0. First things first: (since this is my very first posting here)
May I all thank you very much for created and sharing this awesome forum software called “phpBB”? I've have been a very happy end-user of it on many different online communities for many years and i'm loving it. Again thank you all for creating, maintaining and expanding this – to my personal opinion - very the best forum platform which has empowered all kinds of communities around the planet!
1. My case:
Recently i've joined a community - as end-user - which uses phpBB for their forum.
Over the years their forum has grown, evolved but has also become a little messy.
So recently someone has been asked to do a clean-up / reorganisation operation on their forum, to get things a bit more organized.
In order to see if I am able to assist them and learn more about the phpBB package myself, I've started “digging-under-the-phpBB-hood”, to see how stuff really works there. On my quest for more indepth knowledge and developer-grade documentation I first landed upon the phpBB.com forum and later on I found the home of the phpBB forum called “Area51”
2 - What have I done already myself?
Since I've been around in the ICT-landscape and done many different things in there for over 40 years now, I've learned the #1 thing: “R.T.F.M.F.” as in “Read The F****** Manual First”. So I started to scrape the Internet for the manuals I need such as:
1. Apache Webserver - which forms the foundation of their website and forum
- https://httpd.apache.org/docs/
2. PHP language manual - since I have programmed but not yet with the PHP-language.
- https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php
3. PhpBB Manuals - installation, admin, end-user – to learn how everything is intended to work
- https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/
- https://www.phpbb.com/community/docs/INSTALL.html
4. Downloaded and unzipped the latest phpBB package.in a temp folder.
- https://www.phpbb.com/downloads/
5. Started to decode the phpBB installation-routine at developer-level:
→ ../install/app.php starts the entire installation-process
→ ../install/schemas contains a JSON file with some sort of database tables / field definitions.
And this is the point where I got stuck.
3 – What I have not (yet) found is this:
The exact phpBB installation file / methods how the phpBB installer routine creates:
- all necessary database tables into the given SQL database.
- all needed fields (field_length, data_types) into each different SQL database-table.
- all unique index-field(s) inside each phpBB database-table
- which relations (1-1, 1-N, N-M, M-1) via which indexes between the various tables.
- How the various tables are linked with one and other.
4 – What I am looking for is this: (see image below as example)
-
A crystal-clear visual representation (picture) of all phpBB database tables / fields / indexes / relations(types).
Why?
- (just) “a” picture is (already) worth a thousand words”
- “An excellent picture speaks for itself and is worth a millions of words”
I also consider myself to be a “a visual learner”. I love to absorb my new knowledge in crystal-clear graphics / schemas / diagrams.
Excellent images give me personally more clarity within the blink of an eye, then having to read – for hours - through endless pages of letters alone
(This is what most developers call “documentation”, mostly not easy readable, understandable! by non-developers / outsiders / human beings)
5 - What have I found over here in phpBB Area51 section so far:
5a - “Database Wiki pages”
- https://wiki.phpbb.com/Category:Database
NOTE: No entries are is represent regarding table_indexes nor table relations!
5b - “Database Type Map”
- https://wiki.phpbb.com/Database_Type_Map
NOTE: This page contains a broken link to an external website!
5c - “Tables –– List of Database Tables used within phpBB3“
- https://wiki.phpbb.com/Database_Type_Map
NOTE1: This pages contains various broken links to deleted Wiki pages.
NOTE2: What does the word “tbd” mean inside the Wiki?
6. Now my questions:
1. Which phpBB installation files contain the exact instructions how the underlying SQL database / Tables / Fields / Indexes and Relations are created?
2. Is there any complete documentation present about the phpBB SQL-database tables?
- If $Answer = 'Yes' → Where can I find it?
- If $Answer = ''No' → When will the current documentation be up-to-date?
3. Does a complete visual database-architecture (table, field relationship) diagram exist?
- If $Answer = 'Yes' → Where can I find it?
- If $Answer = 'No' → When will one be created ?
Thanks in advance for your time and replies which enable me to further decode the phpBB installation scripts and to digg deeper into the underlying phpBB SQL database architecture.