Re: [MRBS-general] Database for reference data for custom fields

[Thomas B. <Tho...@gm...>]

* Nick Holden <nr...@le...> [2013-04-15 19:50]:
> Hi all,
> 
> Has anyone made any modification to MRBS such that the reference data 
> for custom fields could be stored in a database table (and thus be 
> user-editable) rather than defined in the $select_options array in the 
> config file?
> 
> We want to be able to categorise room bookings according to which 
> research project the room is used for. However, the list of studies 
> ongoing in the unit changes regularly, and it is a pain to have to 
> manually edit the MRBS config file in order to extend the array of 
> options in the drop down list. What we'd like to be able to do is create 
> a little php page (preferable requiring admin rights) from which new 
> projects could be added to the list and old ones deleted. This seems to 
> imply populating the array from a database table, and then allowing the 
> admin page to have access to that database table to add or delete entries.

One simple possibility:
serialize $select_options and store it in the table mrbs_variables.

config.inc.php would then contain the following line (totally untested):
$select_options = unserialize(sql_query1("SELECT variable_content FROM $tbl_variables ".
		                         "WHERE variable_name = 'select_options'"));

Now all you need is an extra page to edit $select_options and write it
back to the database.

Thomas