Configuration.md

Configuration

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• Options
  • driver
  • schema
• Schema configuration
  • Table configuration
  • Column configuration
• Column types
  • integer
  • string
  • text
  • date
  • datetime
  • boolean
• Nullable columns
• Secret columns
• Column comments

Options

The following options are available.

driver

Type: Helppo driver

Example:

{
  driver: new MysqlDriver(mysqlConnection);
}

schema

Type: string or object

If set to "auto", schema is deducted automatically by querying the database structure. Note that in this case all tables and columns are exposed in the Helppo UI, which may or may not be what you want.

If not, should be an object. See Schema configuration.

Examples:

{
  schema: "auto";
}

{
  schema: {
    tables: [
      // ...
    ];
  }
}

Schema configuration

Schema is configured as an object with the property tables which contains an array of table configurations.

Example configuration:

{
  tables: [
    {
      name: "users",
      primaryKey: "id",
      columns: [
        {
          name: "id",
          type: "integer",
          autoIncrements: true,
        },
      ],
    },
  ];
}

Required properties for schema:

key	required	type	description
tables	Yes	array	Array of table configurations, see Table configuration

Table configuration

Required properties for tables:

key	required	type	description
name	Yes	string	Name of the table as it exists in the database
columns	Yes	array	Array of column configurations, see Column configuration

Optional properties for tables:

key	required	type	description
primaryKey	No	string	Name of the primary key column. If a table does not have a primary key, some features may be disabled (e.g. row editing).

Column configuration

Required properties for columns:

key	required	type	description
name	Yes	string	Name of the column as it exists in the database
type	Yes	string	One of the available data types, see Column types

Optional properties for columns:

key	required	type	default	description
nullable	No	boolean	false	Is NULL an allowed column value. See Nullable columns.
autoIncrements	No	boolean	false
referencesTable	No	string	undefined	If column references another table (i.e. foreign key), the applicable table name. Required if referencesColumn is set.
referencesColumn	No	string	undefined	If column references another table (i.e. foreign key), the applicable column name. Required if referencesTable is set.
secret	No	boolean	false	Column value should not be viewable, only editable. See Secret columns.
comment	No	string	""	Define a text comment which is shown next to the column field when editing. See Column comments.

In addition to these properties, some column types can include additional properties.

Column types

The following column types are available.

• integer
• string
• text
• date
• datetime
• boolean

integer

Used for integer values.

string

Used for values that are stored as single-line text.

Additional properties:

key	required	type	default	description
maxLength	No	integer	undefined	Maximum allowed length

text

Used for values that are stored as multi-line text.

Additional properties:

key	required	type	default	description
maxLength	No	integer	undefined	Maximum allowed length

date

Used for date values.

datetime

Used for datetime values.

boolean

Used for boolean values.

Nullable columns

If nullable is true, a checkbox will appear next to the editor field, so the user can save NULL as the value.

This allows the explicit distinction between an empty string "" and a NULL value.

Secret columns

A column can be marked as secret:

{
  name: 'password',
  type: 'string',
  secret: true
}

In this case its value is not viewable in the UI. By default an obfuscated field is shown:

After clicking Edit value user is able to set a new value to the field, without seeing the original:

Note that the value of a secret field is also not included in the AJAX responses sent to the client.

Column comments

{
  name: 'credits',
  type: 'integer',
  comment: 'Remaining usage credits'
}

If a column has a comment value, it is shown below the form input when editing a row:

The comment also becomes visible when browsing the table. It is shown as an info-icon with a tooltip: