Hi all,
I am a newbie with cgi/perl scripts. Are the mods below things that I can tackle myself, or would I be best off hiring a programmer?
If I can do these myself, can you point me in the right direction?

I have fairly large links database organized in another application that will export tab delimited text.
I would like to be able to easily import and export my links database from the other program into links and visa versa (hopefully including categories and subcategories). I am wondering if this could be done by slightly altering the already available bulkload mod? The docs say bulkload is set up to require all the same fields as Links, which I guess includes the contact info and date info, so in its current state it probably won't work.
The fields in my current database are:

Title:
Url:
Description: (256 chars or less)

I would need the required database fields for Links 2 to be the same as my external links database, (eliminating date, contact and email).

Other changes I would like:

I do not want the date, hits, ratings etc (in the parenthesis after listings) to display next to each link, and I don't want users to rate the links.

I want the add and delete functions to be for admin only, and do not want the add and delete links to appear on the pages. I guess this may be as simple as moving these .cgi files into the admin directory and removing the links?

I would like to remove the cascading style sheets and just use standard old fashioned html for each individual page template.

I need to be able to list the same links in more than one category. If there is a function in links to avoid duplicate links I will need that turned off.

I would like to have the main category headings appear on every links page for easy navigating.

Guess that's all,
Thanks!
-V

[This message has been edited by V Silly (edited October 10, 1999).]

Assuming you are using templates:

If you are confortable importing/export as tab delimited, you can just download and upload the files via FTP. Don't forget to change the tab to a | to match links delimiter. I don't know if that bulkload thing works because I haven't tried it.

Links fields are defined in the link.def file.

Alter the link.html template and just take out the references to date, rating, etc. that you don't want in the output.

You don't need to move the add.cgi or modify.cgi to the admin directory. Just take the link to them out of every template. There is no user accessible delete function unless you have added a mod for it.

Read the FAQ in the resource center for instructions on removing the CSS.

There is a mod in the resource center for listing the same link in multiple categories. There are also numerous discussions about it in the forum. Just search for it and you will find it.

I'm not sure about having main cats appear on all pages...I seem to recall someone asking about it before, but I didn't read the thread because I have no use for this. Try looking through the forum.

Brad,
Thanks very much for this answer!
It is actually very helpful.
I am so new to all this that I didn't have a picture of how to get started, but after reading your post I think I begin to get the picture.

You wrote:
<If you are comfortable importing/export as tab delimited, you can just
<download and upload the files via FTP. Don't forget to change the tab to
<a | to match links delimiter. I don't know if that bulkload thing works
<because I haven't tried it.

I looked over the files in the data folder and I am unsure how to get my tab delimited data into the links script. There seem to be separate files for url.db, categories.db, links.db, etc. This gives me the impression that the data is stored in several places, but my current database will output this info as one tab delimited text file. When I first read your post I thought it meant that I could simply replace the links.db file with my tab delimited file, but now I'm not sure how to proceed.
Clues?

Most appreciated!
Regards,
-V

[This message has been edited by V Silly (edited October 10, 1999).]

Brad wrote:
<There is a mod in the resource center for listing the same link in
<multiple categories. There are also numerous discussions about it in the
<forum. Just search for it and you will find it.

Just combed the whole resource center with no luck. Can anyone tell me the file name to look for?
Thanks!!!!
-V

[This message has been edited by V Silly (edited October 10, 1999).]

Oops..my bad. I thought it was in the resource center but I guess it was never added. You can find it on Loopy's site at:
http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/links-mods/

FYI: If you also want to use Bobsie's exclude mod, Joker made a "join" mod to make them work together. That's at:
http://www.concepts2000.com/Mods/join.html I suggest you install links, define the fields you want to include in links.def, add one link, then download all the db files to see what appears in each one. This will give you a template, so to speak, for importing your data.

You will need to replace the tabs with a | to match links format. I posted this once before if you want to use Excel (hint: you can use excel to reorder your data fields and to add "empty" fields as necessary first):
================
When you save the file, choose text (Tab delimited). Some text editors will have a special code for a tab that you can use for search and replace. Using wordpad (or notepad if you don't have a large file), select (highlight) the tab area with the mouse and "copy and paste" it to the find field--it will look like a bold pipe. Type a normal pipe in the replace field and replace all.
Voila! Save it as Links.db (or as .txt and rename to .db).

Oh...I should mention that is what the save option says in Excel97--it should be fairly similar in older versions of excel.

V S,

I've just quickly scanned this thread, but I did not see any mention if the unique ID # for each record being maintained as you did a bulk upload (which works fine, btw). Search this forum or "Links Discussion" on "Excel" as there was a fairly well developed thread on this several weeks ago.

But other than ID numbers, it's pretty straightforward converting tabs to pipes. One caution, watch out for trailing pipes... it's been a while since I've been into Links or DBMan, but if I remember correctly the last cell is open (no ending pipe). On larger files (where LOTS can go wrong on a conversion, a stray pipe in a comment field, etc.), I usually run a macro to count the pipes, then use that count to calculate whether or not I do, indeed, have the correct number per the record count.

Bob

The only hitch in this plan is that I don't own Excel!Maybe I can use search and replace in BBedit to accomplish the same thing. I will do a search for the Excel threads...
Thanks,
-V

[This message has been edited by V Silly (edited October 14, 1999).]