On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Wipe_Out wipe_out@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
You don't want to update the node tables directly. You would miss out on the hook implementations. You need to create a node object and use node_save() to do it. You could manage this by creating a custom module to push and pull the changes to an external DB for the ms access entries via a hook_cron implementation. There may be a module already to do this but I don't know.
What are the hook implementations you mention specifically??
I can only point you to the technical documentation. http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/includes%21module.inc/group/hooks/7
If the data tables are all updated correctly will drupal not see it as a node?
I doubt that you'll be able to update the tables correctly but not all that is Drupal will not know that you created the node so "correctly" is suspect to begin with.
As mentioned we aren't programmers so this seemed like the easier option..
Then please hire someone to do it. See consulting@drupal.org and http://groups.drupal.org/jobs for posting an opportunity.
My concern with trying to write something to keep two sets of data "syncronised" is managing the whole syncronisation process and issues with changes happening on both sides causing a "split brain" scenario.. If both access interfaces are editing the same data this is reduced.. No different to why MySQL replication is not often attempted as master-master because the sync is not easy to do reliably..
But the syncing scenario is the only reliable way to do it, IMO. Or, teach the administrators to use the Drupal interface to do their changes instead of MS Access.