Extension development: too short table and columns names

[martti]

Table and column names in the database can currently only be 30 characters long.
In order to keep things nicely separated I would always prefix tables and columns from extensions with vendor_extensionname_. But 30 characters is way too short for doing this. Is there any reason why there is a 30 character limit?

[Paul]

Yes, some database systems limit the length of a table name.

[martti]

I did a quick Google search on the databases supported by phpBB. Oracle seems to be the culprit.

• Oracle:
  • up to version 12.1: maximum 30 bytes
  • From version 12.2 (March 2017): maximum 128 bytes
• MySQL: 64 characters
• MariaDB: 64 characters
• PostGreSQL: default 63 bytes, but configurable to be larger
• Sqlite3: no hard limit, only limited by the max length of the SQL statement (which is defaulted to 1000000 bytes, but configurable to be larger)
• MSSQL: 128 characters

How about keeping the 30 character limit for the core, but allowing 63 bytes for the extensions?

[david63]

How about keeping the 30 character limit for the core, but allowing 63 bytes for the extensions?

That would imply that anyone using Oracle would not be installing extensions (may possibly be true, but cannot be guaranteed)

[martti]

How about keeping the 30 character limit for the core, but allowing 63 bytes for the extensions?

That would imply that anyone using Oracle would not be installing extensions (may possibly be true, but cannot be guaranteed)

• Only Oracle pre 12.2
• Only extensions that define column or table names longer than 30 chars. It can be a requirement of the extension on the database used.

[3Di]

Using shorthands/acronyms is the way to go. As it is now, no need to add rules/regulations here IMHO.

mae_settings --->MyAwesomeExtension_settings

If I may say mine I'd like to see people involved in much more important things such as closing long standing tickets etc. etc.
The more the better.

[DavidIQ]

It's also not just table names. There's limitations on index names as well. In any case I'm not sure that adding conditionals to the dbal for doing different things depending on dbms versions is something we'd want to do (more of). However there's been some discussions about just going with Doctrine's ORM instead of continuing with our dbal so maybe this would get addressed at that point.

[martti]

Using shorthands/acronyms is the way to go. As it is now, no need to add rules/regulations here IMHO.

mae_settings --->MyAwesomeExtension_settings

That's good for now, but it would be cleaner if you use the same prefix everywhere (instant recognisable) for anything related to your extension.

It's also not just table names. There's limitations on index names as well. In any case I'm not sure that adding conditionals to the dbal for doing different things depending on dbms versions is something we'd want to do (more of). However there's been some discussions about just going with Doctrine's ORM instead of continuing with our dbal so maybe this would get addressed at that point.

Doctrine ORM trims column-names and adds a counter-number, but there is an open bug on it. And I don't know about the indexes and tables.

However, phpBB could implement its own NamingStrategy in Doctrine.

[martti]

However there's been some discussions about just going with Doctrine's ORM instead of continuing with our dbal so maybe this would get addressed at that point.

Isn't it Doctrine DBAL instead of ORM? I hope it's not ORM!
https://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopi ... rm#p255735

[DavidIQ]

Yeah that.