

Adrienne L. Travis

I keep harping on this point with extension developers, and you may have seen it, so I’m sorry in advance if so: is the license fee *per EE installation* (backend) or *per front-end site* (if using MSM or other multiple-domain method)?

Thanks!

Mon 15 Feb ’10
8:02pm

dumbguy

Just curious - the trial version is not encoded. So how does the licensing work? Just on Trust that people who downloaded will come back and pay you?

Mon 15 Feb ’10
8:19pm

dumbguy

great… :)

okay, i downloaded the plugin, but how do I install it? I am using EE2, but it doesnt show up in CP, I have uploaded it in thirdparty folder…

Wed 17 Feb ’10
12:38am

Ben

Will this work with a PHP 4.3 and MySQL 4.0 environment?

Sun 21 Feb ’10
10:35am

Brendon Carr

Has anyone given this a try as a means to update just a part of a single entry (i.e., to make a leaner Stand-Alone Edit Form)?

Wed 24 Feb ’10
5:05am

Lewis Jones

Hi Adam,  Very much looking forward to the EE2.0 version of External SAEF.  Related to Brendon’s question, it seems to me the Update Entries function is designed to update just one column of the table.  Shouldn’t this work for an edit form already?  Anyway, about to give it a try!

Wed 24 Feb ’10
9:36am

2ways

Hmmm… yes, not sure what I meant either.  I was thinking about the built-in SAEF tag, but realise now it won’t work the way I thought it would.

Could you use it in a two-stage process, where you used a regular form to post information to another page (almost like a preview page, but it would never need to be visible), then take the output of the form values from there to use in the update tags to update the database?  Would require php, but would still be more flexible than the built-in SAEF for editing.

Anyway, just musing.  In all likelihood, I’ll be waiting for your super-duper EE2.0 External SAEF module.  Any time frame on that?  Thanks.

Wed 24 Feb ’10
12:12pm

2ways

Hey, you’re the one setting the pricing!  I’ll pay just about anything for a stand alone edit form that works.

The site I’m building is all about trying to keep users on the front end and away from the control panel.

The two-stage solution sounds pretty reasonable, actually.  It also means radio buttons and checkboxes would behave more consistently than they do with the SAEF.

The next issue to tackle is a SAEF file upload plugin that works and formatting buttons for SAEF forms.  I know they are supposed to work, but I can’t seem to get them to.

Sorry for the off-topic rant.  Thanks for the comments.

Wed 24 Feb ’10
2:39pm

2ways

Thanks, Adam.  To be honest, I gave up a while back and can’t remember the exact errors that were troubling me, though I might have another go now. 

I know other people seem to think the issues were solved, but I just couldn’t get the file uploads to work or formatting buttons to appear at all. 

On the edit side of things, the SAEF has trouble with just about everything other than text and textarea fields.  I managed to get radio buttons working with an if-then check to see what to display and I did an ugly fix of the select boxes by appending the currently selected value at the top of the list.  Checkboxes appear to be a lost cause for editing because they only appear in the data stream when they are ticked, which means if you untick it, it won’t tell anyone it’s been unticked.

The file upload doesn’t seem to have any chance of working with an edit form in the current configuration.  By working, I mean being able to view what you’ve uploaded (other than a file path), deleting the current file, and uploading another.

Part of my problem is that I am on EE2.0 where the SAEF stuff is not as well tried in the community, so less forum traffic.  Also, I am hardcoding everything instead of using {custom_fields} because I want to have control over the styling.  Mind you, I went back to have a go using {custom_fields} and found I still couldn’t get it working.

Thanks for pointing me to that thread.  Still don’t know how it all works with EE2.0.  Sorry for the long reply.

Wed 3 Mar ’10
10:45am

2ways

No problem.  Don’t stress on my account.  Will enjoy it when it comes!

Oh yeah.  Call me Lewis.  I never really like being someone else online, and I didn’t realise my posts would all be from 2ways.

Thanks for your work.

Wed 7 Apr ’10
2:01pm

Craig Allen

Hi Adam, looks like this will be very handy in a website I’m planning to start work on soon. I noticed a typo in the docs. You have written ...

“For EE v1.x, create in the /third_party directory a directory /select_entries, then place the pi.select_entries.php in there.”

That should read “For EE v2.x”.

I guess though that someone would have to be pretty thick to not work that out for themselves!

Wed 7 Apr ’10
7:46pm

unruthless

Hi Adam, I’m evaluating External Entries for a project, and functionality-wise it looks like it’ll be a good fit. Before integrating it, though, I have two concerns related to security, and I was hoping to get your input on both:

1. Having our database credentials in plaintext in a template seems like bad security practice. A possible workaround for people using this plugin to access tables in the same database as ExpressionEngine’s tables: the hostname + database name + username + password to this database are already stored in /system/config.php file, in the variables $conf[‘db_hostname’], conf[‘db_name’], $conf[‘db_username’], and $conf[‘db_password’]. Any way for this plugin to just use those credentials, rather than having to specify database connection info at the template level?

2. For INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE queries, there doesn’t appear to be any escaping of query data happening. Am I missing something, or shouldn’t there be some mysql_real_escape_string action happening?

Happy to take this discussion offline, and thanks for releasing this plugin.

Wed 7 Apr ’10
9:27pm

unruthless

Hi Adam, thanks for the quick response!

Regarding (1), I just took another look at the source code, and you’re totally right—for my project, we won’t need to include the db info in the template, so we’re good.

Regarding (2), fantastic to hear you’ll be adding escaping to those queries. Can you give me a rough timeline, so I know whether it makes sense for me (given a looming project deadline) to wait for your patch or attempt to patch it on my own?

Thanks again,
Ruthie

Thu 8 Apr ’10
2:33pm

unruthless

Adam, looks like you missed one needed escape on line 480 - other than that, looks great. Way to use EE’s built-in escaping rather than writing your own, quite elegant.

I’ll be setting this up on my project today, and will let you know how it goes. Thanks!

Fri 14 May ’10
2:22pm

carvingCode

Adam - Can’t get it (ee 2.2.3) installed in EE2.0.2PB1.  It doesn’t display in the ‘addons->pluugins’ list.  I have it inside ‘third_party/external_entries’.  Any ideas?

Fri 14 May ’10
3:24pm

carvingCode

Yes, using the ‘third_party’ dir installed with EE.  This is a fresh install and external_entries is the only 3rd party addon installed.  Odd.

Fri 14 May ’10
5:24pm

carvingCode

OK.  Must have had a bad install of EE.  Couldn’t install other plugins either.  Deleted/reinstalled EE and all is well.  Am testing external_entries for db project that, instead of building out as an EE module, may do everything within EE itself.  If external_entries is all its cracked up to be (which I’m sure it will be), I’ll be registering it.

Tue 15 Jun ’10
2:49am

Peter R Mansfield

I’m using v1.6.8. I want to select data from another database called ‘sympa’ on my server. I can do it with an ordinary php file but when I copy the php code into an EE template and when I use the equivalent External Entries code, regardless of what SQL statement I use I get this output:

MySQL ERROR:
Error Number: 1146
: Table ‘sympa.exp_global_variables’ doesn’t exist
Query: SELECT variable_name, variable_data FROM exp_global_variables WHERE site_id = ‘1’ AND user_blog_id = ‘0’

For some reason the SQL statement I write is being replaced by the statement above that is rubbish. Any suggestions?

Tue 15 Jun ’10
10:32am

Peter R Mansfield

Adam, Yes I get the error with all combinations including a new template with PHP off and nothing but:
{exp:external_entries:select
  hostname=“localhost”
  username=“myusername”
  password=“mypassword”
  database=“sympa” 
  table=“subscriber_table”
}
{select:user_subscriber} - {select:reception_subscriber}

{/exp:external_entries:select} 

If I delete <table=“subscriber_table”> then I get a blank page except if I turn EE debug info on - but that does not indicate any problem. I’ll let you have access to my site if you want to see it for yourself.

Tue 15 Jun ’10
9:07pm

Peter R Mansfield

Adam, I’ve had a brainwave this morning (South Australian time). I can get the php code equivalent for what I am trying do to work properly by adding mysql_close($connectiontoexternaldatabase) then mysql_connect() and mysql_select_db() to reconnect to my EE database.

Tue 15 Jun ’10
9:25pm

Peter R Mansfield

Adam, Sorry I submitted my last post before I saw your request to download v2.3. I’ve now done so: It has made no difference that I can see. I don’t get anything other than the MySQL error message I reported above.

Tue 15 Jun ’10
10:09pm

Peter R Mansfield

Adam, I can do what I want to do faster with your plugin. Also the problem I am having could be a problem for other people. So please register at http://www.healthyskepticism.org and I will give you SuperAdmin status. If there is delay, it will be because I’m dong my day job. I’m a GP (family physician).

Fri 18 Jun ’10
10:34am

Lee

Hi Adam, could I use this to delete entries from specific, or all channels that are 3 days older than now?

Best wishes
Lee

Fri 18 Jun ’10
10:40am

Lee

Or by a cron?

Fri 18 Jun ’10
8:21pm

Peter R Mansfield

Adam, I’ve worked it out. External Entries works perfectly if System Preferences ›  Database Settings > Database Connection Type = Persistent. If Database Connection Type = Non Persistent then it works only if there is additional output PHP that re-establishes a connection with the EE database.  I suggest you add a few lines to your plug in to do that or ask customers to ensure that their Database Connection Type is set to Persistent.

Mon 21 Jun ’10
7:35pm

Peter R Mansfield

Adam, So there must be something unusual about my system. We have Debian setup to be very secure so perhaps there is something in that that caused the problem. Since we have a treatment that works we don’t need to investigate the exact cause of the problem. If anyone else gets similar symptoms I recommend ensure that the database connection type is persistent. All’s well that ends well. Thank you for some very useful plugins!

Wed 23 Jun ’10
12:36pm

Vee Van Dyke

Hey Adam - I am getting an error when I try to use the select command: here is the error.

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice
=============================
Message: Undefined variable: DB

Filename: external_entries/pi.external_entries.php

Line Number: 49
=====================
I am using 2.3 on EE 2. Any ideas what might be causing this?

Here is the page that is throwing the error:
http://www.wildernessfamilycoop.com/admin/delivery_dates/

Thanks!
Vee

Wed 23 Jun ’10
1:05pm

Vee Van Dyke

I figured it out….

I changed lines 49 and 50 in the plugin to
$DB = $this->EE->db;
$TMPL = $this->EE->TMPL;

FROM
$DB -> $this->EE->db
$TMPL -> $this->EE->TMPL

Works great now, BTW.

Mon 28 Jun ’10
6:29pm

JonnyTurner

Hi Adam, I’m trying to extract data from an external database and insert it into custom fields in my EE2 database. This is so I can create an advanced search (for a car site). Will your plugin do this?

I can successfully display results from a table and also insert into the database from standard text but not on the same page.

Mon 28 Jun ’10
7:33pm

JonnyTurner

Hi Adam, thanks for the very quick reply and advice!

I’ve set up the embed as described and can display the data results in the embedded template. Then I copied the insert example above to insert the {embed:stock_model} into new rows to create new entries but I get a couple of errors - one being:

mysql_fetch_assoc(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource

I tried the update example as you initially mentioned and had the same error. Not sure where I’m going wrong with it. 

Thanks for the help.

Fri 2 Jul ’10
7:14pm

lukemcr

I’m looking for a quick way to just run a count from an external database using external_entries:select: something like SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table and having it spit out a number.

{select:count} and {select:total_results} aren’t really doing it for me. Is this really easy, or am I missing something?

Thanks a lot.

Fri 2 Jul ’10
7:54pm

lukemcr

Well, what I want is just a single number - the number of entries in a particular table in an external database. {select:total_results} loops through the table one time for each row, and displays the row count one time for each row.

Also, it’s capped at 100. I’m trying to get the post count from an external vBulletin database with 5 million + posts, so that doesn’t quite work.

FWIW, here’s my tags:

{exp:external_entries:select
  hostname=“127.0.0.1”
  username=“user”
  password=“password”
  database=“database” 
  table=“post”
}
{select:total_results}
{/exp:external_entries:select}

Fri 2 Jul ’10
8:02pm

lukemcr

Great, thank you. I’d love to be able to run the equivalent of

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM posts

in an external database, and display the results in EE.

Fri 2 Jul ’10
9:55pm

Chad Crowell

FYI Adam I am getting the same exact issue that Peter had before, and the persistent/non-persistent setting does fix it.  Seems like an update should be in order to allow non-persistent connections since EE recommends that.

Mon 5 Jul ’10
1:33pm

Jaycee

This plugin would be extremely useful to me if it allowed me to execute select queries that joined 2 or more tables. I have instances where I would want to associate data outside the EE database with entries in the EE database in a many-to-many relationship, so I’m using a linking table to store the cross references. Is there any possibility of using this plugin in such a case?

Tue 13 Jul ’10
4:06am

Kurt Deutscher

Hi Adam,

I’m having the same issue as Dr. Mansfield above. I would love for things to work without having to have the database connection Persistent in EE.

Any chance you have a version of this that works without a persistent connection type?

Fri 16 Jul ’10
8:59am

Peter R Mansfield

Adam, Sorry about the delay. I tested v2.3.3 with the code you wrote on my test page except I added connection =“persistent”. It does not work with my site having a persistent or a non persistent connection. Also it makes my utilities > plugins page be a blank screen.

Tue 20 Jul ’10
8:20pm

tree

Adam, Peter:

line 89 is missing the opening paren. that should solve peter’s problem (it did mine).

hope that helps!

teresa

Tue 20 Jul ’10
8:39pm

JonnyTurner

Hey guys,

I’m getting ‘Access denied for user’ when using select to connect to external database. I know the credentials are correct so is this a setting in EE 1.6.9 or external entries? It’s working fine in EE2.1 but had to downgrade the CMS to super search.

Tue 20 Jul ’10
8:58pm

tree

Hi again, Adam,

Here’s an odd one:

My html input elements aren’t being parsed inside and exp:external_entries_select. The greater than/less than signs are converted to entities. paragraph and label tags are fine, except for the closing paragraph tags that follow offending input tags.

If you know off-hand what the problem is, that’s great. I’ll dig through the plugin code some more to see if I see anything, as well…

thanks!

Tue 20 Jul ’10
10:01pm

JonnyTurner

Hi Adam, definitely fixed the blank page but not the access error unfortunately. I’ve used the same plugin from my EE2 version (where it works) and also the same code. Completely stumped on this one.

Tue 20 Jul ’10
10:19pm

tree

Another bit of info re my input tag non-parsing problem, above.

The template contains includes external_entries has “allow php” set to yes, on output. That template is embedded in another template that allows php on input… and that template is included in a template that does not allow php. Changing the top-level template does not fix the problem. When i echo the value of $params[‘allow_php’], it is always “n”....

Surely, I’m just missing something….

Tue 20 Jul ’10
10:52pm

tree

In response to my input vs allow php problem…..

Right! Got it.

I needed to set “allow_php” in the external_entries tag. I WAS missing something….

sorry for all the noise, but if it helps someone like me in the future, woot!

Tue 20 Jul ’10
10:55pm

tree

oh yeah, i could more _carefully_ read documentation ...

thanks again, and i’ll shut up now :)

Thu 22 Jul ’10
1:27pm

JonnyTurner

Hi Adam, yeah that would be extremely appreciated. I’ve emailed across the login details. I’m using the same build as you’ve mentioned above, installed the 2.3.4 plugin and also created a new db but with same probs.