Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Craig Duncan <craigduncan AT nc.rr.com>]

What are the requirements? Serverside DB or local files? MS/IIS, Apache? What 
technology are you comfortable with? If you can use Java or another language 
that has an excellent  xml DOM inteface on the server, xml is a good choice, 
otherwise think flat files.

You mentioned PHP in your previous email, which has a constantly changing xml 
DOM inteface that I would avoid unless you feel really strong in PHP and xml. 
The PHP SAX parser on the otherhand is very strong, but again requires a 
strong knowledge of xml. 

Using flat files with a field delimiter (such as a comma or pipe) is simple 
and easy. For each record entry you want to create, you could use something 
like this:

book_title, author, page_reference, some_other_data

This format can also be viewd using the spreadsheet of your choice without 
modification, or be imported to a database at some future time should you 
decide that you wish to venture in that direction.

PHP (or one of many other languages) has an excellent set of file/string 
parsing functions, including "split", which will place each record (each line 
of data) into an array that you can then sort as you please using the array 
sort functions.

Not optimal or ideal for large amounts of data, but for simple personal usage 
with small amounts of data, perfectly acceptable and a good intro into using 
PHP beyond simple web design.


On Monday 30 December 2002 04:10 pm, machett AT ibiblio.org wrote:
> and does anyone know of a cheap way to create a database without using an
> actual database (eg. mySQL)?  I don't know squat about databases, which is
> why I'm asking.  I don't want to create anything fancy.  I'd like to create
> a few small bibliography files, be able to post one or the other of said
> files to an html page, and be able to correctly update said files via a
> form.  This wouldn't be a list of hundreds of books, perhaps around a
> hundred for the combined files; so I don't think I need a full-fledged
> database, but of course I could be wrong....?
>
> -Alan
> ---
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-- 
Craig