HI everyone,

You might remember a couple weeks back I was asking around for some suggestions regarding software I could use to help me maintain the LML Builders' List. Many of you came up with great ideas and I appreciate all of your input. RIchard Schaefer, a loyal LML subscriber and IVP builder, came up with some suggestions as well, and then went way beyond the call of duty by offering to actually help with the code to put some things into place on the Builders' List that I'd been thinking about for a long time. To put this into perspective, all I wanted to do originally was write a little program that would transform my Builders' List submission emails into the basic HTML code for each entry. I would then manually insert these HTML snippets into their appropriate locations and wait for the next submission to come along. Richard kept asking me what I really wanted and everytime I would suggest some enhancement I'd dreamt about incorporating, low and behold, his answer was always "Well, that's not hard... I can do that." Next thing I know the Builders' List is doing things far beyond my greatest expectations. So, to make a long story short, the testing has been completed and here's how the Builders' List now operates:

The appearance of the BL pages are much the same, although you'll notice some new additions and enhancements.

FIrst of all, on the first BL page (the one for builders whose last names start with A-C) you'll find a new BL search engine. You can now search the entire Builders' List by name, state, Lancair model, or flying/not-yet-flying, or combinations of the above. Originally the search engine was going to return a list that you could print out and use to access each appropriate item, but Richard carried it to my ulitmate option and set it up so searches dynamically generate a whole new BL page with all the entries that meet the search criteria. It's way cool. Presently, the link in the 3rd paragraph on the main BL page is the only way to get to it, but I'll be updating the menu system to make it available from anywhere on the site. I think you'll find it extremely useful.

Next on the agenda... when you submit a new project the max waiting time you'll have to endure is only about two hours, as Rob has the website servers setup to refresh the files on a 2-hour interval. After you've submitted your project you'll be taken to a confirmation of your entry that looks exaclty the way it will look when it's merged into its appropriate place in the actual BL pages. Everything is still kept in alphabetical order by builder's last name, and the BL menus are all setup to make finding your respective page easily. Additionally, we've added the ability to include a photo with your submission... there's a spot at the bottom of the submission form that allows you to upload one from your system, again, without delay. All we ask is that you limit your photo size to 800x600 and try to keep the filesizes small, 50-60kb max. If you don't have the ability to resize (remember IrfanView?) don't worry too much. I receive a notice of each new entry, and if your photo doesn't meet our requirements I'll get it resized for you as soon as I know about your submission. So what's the big deal, you might ask. These entries are completely automatic... Richard wrote a series of Builders' List scripts that actually operate right on the server and do all this work without any manual intervention. I think he's trying to put me out of my job <g>.

Next thing.... if you already have a BL entry and you take a look at it, down at the bottom of your table you'll find an "Update" link. Click on that link and you'll be taken to the Update Submission form where you'll see your existing entry at the top of the page and a submission form below it with all of your existing data already filled in. All you need to do is verify each of the entries, change what needs to be changed, add your new comments, and hit the submit button. From there your update is treated just like a new entry, so you'll see the update on the next page so you can verify that everything is ok. Again, you can add a photo, if you like, the rules are the same as outlined above. BTW, we can only accept a single photo per submission, so if you'd like to put up 2 or 3 you'll need to use the "Update" link once for each photo. Just accept the rest of the data in the form and upload your new photo.

As for the updates, we were concerned about kids or asomeone other than yourselves updating your data without your knowledge. In order to make that more difficult we've added a password to the update form, and I'll be changing it every couple of weeks, just to try and maintain security. This message will be staying in the archives for posterity, so I'm not going to divulge the update password here. I'll be sending a follow-up message with the current password and that message will be removed from the archives so the only people that have it are those who receive the LML. If you're an INDEX subscriber and want to know the password you're going to have to drop me an email... I'll be happy to pass it along to you. Since we're all responsible adults here I'm sure we don't have to worry about our fellow LMLers updating any BL entries other than our own. There is an audit trail so we know who does what <g>. Again, all of this Update stuff is completely automatic, so the Builders' List is now a completely dynamic entity that requires little manual input to grow and keep up with the builder/flier base.

So, if you haven't taken the time to enter your project into the Builders' List, this is your chance to remedy that. And if you've got an entry that hasn't been updated in a coon's age, please, take a look at it, bring it up to date. There's no excuse for not having your most current and up-to-date status shown. While you're at it, if you notice an entry for someone who has sold their project, or worse, an entry for one of our Lancair friends who, unfortunately, is no longer with us, please let me know so I can remove them. On the other hand, if you know a Lancair builder or flier who doesn't have his aircraft listed, please let him know how to find us and ask him to add his project to The List.

Everything has been pretty thoroughly tested, and we're confident that it all works as intended. However, there is always the possibility that we've overlooked something or have included an instruction somewhere that needs to be clearer. If you spot anything like this please send me a private email so I can look into it and see about getting it fixed. You can find the Builders' List link almost at the bottom of the menu on the Lancair Mail List main page at http://www.lancaironline.net/maillist.html.

Finally, I'd like to publicly thank Richard Schaefer for all that he's done with this. It is so far beyond what I'd hoped for when I started down this path that I can't begin to describe how thrilled I am with the final results. All I know for sure is I've incurred a debt I'm going to be hard-pressed to repay. Thanks again, RIchard.

<Marv>