4.1 KiB
Database plugin
The database plugin is installed by default in every copy of Baserow. Without it you can't really do anything with the application. In short this is the plugin that allows creating a database with a spreadsheet like interface. You will notice that everything has been build around this concept.
Tables
Each database application can have multiple tables and a table is exactly as what you might suspect. It can contain multiple fields, which are basically the columns, and rows. Every table has its own schema representation in the PostgreSQL/MySQL/SQLite database.
There is a baserow.contrib.database.table.handler.TableHandler handler class that has
all kinds of methods related to creating, modifying and deleting tables. Another nice
thing is that a Django model of the table can easily be generated. Lets say you have
the following table with id id and you want select all the data.
| Model name | Brand | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Series | BTW | 30000 |
| A4 | Audi | 25000 |
| Model 3 | Tesla | 50000 |
from baserow.contrib.database.table.models import Table
cars_table = Table.objects.get(pk=ID_REFERENCED_TABLE_ABOVE)
# If you set the attribute_names to True the attribute name is going to be the field
# name provided by the user instead of field_{id}
cars_model = cars_table.get_model(attribute_names=True)
for car in cars_model.objects.all():
print(car.id, car.model_name, car.price)
# Results in:
# 1 3 series 30000
# 2 A4 30000
# 2 Model 3 30000
Fields
A field is actually a column head of a table, it accepts only a certain type as data
value. A field can for example be a number field that accepts two placements after the
comma. If a new field is added to a table it is also added as column to the table
representation in the database. The column name in the database will be field_{id}.
The fields can be created, modified and deleted via the
baserow.contrib.database.fields.handler.FieldHandler and via the REST API. Several
field types have been included by default.
Field types can be added via a plugins. More about that on the field type plugin page.
text: Single line text.long_text: Multi line text.number: A number that can optionally be negative and optionally be a decimal.boolean: Just holds true or false.date: A date field in EU, ISO or USA format that can optionally include time am/pm format.
Views
Views define how the table data is displayed to the user. By default the grid view
type is included and that displays the data in spreadsheet like interface. Per table
multiple views can be added and each view has its own settings. If you for example have
two grid views and you change the width of a certain field in grid A then it only
changes for grid A and not for grid B. The views can be created, modified and deleted
via the baserow.contrib.database.views.handler.ViewHandler and via the REST API.
View types can be added via a plugins. More about that on the view type plugin page.
Rows
Rows are the table data. The values that are accepted depend on the fields of the table. The data is stored in the representation table in the database. In the example below we will insert a single row of data in a table we have just created via the python shell. The same result could be achieved via the REST API.
from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
from baserow.contrib.database.table.models import Table
from baserow.contrib.database.fields.handler import FieldHandler
from baserow.contrib.database.rows.handler import RowHandler
User = get_user_model()
user = User.objects.get(pk=1)
table = Table.objects.get(pk=10)
name = FieldHandler().create_field(user, table, 'text', name='Name')
price = FieldHandler().create_field(user, table, 'number', name='Price')
row = RowHandler().create_row(user, table, {
f'field_{name.id}': 'Smartphone',
f'field_{price.id}': 300
})
model = table.get_model()
rows = model.objects.all()
print(rows[0].name)
print(rows[0].price)
# Which will result in:
# Smartphone
# 300