FAQ

Getting Started

How do I open the editor?

Install the package, then go to Components > Next DB > Dashboard. The editor opens automatically connected to your Joomla database — no extra setup is needed. From there you can switch tables in the object tree, run SQL, inspect structure, or export data. See Editor overview.

Do I need to configure anything before browsing tables?

No. Super Users see every connection and every operation immediately. Restricting access — limiting which connections, tables or operations a user may touch — is done through Profiles. Create a profile, define its permission scope, then assign it to a Joomla user or user-group. See Profiles & ACL.

Can I edit Joomla's users table directly?

No — and that is deliberate. Next DB write-protects Joomla's users, user-groups, access and extensions tables on the Joomla database. You can browse and read them, but mutations are refused for everyone, Super Users included — corrupting those tables would break the whole site. Ordinary content and component tables remain fully editable. On an attached external connection, core-table protection is opt-in per connection, so you can disable it where you genuinely need to edit such tables. See Security.

Do I need MySQL command-line access?

No. Next DB ships its own bundled database engine and runs every read and write through Joomla's own PHP runtime. The only requirement is that your Joomla site is reachable.

Security & Access Control

How is access enforced?

Next DB checks every action on the server before it runs. It evaluates the active user's resolved profile permissions before executing any operation — every path is covered, including the SQL console. On top of that, Next DB blocks changes to Joomla's own users, access and extensions tables on protection-enabled connections. There is no way to bypass either check from the browser. See Profiles & ACL and Security.

What about the "hard enforce" option I see in a profile?

It's reserved for a future release and has no effect in the current version.

Can I edit Joomla's users table or other core Joomla tables?

No — reads are fine, writes are blocked for everyone on the Joomla DB connection. See the Getting Started answer above and Security for the full list of protected tables and how to configure per-connection protection on external databases.

Can I prevent users from running raw SQL?

Yes. Every profile has a SQL console switch — disable it and the SQL console tab is hidden in the UI, and the action is refused on the server regardless. See SQL Console and Profiles & ACL.

Who can manage connections and profiles?

Out of the box, only Super Users. Management is delegable: a profile's management permissions grant per-area, per-action rights — profiles, connections, views, settings, plus audit purge and policy — so you can, for example, allow a user to create and test connections but not delete them. Granting management rights, and assigning a management-bearing profile to anyone, are Super-User-only actions, so a delegated manager cannot escalate their own access. See Delegated Management.

Where are connection passwords stored?

Encrypted, using a key derived from your Joomla site secret. The plain-text password is never written to disk or logged. See Connections.

Multi-Database

Which database engines are supported?

MySQL and MariaDB are hardened end-to-end across all editor features. SQLite is also verified end-to-end (browse, CRUD, structure rebuild, SQL console, export and import). PostgreSQL is tested against a real server (introspect, browse, CRUD, structure, truncate, console); a few niceties like column remarks and socket-directory host syntax remain best-effort. MS SQL, Oracle and DB2 are reachable but have not been hardened or tested end-to-end. See Editor overview.

Can I attach a database on a different server?

Yes. Go to Connections > New, set the driver, host, port, credentials and database name, then click Test before saving. Passwords are stored encrypted. Every editor feature — browse, edit, SQL console, structure, export/import — is available against any stored connection your profile grants access to. See Connections.

Are NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Elasticsearch, etc.) supported?

No. Next DB is built for relational databases; NoSQL stores would need separate drivers and are out of scope.

SQL Console

How many statements can I run at once in the SQL console?

One statement per execution. The console is designed for interactive, single-statement work. To run a multi-statement script (migrations, seed data, etc.) use Import with a .sql file instead. See SQL Console and Export & Import.

Is my query history saved?

Yes — the last 50 queries are saved per browser in local storage. History is not shared across browsers or users. See SQL Console.

Audit

What gets logged?

Every mutation by default: inserts, updates, deletes, structure changes, imports, exports and SQL console executions. Next DB records before/after row snapshots for row changes and a summary entry for other operations. Configuration changes — saving or deleting a connection, profile or assignment — are governed by the global "record configuration changes" setting. See Audit Trail.

Where is the audit trail stored?

In your Joomla site database. Writes are best-effort — if the audit table is unreachable, the operation still succeeds. Each entry carries its own expiry, computed from the policy active at the time of the event. See Audit Trail and Audit Policy.

How do I prune old audit entries?

Three ways: a bundled scheduled task prunes the trail automatically on whatever schedule you configure; the Audit page offers a manual purge action available to Super Users and any profile granted audit-purge permission; and browsing the log opportunistically prunes expired entries at view time. See Audit Policy.

Can I configure what gets audited?

Yes, at two levels. The global audit policy (in Settings) sets the default for all users, including Super Users and profiles that do not override it. Individual profiles can carry their own Audit settings that override the global policy — controlling which operations are recorded, whether failures are logged, and the retention period. See Audit Policy and Profiles & ACL.

Technical

Which Joomla and PHP versions are supported?

Joomla 4, 5 and 6 on PHP 8.1 or higher. PHP 8.0 and earlier are unsupported because Next DB requires PHP 8.1+. Joomla 4 on PHP 7.4 is therefore not a supported configuration.

Does Next DB bundle its own libraries?

Yes — everything Next DB needs is bundled in the package. There's nothing extra to install.

What languages ship with Next DB?

English (en-GB) is included. To add any other language, create standard Joomla .ini files at administrator/language/<tag>/com_nextdb.ini and com_nextdb.sys.ini — the component picks them up automatically via Joomla's language loader.

Is the source code available?

Yes. Next DB is licensed under GNU GPL v2 or later. It is sold commercially on nextsoftware.dev with priority support; the source is open and distributed with every download.