Hi everybody. I need a little help. I want to modify links to do something else. I want to create a site where I can add different churches as categories and have records being recorded instead of links. How do I change the form field and database to have new data entered in? I'm confused. Do I only edit the category.def file?

use the admin section to add your churches.

Not sure what you mean by "and have records being recorded instead of links." define records...

I think a few folks have used Links to create newstories instead of links.


Gene
"The older I get, the more I admire competence, just simple competence in any field from adultery to zoology."

Gene,

What I'm talking about is this:

I want people to be able to select the church that they want. Such as:

Main Category
- Sub Category
Main Category
- Sub Category

Example:

Baptisms
- St. James UCC
- St. Agatha UCC

Marriages
- St. James UCC
- St. Agatha UCC

Deaths
- St. James UCC
- St. Agatha UCC

Then when they click on the church that they want to view records for, I want them to be able to view records like:

Surname, Given, DOB/DOD/DOBap, Parents, Sponsors/Witnesses, Spouse, Initials of person submitting data.

That's exactly what I want. I'm just not sure how to modify links to change this. Apparently there would be some extensive work invovled to modify this stuff. However, I know that this is possible. I just wish I knew exactly what I need to do to modify Links to do what I'm looking for.

modify your links.def to include individual fields for "Surname, Given, DOB/DOD/DOBap, Parents, Sponsors/Witnesses, Spouse, Initials of person submitting data" etc.

change your add, modify, link html pages to reflect the above

you probably won't use url field. use info.cgi ( do a search ) to display the data.

add the category, sub category and the sub-sub category, etc thru the admin center


Gene
"The older I get, the more I admire competence, just simple competence in any field from adultery to zoology."

Gene,

Thanks! I'll try this and see if I can get it to work. I just pray that I can. If I have any other questions I'll let you know. I'm really excited about this! Maybe I'll get lucky and I'll be able to get this darn thing working right. Thank you.

You might also want to look at DBMan if your site isn't going to be linking to other sites.

I like links cause it would set up categories. Will dbman do that?

I just the other day looked at dbman to search and display my links. Links does not do that well at all. Not sure that I want to spend $100 just for that my I may.


Gene
"The older I get, the more I admire competence, just simple competence in any field from adultery to zoology."

Links 2 is basically DBMan with some extra features added so that it can be used to build a directory of links (using 2 db files).

Many of the features included with Links 2 are not needed if you don't intend to have URLs in the database. For example, the "verify links" option would be redundant.

DBMan is not set up to split data into categories by default, but it could be modified to do so.

Whether you use Links 2 or DBMan really depends on which features you need. I mentioned it to IVANAGROWALOT because it seems his/her needs are fairly simple and he/she hasn't set anything up yet.

You have already spent time setting up Links 2, so it probably wouldn't be helpful for you to switch to DBMan. The search engine is likely to be the same in both (I haven't really looked at them too closely).

What is wrong with the search in Links 2? It seems fine to me. You do know you need to tell it which fields to search if you've modified the database from the standard setup, right?

yep, got all the search fields ID'ed. if you look at the search screens for links vs dbman you will see a world of difference. Links uses the dbman-like search in the admin center.

the links 2 search is rudimentary at best. the dbman search is much more robust. I was not planning on switching to dbman, just using its search feature in Links 2. almost from day one I've heard of using dbman for searches in Links instead of the links search.

links 2 search capability sucks. dbman seems pretty good.

one of the big advantages of links is that it can mimic dbman and still do categories with not a lot of mods. dbman maybe able to categories but with modification.


Gene
"The older I get, the more I admire competence, just simple competence in any field from adultery to zoology."

Well, there are enough mods available for DBMan to practically turn it into Links 2, so if you don't need all the features, only add mods that give you functions you do need.

If you're attached to Links 2, but hate the search (I'm still not sure whether it's the look or the functionality you dislike), try copying the search subroutines that the admin panel uses into a file called search2.cgi (so you can try it without wrecking the standard search).

They're most likely in db_utils.pl or maybe db.pl though the search form will be in site_html.pl and the template files.

Everything is commented enough to tell what each section does, even if your Perl skills aren't very good.

Gene can you contact me at ivana@rootssearch.net I can't figure this out and I'm totally clueless. I could use any help anybody can give me though.

Gene,

I have it working where it is installed. It added categories and a record through the admin but when I click on nph build it won't work. I get internal server error. What do I need to change now?


View it here
http://www.pa-roots.com/...base/admin/admin.cgi

Everything appears to be working fine, but I can't seem to figure out what I have to do or what is not done yet. Darn, just when I thought I was getting somewhere.

well, even without seeing it, the problem has to do with db_def section in your links.def file. You have removed several fields internal to goings on of Links. For example, notice the ID field is populated with a NO value. Should be numeric.

Actually, almost all 13 are integral to links out of the box. There have been a few post within the last 6 months or so by gossy ( just overlook his offensive attitude) if you really want to change/delete those fields. See http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...string=gossy;#218203

Either restore the db_def or hack the code so that you can then use your own db_def. If you restore, you will need to delete the links.db file. If you hack the code, the link above should be helpful. By commenting out the new, cool & rating, you could change/delete those fields in the db_def section.

you could use DBMAN but you will need to add a category mod if you want that feature and if one exists.


Gene
"The older I get, the more I admire competence, just simple competence in any field from adultery to zoology."

Whew! I'm totally confused now Gene. I did email you my code so I have no clue what I should replace or what you are talking about. I guess this is a lost cause...I dont know..I'm trying everything and nothing seems to work.................

well, hang in there. you just started so it will take a while to get comfortable with all of this. Just do one thing at a time.

I think your links.def looks ok. it is just the code in nph-build that is causing the problem.take a look at the link I provided and comment out those sections.

then we will go from there.

Talk abut the blind leading the blind! doesn't perl have something to do with oysters?


Gene
"The older I get, the more I admire competence, just simple competence in any field from adultery to zoology."

Only if it's run via a shell.

LOL. dagnabit! I knowed I wuz amissin' sumptin!


Gene
"The older I get, the more I admire competence, just simple competence in any field from adultery to zoology."