| Status: | effective |
| Progress: | 75% |
| Version: | 3.0.0+ |
Help:Special page "SemanticMediaWiki" - database setup
| Database setup | |
|---|---|
| Lets you to set up and upgrade the tables to hold the semantic data in the storage backend | |
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The database setup function that is accessible via the special page "SemanticMediaWiki" is designed to let you set up and upgrade the storage backend for semantic data. It is located in its own section headed "Database setup" (under the tab "Maintenance"), previously "Database installation and upgrade".
A database installation or upgrade is necessary whenever Semantic MediaWiki requires some additional tables within MediaWiki's database to be created or updated in order to store semantic data. Using this function ensures that the database is set up properly. The changes made in this step do not affect the rest of the MediaWiki database, and can easily be undone if desired. This function can be executed multiple times without doing any harm, but it is needed only once on installation and upgrade of Semantic MediaWiki, if a fixed property being created or if an extension to Semantic MediaWiki is added which also requires additional database tables to work like e.g. Extension "Semantic Extra Special Properties".
Note: It is recommended to only use this function in case no shell access to the server is available to the wiki operator. If access to the shell is available the "setupStore.php" maintenance script is the method of choice to do this task.By default all users who are administrators (user group "sysop") or Semantic MediaWiki administrators (user group "smwadministrator") may use this feature. This feature can be disabled by removing the SMW_ADM_SETUP constant from configuration parameter $smwgAdminFeatures. See the linked help page for information on how this is done.
Usage[edit]
To initiate the setup or upgrade of the tables for holding the semantic data in the storage backend the button labelled "Initialize or upgrade tables" in the "Database setup" section of the "SemanticMediaWiki" special page has to be clicked. Now a page displaying the functions execution progress will be shown. The successful completion of the process ends with showing the system message "The storage engine was setup successfully." Now one can return to special page "SemanticMediaWiki" by clicking on the link labelled "Administrative functions" at the top of the page. To avoid corrupted data in case of a failure of this function the wiki's system administrator must be informed to check for the cause and solving the issue.
