HW: Links & Codex (really only links)

[Frank Weil]

Soniqué wrote:
> Non-tech-heads can ignore the next bit :)
> 
> I've been thinking about the various comments regarding maintaining a central
> database of Hawk links. This would not be hard to do either as a CGI script
> (and a bit of JavaScript), as a Server-side include or just plain vanilla
> HTML loaded in a frame. In any case I'd be happy to write and maintain
> whatever method is chosen by the general populace.
> 
> The best thing to do would (as suggested) create a database containing the
> URL, title, description and perhaps a 'last updated' field. A form on a
> seperate page could be provided to send in updates or new pages. The database
> would be relatively small, so I'd be happy to update it manually then run a
> program to generate the HTML to place on the server (or if we go the CGI path
> a script would exist on the server)
> 
> Comments??

I have a basic system that does this now, I just haven't had the time
to put it anywhere.  My basic scheme is to maintain the database as a
flat file similar to a bibtex file.  I have a perl script that
processes the database into an HTML file.

The current system has a couple of bells and whistles.  A database
entry looks like this (things in []'s are my comments):

   URL: [the URL of the link]
   TAG: [a unique tag field, which I will explain later]
   WHO: [the name of the person maintaining the site]
   EMAIL: [the email address of the person maintaining the site]
   TITLE: [the title of the site, taken from the title entry of the page itself]
   DESCRIPTION: [an optional brief description]
   TYPE: [N for non-commercial, C for commercial]

The entry for my page look like this:

   URL: http://www.enteract.com.~weil/golden_void
   TAG: ENT00
   WHO: Frank Weil
   EMAIL: weil at enteract.com
   TITLE: The Golden Void
   DESCRIPTION: 
   TYPE: N

The links are output as entries in a definition list.  Now, I figure
that some people will want to customize their links pages a bit, so I
added some options.  First, one can wrap their own HTML headers and
footers around the list.  Second, one can include another file that
contains comments.  These comments are associated with the links
through the TAG field.  For example, a comment entry might look like:

   TAG: ENT00
   COMMENT: This is comment.
   It wraps around several lines and describes my own personal
   thoughts and reviews about this link.

There are some other options, such as choosing only commercial,
non-commercial, or all links.  The script also can handle multiple
maintainers, e-mail addresses, etc.

I have the database set up for several links, although I am a bit
behind in adding some newer ones.  I can put the prototypes on my page
so that others can access them for now.  Paul, we should coordinate
our efforts on this.

Thoughts and comments are welcome.

> Incidentally, I'll be travelling again next month so I won't be able to work
> on this until July ....

I have been slow in acting on this because I am swamped at work,
moving at home in a couple of weeks, and getting sent out of the
country on business the week before the move. (On the plus side, I am
going to Sweden and I'll get to spend a weekend in Stockholm
sightseeing on the company's expense.  Things could be worse. ;-)

Frank

-- 
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Frank Weil | frankw at comm.mot.com | phone: (847) 576-3110 | fax: (847) 576-3240

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