About:
Metabase is a DBMS-independent PHP API to access SQL databases. It supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL server, Microsoft Access, ODBC, Interbase, Informix, MiniSQL, and SQLite. It supports nested transactions, blobs, and prepared queries. It can install database schemas defined in a DBMS independent XML format that describe tables, indexes, primary keys, and auto-increment sequences. It is also able to upgrade a database to a new schema without affecting the data that was stored since it was installed or upgraded for the last time. There is also schema reverse engineering support.

Author:
Manuel Lemos [contact developer]

Rating:	reset 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8.29/10.00 (8 votes)

Homepage:
http://www.phpclasses.org/metabase
Tar/GZ:
http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/package/20/download/targz.html
Zip:
http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/package/20/download/zip.html
Mailing list archive:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metabase-dev
Mirror site:
http://en.static.phpclasses.org/browse/package/20.html

Trove categories: [change]

[Development Status]		6 - Mature
[Environment]		Web Environment
[Intended Audience]		Developers
[License]		Freely Distributable, OSI Approved :: BSD License (original)
[Operating System]		OS Independent
[Programming Language]		PHP
[Topic]		Database :: Front-Ends, Software Development :: Libraries :: PHP Classes

Dependencies: [change]
XML parser class (required)
[download links]

 Branches

Branch	Version	Last release	License	URLs
Default	2008.04.14	14-Apr-2008	BSD License (original)

 Comments

[»] fetch associative array?
by Hipper - Mar 22nd 2004 09:22:29

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but:

Is it possible to do something like mysql_fetch_assoc using metabase? I know its slower and stuff but I really need it!

Anyways metabase is doing just fine, thank you very much for it.

[reply] [top]

[»] Re: fetch associative array?
by Manuel Lemos - Mar 23rd 2004 11:40:59


> Is it possible to do something like
> mysql_fetch_assoc using metabase? I know
> its slower and stuff but I really need
> it!

Possible, yes, but not quite portable between different databases.

The problem is is that some database change the name of the columns when they are returned to the database clients that execute queries. Some database change the case of the database columns, others mangle the names cutting any table name prefixes or to limit the column names.

I could add such a function easily but it not be wise to use it as Metabase is focused on portability and applications that use such function would take the risk of not working with different databases.

Anyway, if you are willing to test it I could add the function in a a few days. Just mail me privately if you would like that.


> Anyways metabase is doing just fine,
> thank you very much for it.

You're welcome! ;-)


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[»] Excellent package
by BlueFelix - Feb 13th 2002 22:31:37

Metabase is by far the most complete DB abstraction layer I have come across for any language. It is well tested and offers a large feature set with support for many data types including LOBs (does any other DB abstraction layer have working LOB support?!?). Metabase makes writing database independent applications a true pleasure ;)

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[»] stupid registration
by Michael Hinz - Nov 14th 2001 09:47:59

I don't want to register for every tiny little package I download from the net. What are you, a spammer?

[reply] [top]

[»] Re: stupid registration
by Manuel Lemos - Nov 14th 2001 11:49:44


> I don't want to register for every tiny
> little package I download from the net.
> What are you, a spammer?
>

Here is why you need to be subscribed to download any packages from the PHP Classes Repository and here is the site privacy policy. So, there should be no reason for you not to subscribe to the site if you really want to download any of the packages made available there.

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[»] Re: stupid registration
by Bryan Fife - Nov 13th 2003 14:00:46


>
> % I don't want to register for every
> tiny
> % little package I download from the
> net.
> % What are you, a spammer?
> %
>
>
> Here is why you need to be subscribed to
> download any packages from the PHP
> Classes Repository and here is the site
> privacy policy. So, there should be no
> reason for you not to subscribe to the
> site if you really want to download any
> of the packages made available there.
>
>

I agree with this user. Despite what the developer states as a reason, users should not have to register to download this software. If this is GNU GPL software then people should be able to download it without a registration. I am disgusted by an open-source package forcing user registration, phpclasses.org website is the developers website. I am not trying to make this a personal attack or start a flame war, but the developer of this package needs to realize that this is an unacceptable practice. Does Apache.org require registration? Does a download of the PHP language distribution require registration? No. No. Also, I don't see ADODB trying to force registration. Anyways, I would like to try this software but I have never registered to use OSS, and won't start now. I can program my own solution for row-limit functionality in MS SQL Server and just keep using ADODB for PHP.


[reply] [top]

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[»] Re: stupid registration
by Manuel Lemos - Nov 13th 2003 14:47:04


> I agree with this user. Despite what the
> developer states as a reason, users
> should not have to register to download
> this software. If this is GNU GPL
> software then people should be able to
> download it without a registration. I am
> disgusted by an open-source package
> forcing user registration,
> phpclasses.org website is the developers
> website. I am not trying to make this a
> personal attack or start a flame war,
> but the developer of this package needs
> to realize that this is an unacceptable
> practice. Does Apache.org require
> registration? Does a download of the PHP
> language distribution require
> registration? No. No. Also, I don't see
> ADODB trying to force registration.
> Anyways, I would like to try this
> software but I have never registered to
> use OSS, and won't start now. I can
> program my own solution for row-limit
> functionality in MS SQL Server and just
> keep using ADODB for PHP.
>
Regardless of the license of the software, it is always upto the author to decide how he wants to make his software available to others.

The way I see it you have no legal nor moral right to demand anything from the authors. They are already making their software available for free and you think you should impose further conditions on the way software is served to you, as if the authors owe you anything. What else do you want? The authors blood? Shall the authors still have to pay you to use their free software?

I regret that you felt it was a good idea to threat to use a similar package made available in another site. I have to inform you that ridiculous threat does not work because I am not interested in having users with hostile intentions to use my free software. I do no care if you use another package from somebody else. If it is your will, I respect that.

OTOH, you are just being desrespectful to the authors because you do not want to understand and accept the reasons for the authors to make their software available this way.

On the PHP Classes site, making software available without requiring registration is an option that each author can exercise even in a file by file basis.

The reason why most authors do not remove the registration requirement is because the site will not account downloads of files made available about registration.

Packages that do not have their downloads accounted, are not considered for the download rankings nor can be rated by the users. This is this way to prevent frauds that could be committed by authors with intention to gain ilicit visibility by using robots to make false user downloads.

For many authors, the chance of being ranked and rated is a small but an important compensation for making their software available for free.

This may not be important for you as an user, but you have to understand and respect the authors wishes and hopes.

If after this explanation you still disagree and do not respect the with the authors will, there is not much more that can be done for you. Opening the source of my software will not make a slave of the users of that software. I am sorry you felt otherwise.

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[»] Re: stupid registration
by Bryan Fife - Nov 13th 2003 20:06:02


>
> % I agree with this user. Despite what
> the
> % developer states as a reason, users
> % should not have to register to
> download
> % this software. If this is GNU GPL
> % software then people should be able
> to
> % download it without a registration. I
> am
> % disgusted by an open-source package
> % forcing user registration,
> % phpclasses.org website is the
> developers
> % website. I am not trying to make this
> a
> % personal attack or start a flame war,
> % but the developer of this package
> needs
> % to realize that this is an
> unacceptable
> % practice. Does Apache.org require
> % registration? Does a download of the
> PHP
> % language distribution require
> % registration? No. No. Also, I don't
> see
> % ADODB trying to force registration.
> % Anyways, I would like to try this
> % software but I have never registered
> to
> % use OSS, and won't start now. I can
> % program my own solution for row-limit
> % functionality in MS SQL Server and
> just
> % keep using ADODB for PHP.
> %
>
>
> Regardless of the license of the
> software, it is always upto the author
> to decide how he wants to make his
> software available to others.
>
> The way I see it you have no legal nor
> moral right to demand anything from the
> authors. They are already making their
> software available for free and you
> think you should impose further
> conditions on the way software is served
> to you, as if the authors owe you
> anything. What else do you want? The
> authors blood? Shall the authors still
> have to pay you to use their free
> software?
>
> I regret that you felt it was a good
> idea to threat to use a similar package
> made available in another site. I have
> to inform you that ridiculous threat
> does not work because I am not
> interested in having users with hostile
> intentions to use my free software. I do
> no care if you use another package from
> somebody else. If it is your will, I
> respect that.
>
> OTOH, you are just being desrespectful
> to the authors because you do not want
> to understand and accept the reasons for
> the authors to make their software
> available this way.
>
> On the PHP Classes site, making software
> available without requiring registration
> is an option that each author can
> exercise even in a file by file basis.
>
> The reason why most authors do not
> remove the registration requirement is
> because the site will not account
> downloads of files made available about
> registration.
>
> Packages that do not have their
> downloads accounted, are not considered
> for the download rankings nor can be
> rated by the users. This is this way to
> prevent frauds that could be committed
> by authors with intention to gain ilicit
> visibility by using robots to make false
> user downloads.
>
> For many authors, the chance of being
> ranked and rated is a small but an
> important compensation for making their
> software available for free.
>
> This may not be important for you as an
> user, but you have to understand and
> respect the authors wishes and hopes.
>
> If after this explanation you still
> disagree and do not respect the with the
> authors will, there is not much more
> that can be done for you. Opening the
> source of my software will not make a
> slave of the users of that software. I
> am sorry you felt otherwise.
I respect developers, and I respect your right to distribute your software however you wish. It would be better for me to say that I disagree with this particular model of distribution. I also am wary of fraud, spam, and popups which is why I do not want to register to obtain this software. Also, if this is GPL software there is nothing to prevent others from distributing it on their own web site. The GPL states:

1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.

Also, once the software is GPL it is not "his" or "hers", it is public domain. I do not have hostile intentions and your tone is highly unwarranted, I never demanded anything. Your elaborate response as to why it is critical to have this software ranked by the number of times it was downloaded is also moot. The statement, "This may not be important for you as an user, but you have to understand and respect the authors wishes and hopes", does not make any sense whatsoever. The point about "there is not much more that can be done for you" was also a blantant insult. One other thing, I was not "threatening" anything or anyone.

I thought the idea of writing open-source software was to share it. I thought you might come back and say, "Hey I can get you a copy without registering if you have a problem". I would think that adding to a user base is as important as download rankings, if not more. Your response to this message was more about legitimizing the delivery system by which phpclasses.org and its authors offer software than is was about anything else.


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[»] Re: stupid registration
by Manuel Lemos - Nov 13th 2003 21:49:35


My response was to explain why the things work the way they work. The fact that I present the point of view of the site as a respository for packages contributed by many authors and also the point of view of the authors, is because it happens that I am both the developer of the site and also this package.

Still you seem to be very confused and aggressive towards the way the work is made available in the site by people that do not owe you anything, that I feel I have to add a few more explanations.

1. You do not want to register with the forced excuse that you presume that by registering you will be victim of fraud, spam and popups. Then you say you feel insulted.

This site provides a lot of services to both the users and the authors all for free. I should be the one that should feel insulted by ungrateful people like you that insist that my points are moot.

2. If you bothered to read this page, at the top you could see that the license of this package is BSD, not GPL. BSD is even more free for the users than GPL because users are free to modify and distributed modified versions of this package without having to disclose the source code of all their software in which this package is used.

3. GPL is not public domain. Public domain is when authors completely abide their copy rights. GPL is all but that. GPL software still has copyright holders. Otherwise there would be no legal basis to enforce the GPL license of any software.

4. You still fail to understand that the requirement to be a registered user is an option of each author of each package.

Therefore, it is irrelevant for the site and for the authors whether anybody downloads any packages from this site and redistributes them elsewhere, as long as that is conformant with the license of each package. Each package license is decided by each author, not the site. The license may even not be Open Source.

Authors just care about having significant audience for their packages. The site just assures that audience counts are as accurate as possible to preserve the credibility of the site and the work contributed by the authors.

5. If you still think that the site and the authors that contribute to it are wrong, so be aware that the site has over 4 years and by now there are over 1,100 packages contributed by more than 600 packages made available to about 130,000 registered users.

How many other credible sites dedicated to PHP that you know with this reputation?

http://www.phpclasses.org/browse.html/statistics/statistics.html

Think about this before assuming that only you are right, everybody else that uses the site is wrong because you presume that whoever registers to the site will be victim of fraud.

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