I'm converting DBman into a fairly groovy multi-user property listing system. The tricks I used wound up being useful enough that I thought I'd share some details before asking my question:
First: I modified the output with JPDeni's 'listing style' mod - list of results, click on one and it displays the unique record.
Then I set up DBman to auto generate the forms but NOT the output - allowing the admin to see the Userid and ID fields in the forms, without displaying them in forms for other users. From the admin login you can assign and reassign records to and from any user. Add a field to the flatfile and you don't have to mess with updating the forms, but you still have tight control over the record display. Easy to administer + easy to modify = cool.
Then I whacked in an upload photo feature by setting up a photo upload script and attaching it's link to the ADD permission in the script - if you can add, you can upload. Not tightly integrated, or really secure, but it works. Wish I could figure out a way to write the filename to the Photo field in my flatfile...
NOW: Since they're rental property managers, they always have the same properties to list, but these properties are obviously not available all the time, and therefore don't need to be listed all the time. However, reentering the same record over and over is a pain - if they could just deactivate and reactivate the records it'd be real snazzy.
I'm thinkg about adding a yes/no field to the database and the user input forms called 'active'. If the value is yes, the record is active in the database and is displayed as a search result. If the value is no - the record is not displayed in the search results.
How would I modify the search to exclude/include records based on the value of a field?
I had also thought about having a checkbox that appends a letter (a) to the record ID - and limiting the search to records that have
the a in them, but that sounds kinda scary...
If anyone's got any thoughts on this I'd love to hear 'em!
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First: I modified the output with JPDeni's 'listing style' mod - list of results, click on one and it displays the unique record.
Then I set up DBman to auto generate the forms but NOT the output - allowing the admin to see the Userid and ID fields in the forms, without displaying them in forms for other users. From the admin login you can assign and reassign records to and from any user. Add a field to the flatfile and you don't have to mess with updating the forms, but you still have tight control over the record display. Easy to administer + easy to modify = cool.
Then I whacked in an upload photo feature by setting up a photo upload script and attaching it's link to the ADD permission in the script - if you can add, you can upload. Not tightly integrated, or really secure, but it works. Wish I could figure out a way to write the filename to the Photo field in my flatfile...
NOW: Since they're rental property managers, they always have the same properties to list, but these properties are obviously not available all the time, and therefore don't need to be listed all the time. However, reentering the same record over and over is a pain - if they could just deactivate and reactivate the records it'd be real snazzy.
I'm thinkg about adding a yes/no field to the database and the user input forms called 'active'. If the value is yes, the record is active in the database and is displayed as a search result. If the value is no - the record is not displayed in the search results.
How would I modify the search to exclude/include records based on the value of a field?
I had also thought about having a checkbox that appends a letter (a) to the record ID - and limiting the search to records that have
the a in them, but that sounds kinda scary...
If anyone's got any thoughts on this I'd love to hear 'em!
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