Adding Tables to the WordPress Database

  • christhomas32

    (@christhomas32)


    10 years, 10 months ago

    I have been researching how to incorporate a database into WordPress, through all my research I am unsure of the best way to go about this..

    Here is the situation: I am creating a WordPress site that will function much like the site ratemyprofessor.com functions. I need to have the ability to create pages based on a name and include a form that allows user input to be put into the database under that name and extracted to show statistics etc.

    I believe this is attainable adding tables to the WordPress database, but like I said, I have been unable to find any definitive guidance on achieving this.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • essaysnark

    (@essaysnark)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    You don’t need to add tables to WordPress for this. Worst case is you might need to create a Custom Post Type but I doubt that even that would be necessary. Instead, there are likely to be plugins that will help you get what you need.

    For example, you can use a forms plugin like Gravity Forms or Formidable to design the forms you need and output the data. Automattic’s PollDaddy might also get you a lot of this. There may also be a plugin that has the functionality you’re looking for already built. Here’s one that may or may not do what you need: http://wordpress.org/plugins/gd-star-rating/

    Thread Starter christhomas32

    (@christhomas32)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    If possible, I would like to know the development route, avoiding plugins. Just not sure exactly what the most “WordPress friendly” way of structuring something like that would be.

    essaysnark

    (@essaysnark)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    I’m not sure why you need to avoid plugins (plugins are definitely “WordPress friendly”), but in any case, you can create your own Custom Post Types as I already mentioned.

    http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Types#Custom_Post_Types

    Thread Starter christhomas32

    (@christhomas32)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    I am taking a minute to grasp this.. I have hundreds of entries, it would appear that I would have to manually create a post for each of these entries than?

    essaysnark

    (@essaysnark)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    No. You would define the Custom Post Type once, then you’d load your content into WordPress using that CPT. Defining a CPT is sort of like a creating a template for how you want your specific content to appear – but it’s specifically not a “WordPress template” which is a different thing entirely (just to be clear on terminology). CPTs use the existing WordPress DB structure.

    Thread Starter christhomas32

    (@christhomas32)

    10 years, 10 months ago

    Almost there, how do you “load your content” into the CPT? I have a large excel file, would I just have to import rows one at a time?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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