CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ektron
zkent
zkent

Reputation: 980

custom table in Ektron database

I am adding a custom table to an Ektron database. What is the best practice for connecting to the database? Using standard ADO.NET code or is there a way to use the CMS' connection to the database? What is best practice?

Ektron 8.0.1 SP1

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1080

Answers (6)

Nagendra Somayaji
Nagendra Somayaji

Reputation: 181

You can add custom tables without effecting existing ones. But to use them you need custom controls each time. Like custom layouts, custom forms, custom widgets.

Upvotes: -1

RacerNerd
RacerNerd

Reputation: 1579

I came across this and thought that I could add a little to the discussion in case anyone is considering adding a custom table to the Ektron database. I think this topic is still relevant to the current version of Ektron and could be helpful.

Here are some good points:

  1. Do not alter tables created by Ektron. (Point made by Bisileesh extended comment below)
  2. Adding custom tables to the Ektron database is recommended in certain circumstances.
  3. Using a smart form for content may be recommended but there are times when it is not optimal.

Here are some reasons why I say these things:

  1. You should not alter tables created by Ektron for several reasons. Basically you don't want to change these because the Ektron software relies on these tables and modifications could cause errors. Besides the possibility of breaking things, if you ever upgrade Ektron, the Ektron Update may alter table definitions and erase your changes.
  2. Adding tables to the existing Ektron database is a good idea when compared to adding a new database for several reasons.
    First, you don't incur the additional cost of a full database structure on your server when you add a table.
    Second if you are working in a multiple server environment (development, staging, live) by adding your tables to the Ektron database you will be able to use eSync to manage transferring the data between servers. If you use your own database, you will need to manage synchronization elsewhere.
    I started with the idea that it was better to use my own database, but over the years I have discovered the advantages of using the Ektron database. Just as if you were using your own database, you should save the scripts to create the custom tables and perform database backups on a regular basis to ensure that you are protected.
    After doing Ektron upgrades you should ensure that your customized tables are still present in the Ektron database.
    When setting up eSync for custom tables I had to first run the sync on an empty table. After running the sync to establish a relationship, I was able to add data. There is also a requirement that there be a primary key on the custom tables and I don't think it can be an auto-incremented field. Consult Ektron for the latest requirements.
  3. When considering whether to add data to a smart form or a custom table here are some things to consider. If you use the Smart Form you are committing to using the Ektron provided controls to access your data. This may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your requirements and the current state of Ektron.
    In my case, search was a big deal. In versions 7.6 and 8.0 there were problems with the Ektron Search and it was no easy to do boolean searches across multiple fields. To overcome this I used custom tables that I could directly query. The search in version 8.6 has been changed but I still use my custom solution so I don't know if things are working better now.
    There are other data management issues that come up with smart forms and the Ektron Workarea that make it a good idea to avoid smart forms in some other cases too. The best place to store your data is not one place or the other, it depends on your requirements.

Upvotes: 2

Bisileesh
Bisileesh

Reputation: 1964

Adding Custom tables to the Ektron Database will not cause any issues,there is no need of another Database if you are having only few custom tables to be added. Altering the Ektron tables will create issues,so it is better not to go for that. For accessing data from the Custom Tables make use of LINQ (refer:here).

Upvotes: 3

StoriKnow
StoriKnow

Reputation: 5866

I know this question is a little old and answered, but I wanted to add my two cents. While altering Ektron's tables isn't advised (that is, without the API or scripts they've provided), adding your own table does no harm. If Ektron didn't support it they wouldn't provide the "Sync Custom Tables" option in eSync.

Upvotes: 2

Spongeboy
Spongeboy

Reputation: 2232

I'd look at using a different database. As mentioned by maddoxej, Ektron doesn't really like you messing with SQL and tables and what-not.

Granted, you may have admin reasons for using one database, but for the sake of maintainability I think it's worth having a second database which you fully control.

Upvotes: 0

maddoxej
maddoxej

Reputation: 1662

Best practice is to not use custom tables. If you can store your data as smart forms, users can use the workarea to edit their data. If you have to use a custom table, there are several ways:

One way is to pull the connection string from the web.config in an ASPX page

<asp:SqlDataSource ID="EktronSqlDataSource" runat="server" ConnectionString="<%$ConnectionStrings:Ektron.DBConnection %>" ></asp:SqlDataSource>

Upvotes: 1

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