If your data does not store in databases or even there is no data store. DbFace also works for your case with Data Source Plugin.

Write Data Source Plugin#

Each data source plugin requires 2 entry files: plugin.setup.php and API.php
You can get the Sample Data Source plugin from: https://github.com/jsding/dbface-plugins

plugin.setup.php#

<?php
return array(
  'id'              => 'sample_plugin',
  'author'          => 'DbFace',
  'author_url'      => 'https://www.dbface.com/',
  'name'            => 'Sample Data Source Plugin',
  'description'     => 'Sample data source plugin that help you build DbFace plugin that make your application work with DbFace. <a href="https://github.com/jsding/dbface-plugins">https://github.com/jsding/dbface-plugins</a>',
  'version'         => '0.9.0',
  'namespace'       => 'Plugin\Datasource\Sample'
);

Name	Required	Description
id	Yes	Plugin ID (unique)
author	No	Plugin author
author_url	No	Plugin author website
name	Yes	The plugin name
description	Yes	The plugin description
version	Yes	The plugin version
namespace	Yes	The plugin php calss namespace

API.php#

<?php
// Must match the namespace value in plugin.setup.php
namespace Plugin\Datasource\Sample;
/**
 * Apache Log Analytics Plugin for DbFace - by DbFace
 *
 * @package     plugins/datasources/apache-log
 * @author      DbFace 
 * @copyright   Copyright (c) 2017 DbFace, Inc.
 * @link        https://www.dbface.com
 * @since       Version 1.0
 */
class API {
  private $database;

  /**
     * accept data source configuration
     *
   * 
     * @return array schemas array
     */
  public function setup($config = array()) {
    $this->database = $config['database'];
  }

  /**
     * get schemas of this data source
     *
   * 
     * @return array schemas array
     */
  public function get_schemas() {
    // TODO: do your business and get the schemas finally
    return array(
      'sample_view1' => array(
        'fields' => array(
          'id' => array('type'=> 'integer', 'pk'=>1),
          'comment' => array('type'=> 'string')
        )
      )
    );
  }

  /**
     * get datas of this specific schema
     *
     * @return array datas of the schema
     */
  public function get_datas($schema) {
    // TODO: do your business and finally get the resultset for $schema
    $result = array(
      array('id'=>0, 'comment'=>'this is string1'),
      array('id'=>1, 'comment'=>'this is string2'),
      array('id'=>2, 'comment'=>'this is string3'),
      array('id'=>3, 'comment'=>'this is string4')
    );
    return $result;
  }
}

Method Name	Parameter	Description
setup	$config	Pass the database configuration
get_schemas	void	Return all the views
get_datas	$shema	Return all json data of the specific schema

Use Data Source Plugin#

Once you finished your data source plugin, place all the files in plugins/datasources folder, DbFace will scan all the subfolders and list all the available plugins in the Plugin category.

Now, we can make a new connection that use the plugin.

Field	Description
Database Type	The data source plugin name
Name	The name that identify the connection
Database Name	Internal name that will pass to plugin

Click "Submit" button, DbFace will create a new connection that use your data source plugin.

Click the "Sync" button to run the plugin.

Now, you can use the data source to create report applications just like MySQL or any other database connections in DbFace.