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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: pcplantdb <pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [pcplantdb] a few things...
  • Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 23:32:42 -0400

Bear Kaufmann wrote:

Good points John. Note also that were still working on a reasonable HTML front end for this, it'd be nice to get on to the rich client, but I think we still have a ways to make this good and functional.
So, on that note, and considering what is in the DB as it stands take a look at Chad's advanced search @ http://dev.permaculture.info/advanced.html
As a starting point, could we regroup these, or most of these into inputs-outputs?
As I see it:
Inputs:
Hardiness
Suitable Locations
Tolerates
Prefers

Outputs:
Fast growing Slow growing Fixes nitrogen Scented flowers Provides food for wildlife
Uses

I'm not sure where or if Habit can go some where. Though the Habit -> of -> Tree -> supports -> Vines, so we might be able to reinterpret some habits to those ends.

Looking at Suitable Locations...
It seems like we might want to set this up to go 2 ways.
Right now, there are values for the input side. For example plants that grow in heavy shade.
But this is also an output, some trees produce heavy shade. So if a user adds a tree that outputs heavy shade, one of the searches for plants would be those that need heavy shade.
How to represent this, especially in an HTML client is an interesting challenge. The user would want to find plants that handle heavy shade, but only Under the Tree. Some search values apply to the whole guild's environment (hardiness, unless we figure for the potential to create micro-climates), some only to a subsection heavy shade under tree, high pH under Pine Tree, etc.

I think as a start we can try to re-factor the advanced search into the inputs-outputs model.

Use arrays of nested (cascading) options checkboxes. Fill out form, perform search, save entire results to a user session cache. Fill out form again & do search, save results to another cache - when done searching - perform an inputs-outputs matching report for user.
Discover guilds or compatible groups, design systems, go and plant with plan in hand.
Could PIW do anything like this?







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