PHPRunner – Pass Value to CSS Reference using Javascript in a pop up

Javascript is very powerful and will easily calculate all sorts of interesting things for you dynamically. In PHPRunner I use the popup windows for nearly every table or view form so I wanted it to work with these.

But with PHPRunner we want to store these in the database. I had a devilish time finding a way of referencing the field with which to copy any Javascript value into. After some lengthy discussion with ChatGPT 4 (via Bing) it suggested that I might try and use the CSS Selector.

I then discovered that I couldn’t seem to identify the name of the CSS Selector.

What I discovered is that I could not see a static CSS Selector reference for any of the fields except those that I had altered the formatting on for example changing the font to Roboto Mono.

So first step choose your target field and then alter it using the PHP page designer and then publish.

What I discovered was after that I could use the inspect item to identify the CSS Selector

On the published application navigate to the form and the field you wish to target for entry right click and select inspect.

Look to the DevTools window (in chrome and you should see in bold the css names of your field

You can then ask ChatGPT the following

Can you parse the input css selector I need from the following string that can be used by javascipt to be passed a value

[data-page="t0017_add"][data-itemid="integrated_edit_field4"][data-page="t0017_add"][data-itemid="integrated_edit_field4"][data-page="t0017_add"][data-itemid="integrated_edit_field4"][data-page="t0017_add"][data-itemid="integrated_edit_field4"] > * > * > input

An element is a part of a webpage. In XML and HTML, an element may contain a data item or a chunk of text or an image, or perhaps nothing. A typical element includes an opening tag with some attributes, enclosed text content, and a closing tag. Elements and tags are not the same things.

More on elements is available here

This can now be used behind a button and away we go… see below

document.querySelector('[data-page="t0017_add"][data-itemid="integrated_edit_field4"] > * > * > input').value = "Password123";

And here are some notes on finding CSS Selectors by ChatGPT4 I am still investigating CSS Selectors there seems to be a black art to understanding their structure and how they can be useful

I also asked chatGPT about child selectors in CSS. In my discussions with chatGPT I have discovered that spaces are important and symbols are important in naming and of course Javascript is case sensitive. The dynamic nature of CSS Selectors and their very specific naming conventions combined with spaces potentially being characters really means you need to be on your toes when you use them.

PHPRunner and MS SQL Azure – Running a Stored Procedure behind a button – With Sweet Alert User Feedback

I have written previously about triggering stored procedures in MS SQL Azure through a PHP Runner generated web front end. This is a vanilla explanation which includes sweet alerts to indicate users updating them on the progress of longer running stored procedures. It also locks the front end preventing users from rushing procedures until the queries have had time to complete.

Firstly navigate to the table you wish to run the stored procedure from in this example it is table T032Email List Screen

Insert a Custom Button here I call it Transform

Next select the button and look to the right for the Edit Button Code button.

You will be presented with the Buttons properties window dialog with three tabs
1=Client Before
2=Server
3=Client After

1) In the Client Before place the following code

Swal.fire({
  icon:"info",
  title: 'Please wait... transforming selected records',
  allowOutsideClick: false,
  allowEscapeKey: false,
  showConfirmButton: false
});

2) On the Server trigger the stored procedure – swap out your stored procedure name.

DB::Exec("EXEC dbo.transformemail");

and on the 3) Client After notify the user once everything has been completed

  Swal.fire({
    icon: "success",
    allowOutsideClick: false,
    allowEscapeKey: false,
    title: "Records Transformed",
    showConfirmButton: false,
    timer: 2000
  });
setTimeout("window.t032emailPage.reload({a:'reload'})", 2000);

PHPRunner – Using Sweet Alerts to give Users confirmation of Save

In PHPRunner as of version 10.51 the sweet alert javascript library is included in PHPRunner generated web applications.

How can we add code to a project to make bespoke adjustments?

Firstly navigate to the form you wish to add a special sweet alert to and insert a Custom Button.

Next navigate to the Events tab in PHPRunner and expand the table or view to which you added the additional button.

Behind the Javascipt OnLoad event add the following code

$('a[id^="saveButton"]').hide(); // Hide button "Save"

And on the Client Before Event of the new button add the following code

Swal.fire({
icon: "success",
title: "Saved",
showConfirmButton: false,
timer: 1000
});
$('a[id^="saveButton"]').click();
return false;

So what does the code do
Javascript OnLoad Event – Hides the real save button
On Click – Triggers the sweet alert success routine and once that is complete triggers the hidden savebutton code.

And more examples and inspiration

Sweet alert 2

And also if you find the Sweet Alert modal size too small add this to your page css:

.swal2-popup { font-size: 1.6rem !important; }

Most of this was from the following Xlinesoft User forum Thread
Thread

PHP Runner : Tips and Tricks – Reload a page from event that belongs to a button

For example on a page we have a button that parses text coming in.

1. Add the following code to Javascript OnLoad event of the table in question

window.tablePage = pageObj

2. Add the following code to any Javascript event where you want to reload the table. Can be ClientAfterevent of any button

if( window.tablePage ) {
window.tablePage.reload({a:'reload'});
}

As far as I can tell what you name the pageObj in this case tablePage is up to you – at the point of naming you are creating this variable.
My hunch is that you would want to name this something relating to the page and something not overly complicated but unique.

The ClientAfterevent references the same pageObj for page refresh.

My understanding of the way the code works is.
On loading the page create a pageObj variable named window.tablePage

After pressing the button if there is a pageObj variable named window.tablePage refresh it!

PHP-Runner linked to SQL Azure – Passing parameters from a row to a stored procedure which is then Executed

This is useful where you have values in a table row that you wish to pass to a stored procedure.

As per the previous post I was wanting to use this in the context of needing to create a particular view from the data in a particular row.
Its probably possible to do this with some kind of DB::Query or DB::Lookup but in this instance I chose to use dynamic SQL. I will be working on other methods as well.

From my previous post I already had my SQL Azure Stored procedure defined as.

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

ALTER   PROCEDURE [dbo].[auditselection]
(@firstname nvarchar(15),
@Dcreate datetime)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON
 
EXEC ('CREATE or ALTER VIEW v01 AS 
SELECT dbo.T0001Persons.PKID, 
dbo.T0001Persons.Firstname, 
dbo.T0001Persons.DateCreated
FROM
dbo.T0001Persons 
WHERE 
dbo.T0001Persons.Firstname=' + '''' + 
@firstname + '''' + ' 
AND dbo.T0001Persons.DateCreated <= ' + '''' 
+ @Dcreate + '''' +
'')
END

Firstly I went to the list view in PHP Runner and within the designer I inserted a button into the row.
(I will be working on something a bit cleaner later but for now I’m just trying to get it to work)

In the CLIENT BEFORE part of the tri part event I put

params["Firstname"] = row.getFieldValue("Firstname");
params["Dcreate"] = row.getFieldValue("DateCreated");

Where Firstname and DateCreated are field values in my table T0001Persons

So in Javascript I am passing the field values to parameters called Firstname and Dcreate and then in PHP I pass those variables to the stored procedure and the database procedure does the rest.

Next I put the following code in the Server event

$sql = DB::PrepareSQL( "EXEC dbo.auditselection 
@firstname=':1',
@Dcreate=':2'", 
$params["Firstname"], $params["Dcreate"]);
DB::Exec( $sql );

Looking at the stored procedure syntax in SQL Azure.. you can see that the variables in the stored procedure that I happen to have been called @firstname and @Dcreate although they could have been named anything because PHP is passing the values and not the memory location(variable name) which makes sense because you are passing from a web server to a separate database server and the same memory spaces don’t exist in both.

Which lead me onto investigating how programs and operating systems manage memory space. link

And here are some screenshots of the code in PHPRunner

Javascript Client Before Part

PHP Server Part ( note this was my first effort which although worked did not qualify the database schema or name state the procedure variables being passed parameters)

and just for completeness the Javascript Client After Part

and how it looks in the list once deployed

and what happens once I have hit the button.

Of course this is all documented but when there is so much to learn it can take sometime to just look at the documentation and understand it. Most of what I have discovered here is written up
Link

Couple of points

  • Qualify the stored procedure with the database schema (although it does seem to work without this I am told this results in better performance)
  • You can qualify the variables that items are being passed to. Again will work without this.
  • PHPRunner by Xlinesoft – a personal recommendation if you need a Low Code platform perfect for CRUD application development

    Bit of background I am like most , constantly looking out for better tools and have been periodically searching Google for low code tools now for nearly 5 years. 3 years ago I started dipping my toe into web code generators and then about 2 and a half years ago I went out and bought tools linked to Xlinesoft – I have copies of both ASP.net runner and PHPrunner and I thought I would give some feedback. It seems to me incredibly difficult to get unbiased reviews of low code platforms. If you do a search for it on google you only seem to find the really big (and expensive players) who don’t clearly indicate how good they are for CRUD application generation. The main generators I looked at were Nubuilder (open source but only supports MYSQL databases and it doesn’t produce responsive designs) – PHPMaker – not bad but wasn’t getting great performance and didn’t like the UI of the genrator that much / Radzen – good but ASP NET based and its a bit young at the moment.

    Xlinesoft Main Website

    Word up – I basically think Xlinesoft’s PHPRunner is particularly excellent. I have copies of ASP NET Runner and PHPRunner but found because I can get better performance with PHPRunner and because Linux hosting is cheaper I am moving all my applications across to PHPRunner. Their ASP Net Runner has served me well and I had one client on it and they are very happy. I still plan to move them across to PHPRunner.

    I have managed to create 5 working applications and I am starting to get independent clients who I make applications for. To date they have been very happy with my work and are usually very happy with how quickly I can turn round their requests.

    Points I would draw your attention to specific to PHPRunner.

  • Code produced is non proprietary and uses vanilla PHP.
  • PHP 7.4 support is standard and PHP 8 support is being introduced. I generally use the latest PHP version my host provides an option for which to date has been 7.4. I am really looking forward to using it with PHP 8.
  • I’ve had no problem deploying the code to Linux web servers seems to work seamlessly. Previous versions of PHP are supported.
    Initial scaffolding of a connected database is fast and flawless. Every connected table gets a List / Add / Edit / View and Search page. This saves a massive amount of time in getting started.
  • So far I have connected to MySQL / Postgres and SQL Azure databases as the backends all seem to work well.
  • To date I have only used SQL Azure databases with Azure application service
  • I have had excellent performance between PHP Runner on a Azure Web App services and SQL Azure on Azure (even the basic developer level web app and database provisions)
  • I have had excellent performance between PHP Runner and MariaDB hosted on a linux paid host
  • I have had excellent performance between PHP Runner and Postgres where the web client is on a linux paid hosting service and postgres is on ACUGIS hosting service.
  • PHP Runner seems to deploy really really nicely to an apache server.
  • Security set up seem intuitive and clear but very powerful.
  • Two factor authentication is really easy to setup either via email or via SMS through a services such as Twilio
  • Additional applications are free there is no per seat option. If you are paying for a host where you have the option of unlimited subdomains it is likely that you will be able to get an application up and running for no additional monetary cost.
  • Setting up email is really easy.
  • Code behind for events is very intuitive and extremely intuitive only thing that will hold you back is your ability to code.
  • Charting seems good – I haven’t used it extensively but works as I expected it too and pretty.
  • The menu setup either the initial screen or a tree setup is very flexible and extremely intuitive
  • Like I said the generated code is not proprietary so no need to fuss with security tokens or things like that.
  • Continue reading “PHPRunner by Xlinesoft – a personal recommendation if you need a Low Code platform perfect for CRUD application development”