Why are PHPMyAdmin actions displaying on some tables, and not others?

Question

I have two databases. "members" and "verified_emails"

image_of_databases

Now, in members I have the regular actions menu:

actions_menu

However, in the verified_emails database, it is a different story:

no_actions_menu

There is no actions menu when PHPMyAdmin views the verified_emails database.

After digging around on StackOverflow, I heard it would help to add this to my config.

$cfg['ActionLinksMode'] = 'both';

It didn't make any difference.

I am running PHPMyAdmin v4.1.14

Now that the info is laid out, here is my question.

My question is, why is this happening? Is there a fix for this, and if there is, how do I fix this?

Convenient how I discover the issue right after going on StackOverflow. :-p — jinglebug, Sep 17 '16 at 15:04

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 06 '22 at 13:11

1

The problem is caused by there not being an index column.

This is why I'll never be a database manager.

If a database is like my verified_emails database, I could have an id column that automatically increases its value.

Here is how I fixed this problem.

This is easier with MySQL, but i'll just do it with PHPMyAdmin in case someone looks for this in the future.

First, I went to columns.

columns

Next, I went to add a new column at the beginning of the table.

new_column_1

I made it an integer, and called it id. (Note, in this I forgot to check AI, MAKE SURE YOU CHECK AI)

new_column_2

I set it to the index by clicking the index button.

tab

Also set it to Unique and Primary!

Now, let's go back to browse!

browse

It's done!
Now there is an automatically increasing id, and the tools!

edited Apr 06 '22 at 13:11

Dharman

answered Sep 15 '16 at 00:11

jinglebug

1

A better solution might be to set `E-mail` as the primary key of the table. Also, don't use dashes in column names. You'll thank me later. Without a primary key column, a tool can't safely let you edit, since it has no idea whether the row you're editing is the only row like it in the table. The server returns some hidden metadata about indexes with each `SELECT`, which is how the GUI knows whether editing is a thing that can happen or not. – Michael - sqlbot Sep 15 '16 at 04:13
Thanks for the explanation! I'll also try to remember what you told me about dashes. – jinglebug Sep 15 '16 at 23:05
1

If your MySQL and PHP versions allow, you might also wish to upgrade your phpMyAdmin installation — there were some improvements to how this is handled and more recent phpMyAdmin versions can (often) deal with tables that lack a primary/unique key. – Isaac Bennetch Sep 17 '16 at 03:56

1 Answers1