Using variables from a database like source

Question

I have a google sheet (no, the data does not need to permanently reside there.) Which contains data for T-Shirts of my design

Name            Source                  Thumbnail           Commision  Description                         SSid
Puzzle Piece    \Puzzle\PuzzlePiece.ai  PuzzlePiece.png     $1.00       Just another piece of the puzzle    10369732
Puzzle Piece    \Puzzle\PuzzlePiece.ai  PuzzlePiece1d.png   $1.00       Just another piece of the puzzle    10369731

I have over 50 entries like this so far and i plan on making articles based on everyone of them. I found a the extension NoNumber Content Templater v4.8.2 which, while useful, doesnt fit the need im looking for. How can I refer to a table/database of data with creating articles? Create an extra table in mySql?

Rough example This is [SHIRT-NAME] which you can see picture from [/image/PICTURE-THUMBNAIL]. [DESCIPTION].Click [HYPERLINK-BASED-ON-SSID]

All of the variables in brackets would refer to one of the id's in the database. This content is not meant to be dynamic ( perk but not the focus of my question. )

Creating variables inside article text but does not fit my needs.

Answer 1

It is not that clear you are after here, and I don't think that there is going to be an easy and one-go way. You probably have to look for a 3rd party extension, but it is recommended to make a descriptive explanation of what you want to achieve. At the end, this could be an e-commerce component working as a product catalogue, or maybe a tables/spreadsheets extensions could work.

But generally, you will need a way to manage/update/create new records in a database table and then have a way to call them in your content. If you want to use brackets that will be translated into content from the database, then I guess you will need a content plugin and that the "variables" inside the brackets should be unique.

I mentioned an e-commerce extension, because it may provide a way to maintain your "catalogue" and many of them come with content plugins, which you could use/fork in order to display data from their tables in content.

Similarly, this could be also possible with a CCK and a content plugin, that will let you call text from custom fields. Probably you will need to write your own plugin.