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>
|