Several issues are giving me problems:

1. I am on a Unix server -- can't get the $get_date function to work -- have tried the example from the default -- doesn't return a date.

2. I developed a custom output form for results of the search. Basically the fields are not presented on the page in the same order they are represented in the database: when I request a single item search, say by ID# everything is fine -- the fields all align properly and fill in where they are supposed to on the report form. The problem is if I request multiple item searches, e.g., all companies with a specific zip code. Let's say that 3 companies are found. The first one returned represents perfectly in the report form. The other 2 companies try and represent the data on the form in the order the data is listed in the database, not in the order I've specified on the output form. Please advise.

3. Still am trying to figure out how to associate a given userid with a specific record. How does the userid get put in the database where I have specified a user id field? For example, let's say I sign on and create a new user account. How does this id get associated with an entry in the database?

 
If your $auth_user_field is set to anything greater than -1, it automatically sets the field to the value of the currently logged in user.




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JPD

So you can see the output from the search and see the dilemma with the side by side rather than sequential forms, please try:

http://192.41.11.48/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=bedbreak&uid=admin.92355924870124&ID=&Name=&Address1=&Address2=&City=fallbrook&State=---&Postal_ Code=&Country=---&Main_Phone=&Fax_Phone=&Toll_Phone=&Email=&Web_Page=&Innkeeper=&Number_Rooms=&Special_Room_Descrip=&Photo1=&Photo2=&Rates=& Lodging_Type=---&Availability=&Recreation=&Style=&Proximity_Attractions=&Affiliations=&Description=&Review=&Date=&ww=on&keyword=&mh=10&sb=-- -&so=ascend&view_records=View+Inns

I just discovered that this problem of side by side display versus sequential display does not occur on the modify success subroutine. There the list of found items display correctly. I can't see any difference in the code, per se, to cause this. Although you use a /n (is this a C++ newline escape character?) in the modify success code. Any ideas of why is works here but not in the search success?

Also another major problem -- can't quite resolve it. The search form and results form do not display in Netscape version 4.5. They display just fine in Internet Explorer.
The funny thing is the forms download and are in the cache of Netscape but they will not display. In some cases they freeze Netscape for about 5 minutes before releasing and displaying. This probably isn't strictly a DBMAN problem but it only happens with the displayed html from a search or even the form to start the search with.

Thanks

 
I'm facing a similar issue because I'm changing the structure of my DBMan database. It's gonna be a long, painful process of manually entering usernames. I don't really see any way around it.


I went to your site, using

http://192.41.11.48/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=bedbreak&uid=default

and did a search. When I used Netscape, the search page appeared empty. Using IE, I saw what you were talking about.

Netscape is much less forgiving about missing </table> tags than IE is. I think you are probably missing some tags somewhere.

Also, you have a lot of nested tables in your structure. That's probably the reason for the page taking so long to load.


Do you mean the modify search results page? That's probably because html_modify_form creates a separate table for each record in order to display the radio button.

You'll need to do some work on html_record. Try starting out with something very simple and test it out before you get fancy.


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JPD

Thanks for the help. Issue 2 is now resolved -- corrupted data. I will work on the get date issue later.

Two more issues:

I have existing data I have putinto the database. I want users to logon and modify their data, but first they must signup and create a userid and password. I can now see how the userid gets put in the db if they create a new record through Add. But how about when they modify? They can never access the existing data to modify since I've got the flag set to modify your own data.
Alternatively I could enter the userid through the admin function but I can't seem to figure out how to do this rather than manually.

Help.

2nd Issues. I've designed custom html output or report pages. They look good in a regular browser. When they download through the search success routine, they do not align vertically for more that one hit. Rather they try and align side by side. Any ideas on how to get these results in sequential, vertical order rather than side by side with the right side truncated?

thanks

Thanks, there are some additional concerns.

1. I have the db set up so that only the user can modify his/her record. What I would like to do is basically eliminate the search for modification step and just have all the records attached to a given users id come up for selection to modify. In other words, the user logon on, selects modify and all his/her records are displayed for selection. Can this be easily accomplished?

2. The prior problems with side/side printing still remain -- am working on a variety of ideas.

If you have things set up so that a user can modify only his own records, you can set up the modify link like this:

<a href="$db_script_link_url&$db_key=*&modify_form=1">

The script will only return records that match the userid.

The problem with the side-side-printing is caused by your not having separate rows in your main table which is holding all the other tables. You really need to simplify your display in order to figure out where your tables are having problems.


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JPD

Thanks again, I'll try the modify search.

Not to be argumentative but if the problem is with the table structure and the rows in the main table, why do those sample tables print out beautifully and correctly in the modify search routine.

Here is the scenario again:
1. If if do a search on a city field and get a 10 cities found message, results print side by side.

2. If if do a modify, modify search by putting cities in the search field, then I will also get the 10 cities returned (each with a radio button for selection) and these 10 results display correctly, in sequential (not side by side) order. This is the same form -- html results and my question is why does it work differntly under each routine when the desired result is the same: return a list of found hits to the search criteria?

OK, I redid the forms, simplified the nesting and now the side by side issue is gone. Also my forms work in Netscape which they previously caused Netscape to crash. Thanks for encouraging the reduction in html complexity.

Now a different problem has come up. Lets say I do a search and 4 hits come up. The search results forms are like a page apart rather than next to each other. I have to scroll down a long ways to see the next hit. Any ideas on what causes this?

In your prior recommendation on setting up users to modify their own accounts, where does the logon come in? You suggest a link in a page somewhere to allow users to modify. Does that link first take them to a logon screen .... ?

One final question under search options:

What is reg expression? How do I search for a multiple word name, for example. Let's say I want to search for Bobby's Diner & Grill. What search option do I use to get this? I can understand keyword, whole words, etc. -- don't understand reg expression. Also since the options are checkboxes, that implies that all options are considered -- but what is the priority -- whole words probably takes precedence over any and so on.

 
I'm not sure. I did see that you're missing a closing </TR> tag after your "Meals Provided" row. That might make a difference.

For users to login, you need to have a link to the login page. In your case it would be

http://192.41.11.48/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=bedbreak


A regular expression is a Perl term, which allows users to do things like search for something at the beginning of a word or the end of a word. There are specific characters that are used. I wrote a little explanation of the more commonly used regular expressions on my page. While it focuses on the type of information in my database, it might help a little bit. You can see it at
http://www.drizzle.com/~hall/invsum/searchelp.htm

If you don't think your visitors would be likely to use it, you might just take out that line from html_search_options.


Just enter the phrase. I just did a search where I entered 10Th Avenue Inn B&B and it came up.


As far as I can see, the only real priority is keyword searches. If the keyword field is filled in, the script ignores anything that is entered in any of the other search fields.



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JPD

Thanks for all the help. I visited your site and you have a wonderful site -- both in terms of content and in terms of web design and function. Your search terms were great and I greatly enjoyed browsing the rest of your pages.